Name that Flyover City! — April 21, 2022
Here’s a review of this week’s questions:
- What midwestern city was home to the Chicks women’s baseball team, the inspiration for the team in the Tom Hanks movie “A League of Their Own?”
- What southern city is the location of the corporate headquarters for Bank of America?
- What midwestern city is the birthplace of singer Adam Lambert?
And here are the answers:
- Grand Rapids, MI. The Grand Rapids Chicks were affiliated with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954. The AAGPBL was founded in 1943 by Phillip K. Wrigley and is the forerunner of women’s professional league sports in the United States. The league was initiated in response to the shrinking male population due to World War II, which affected male-dominated professional baseball. The Chicks were originally located in Milwaukee before relocating to Grand Rapids. The 1992 movie, “A League of Their Own,” also starring Geena Davis and Madonna, depicted a team from Racine, WI, that was based on the Grand Rapids Chicks.
- Charlotte, NC. Bank of America’s humble beginnings can be traced back to 1874, when the Commercial National Bank was founded. Starting with $50,000 in equity and $200,000 in deposits, it filled a void left when almost all southern banks failed and closed after the Civil War. Beginning in the 1950’s, Commercial National merged with and acquired several prominent banks in multiple states. When laws changed in the 1980’s to allow banks to have branches nationwide, Charlotte-based NationsBank, as Bank of America was then known, made major moves to become the largest banking corporation in the south. In 1998, NationsBank acquired San Francisco-based BankAmerica, changed its name to Bank of America, and retained its national headquarters in Charlotte.
- Indianapolis, IN. Adam Lambert was born in 1982 in Indianapolis and moved with his family to Southern California while he was still a young child. His love of theater and music as a young man culminated in his appearance on the TV show, “American Idol,” in 2009. He became a finalist on the show but was defeated in the finals by Kris Allen. He then launched a highly successful career as a solo recording artist. In 2011, he joined the rock band Queen onstage for a one-off performance at an awards show, and in 2019, officially joined the band as lead vocalist.