Gus Jebeles (Barons owner)
- This article is about the restauranteur and Barons' owner, for the shopkeeper, see Gus Jebeles (shopkeeper).
Konstantinos "Gus" Jebeles (born Konstantinos Ioanni Konstantinou Tsempelis, May 27, 1885 in Geraki, Lakonia, Greece; died November 4, 1960 in Loxley, Baldwin County) was the owner of the Linger Longer Lodge on Shades Mountain and the Birmingham Barons from 1944 to 1949.
Jebeles was the son of Ioannis (John) and Aikaterini Tsempelis of the village of Geraki of Lakinia. He and his father emigrated to the United States with other relatives in 1893 aboard the Friesland from Antwerp, Belgium. They arrived at New York on June 20 and set off immediately to join family members in Birmingham. Gus had moved to McCracken, Kentucky and was managing a cafe when he married Alabama native Catherine Chunn on May 24, 1917 and registered for the draft on September 12, 1918.
Jebeles returned to Birmingham after the war and was successful in business. His restaurant off Shades Crest Road was considered a discreet place to violate prohibition in the 1920s, and inspired rumors of even shadier activities during the 1930s.
Gus, who had attended Birmingham Barons games as a boy, purchased the team and Rickwood Field from the Cincinnati Reds in the winter of 1944. Two years later, after seeking advice at the Minor League Winter Meeting in Los Angeles, he hired Eddie Glennon, a protégé of Connie Mack, as general manager. Under his tenure, the team dropped its affiliation with the Reds and joined the Boston Red Sox system. Jebeles sold a majority stake in the team to Herbert Hahn, Rufus Lackey and Al DeMent on September 9, 1949.
References
- Phillips, Bob (1965?) "The Grim Wrecker Has His Eyes on Rickwood" Birmingham Post-Herald - via Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections
- Barra, Allen (2010) Rickwood Field: A Century in America's Oldest Ballpark. New York: W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 9780393069334
- "Tsempelis, Konstantinos Ioanni Konstantinou, (Gus Jebeles - US)" (n.d.) Family Trees of Southern Parnon - accessed November 3, 2010