Sixteen champion spellers from the St. Louis area outspelled 133 other contestants in the first session of the 26th annual Spelling Bee sponsored by The St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Saturday's competition was held at the J.C. Penney auditorium at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. Winners in the morning session are, from left, first row, Marty Smith, Brian Stansberry and Elisa Chen. Back row
The Futures of America songsters are part way through their performance with "Has Anybody Seen My Gal" and a roster of ecstatically optimistic personalities is preparing to whip the giant crowd into a positive frenzy. Then Kansas City political whiz kid Joe Serviss leaps on stage to declare Thursday's huge all-day positive thinking rally the greatest in the entire world. Master of Ceremonies Ty Boyd, billed as a "sponge for knowledge," calls it "the great experience of our time."
Sixteen champion spellers from the St. Louis area outspelled 133 other contestants in the first session of the 26th annual Spelling Bee sponsored by The St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Saturday's competition was held at the J.C. Penney auditorium at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. The Saturday afternoon winners are, from left, Kevin Rezek, Michael O'Leary, Lisa Unterreiner, Angelia Howell