One evening in 1938, eight-year-old Randy Rabenold rubbed his eyes to see at the door a man dressed in chaps and a ten gallon hat. The man, who said that he needed his saddle repaired, introduced himself as Gene Autry.

Autry was then on his rise to stardom, having completed two dozen of what would become over 90 films and later, with the introduction of television, a popular western series. He was the original singing cowboy, and his songs Tumbling Tumbleweed and Mexicali Rose were often heard on the radio.

If young Randy didn't know who Autry was, it was probably his cousin Verna Smith, who shared the double house, who told him. She had seen the van pulling a horse trailer loaded with two horses pulling into the alley. She had probably seen one of Autry's films.

At the time, Autry was touring the Northeast, where he was making personal appearances, typically riding his horse, Champion, onto the stage of small town opera houses, strumming his guitar, and singing cowboy songs.

Randy's dad, Zach Rabenold, worked days as a welder at Packerton Yards and, after dinner, made extra money by working leather and repairing shoes and harnesses. Although by the late 1930s automobiles had replaced horses on the streets of Lehighton, farmers still depended on draught horses for plowing.

Zach had ample business during the plowing season, and each year around the beginning of September, the Carbon County Fair arrived. Its feature event was a harness race around the half-mile track. Dozens upon dozens of horses brought to Lehighton for the event were stabled outside the track. When they needed harness repair, they could easily walk to Rabenold's shop at Ninth and Iron streets.

Zach Rabenold grew up in a large family. His grandson, Ron Rabenold, thinks he had 10, maybe up to 13 brothers and sisters. His great-grandparents were poor tenant farmers in the Mahoning Street area. "Just about all the kids were farmed out," Ron said.

"It was the Depression," Randy remembered." "We were living on potato soup and onion sandwiches."

With hard times and turmoil related to attempts to unionize Packerton Yards, Zach turned to starting a moonlight business. Having been farmed out, he knew about harnesses, and decided to open a harness repair shop. He had a source of leather, Daniel Oewine's tannery near the current Body & Soul building, a former silk mill.

That was the only glimpse Randy had of Gene Autry. He didn't go into the shop where his dad had his tack hammers and a big wooden vise that could hold a saddle. He fell asleep before his father finished the saddle repair.

Gene Autry was one of the most recognizable names of the twentieth century—ironically similar in several ways to that of Jim Thorpe.

For instance:

• Both men are known to have visited Carbon County for one day.
• Both men grew up in Oklahoma and had some Native American ancestry. Both died in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California: Jim Thorpe in Lomita, and Autry in Studio City.
• Both men have towns named after them: Jim Thorpe, PA, and Gene Autry, OK
• Both men were professional baseball icons: Jim Thorpe as a player and Gene Autry as owner of the California Angels.
  
• Both men were professional sports executives: Jim Thorpe served as president of the National Football League, Gene Autry as vice president of the American League (baseball).
• Jim Thorpe made Canton, Ohio, famous by captaining its Canton Bulldogs football team. Gene Autry made Kenton, Ohio, famous by creating Gene Autry Repeating Cap Pistols—two million were sold in the first two years. Gene Autry Day is celebrated in Kenton with track and field events.