Chan Gurney

John Chandler "Chan" Gurney bears a famous local name, and his accomplishments are sometimes lost in the shadow of the national seed and nursery empire located here.

But Gurney is clearly remembered well enough to take the No. 2 spot in the Press & Dakotan local personality poll. He was a successful entrepreneur -- even something of a visionary -- who became a powerful politician, and the fruits of his political labors can still be seen in the Yankton area.

In fact, he did perhaps more than anyone to shape the face of Yankton in the second half of the 20th Century.

Gurney was born in Yankton May 21, 1896, to Deloss B. and Henrietta Gurney. He attended public schools in Yankton, then enlisted in the military during World War I. He served as a sergeant in Company A, 34 Engineers of the American Expeditionary Force, serving in Europe from 1918-19 before a case of spinal meningitis cut short his tour of duty.

He returned to Yankton to work at Gurney Seed and Nursery, but took an active interest in the new phenomenon of the wireless radio. He eventually convinced his father to purchase radio station WNAX, which soon became known as the "Voice of the House of Gurney," in 1927.

It was through this radio connection that Gurney became a statewide name, thanks to his play-by-play broadcasts of state basketball tournaments.

In 1932, Gurney turned his attentions to the fuel business. He moved to Sioux Falls and operated a wholesale gasoline and oil enterprise. He also consulted with automobile king Henry Ford about the development of a grain alcohol-blend fuel for cars. Soon thereafter, WNAX gasohol, which contained a 5 percent blend of alcohol, was marketed throughout the Midwest. Gurney's efforts predated the development of the ethanol industry by decades.

But Gurney had a taste for political life. In 1936, he ran for the U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket but, at the height of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal push, the Yankton native lost to former Gov. William J. Bulow.

Gurney returned to the Senate race in 1938, this time defeating another former governor, Tom Berry. Gurney thus began a 12-year stint in the nation's capital.

Gurney was a senator during an extraordinary time, as the United States entered into another world war. He was named chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, a wartime position that made him one of Washington's most powerful lawmakers.

With his influence, he helped convert an old Yankton brewery into an industrial alcohol plan used for the war emergency. He also helped Sacred Heart Hospital secure supplies of hard-to-find penicillin, a new wonder drug back then, during the war years. He also helped the Sacred Heart Monastery get the funds it needed for the construction of Bishop Marty Chapel. He also helped Yankton College secure a surplus airplane hangar that was refurbished into Nash Gym in 1948.

Gurney was also a crucial figure in the realization of the Pick-Sloan Plan for damming the Missouri River. Through his influence, the final link in the six-dam project was located near Yankton. Gavins Point Dam has helped create a multi-million-dollar tourism/recreation industry for the region.

Gurney was defeated for re-election in 1950, but President Harry Truman, a close friend of Gurney's from their days together in the Senate, promptly named him to the Civil Aeronautics Board, on which he served until 1964. He was named the board's chairman in 1954. One of his key projects was the development of the Yankton airport, which has since been named in his honor.

The former senator and businessman retired back to Yankton and was honored as the city's Citizen of the Year in 1977. He died March 9, 1985, at age 88.

But Gurney's considerable contributions to the life of Yankton will live on for a long, long time to come.