How did we come up with the title, "Barnstorming"? Woodstock's co-creator provided the idea in the late 1950s.

The 1958 Division Avenue High School junior varsity baseball team. Artie Kornfeld is the middle player in the back row. Frank Barning is at the right of the bottom row.

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By FRANK BARNING

Approximately 55 years ago while I was in high school, my friend and three-sport teammate Artie Kornfeld offered me a suggestion.

"Frank, someday you will be a famous sports columnist and you will need a name for your column. My suggestion is Barnstorming. It goes with your name and it has a sporty flavor." Such optimism is difficult to forget.

About two years later, I began writing a sports column for the Hofstra Chronicle (Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY). My sports editor told me that I needed a name for my column. And out of nowhere, the suggestion from Artie Kornfeld popped into my mind.

"Barnstorming" has been used in several forms over the years. After Hofstra, my wife Vivian and I opened a part-time baseball card business in the mid-1970s, which we dubbed "Barnstorming Enterprises." In 1979, the two of us began publishing "Baseball Hobby News", which was in business until 1993. My BHN column, of course, was "Barnstorming".

When I began this blog. I had searched my mind for a name and, bang, "Barnstorming with Frank Barning". Artie Kornfeld could see the future. I do not exaggerate.

According to Wikipedia; "Kornfeld is the son of a New York City policeman and his wife (Irving & Shirley). Brought up in the early 50s in Levittown, NY, Kornfeld's family constantly moved and he attended six different schools, learning the lessons of the world through the song lyrics played over the radio. Artie Kornfeld would soon live his American dream and become the guiding force to what is now known as "The Woodstock Generation".

"Co-creator and sole promoter of Woodstock 1969, Artie Kornfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942. The man who would later be deemed "The Father of Woodstock" would go on to become one of the most respected composers, publishers, producers, managers, and promoters in the history of rock and roll."
He produced The Cowsills and wrote their huge hit, "The Rain, The Park and Other Things." Artie co-wrote "Dead Man's Curve" with Brian Wilson (Beach Boys), Roger Christian and Jan Berry, which was a 1964 mega hit recorded by Berry's group, Jan & Dean.

To learn more about Artie, do a Google search. You will be amazed by the man who saw the future for himself and a friend at Division Avenue High School.