Pages past — June 12

On this date ...

1971: “Tornado-breeding clouds” dropped nearly 2 inches of rain across the region and kept eyes skyward, the Clovis News-Journal reported.

No injuries were reported, but Clovis police said a tornado was spotted 1,000 feet off the ground about five miles south of Clovis near U.S. 70.

The twister touched down briefly at a farm house 3.5 miles south of Clovis, ripping a roof off of a porch.

1951: Gov. Edwin Mechem, in the area for a youth conference, said there were no plans to turn Eastern New Mexico University into a junior college.

State Comptroller Richard Strahlman had made recent remarks that only the University of New Mexico and New Mexico A&M (now New Mexico State) should be four-year colleges in the state.

“As far as the administration is concerned,” Mechem said, there was no chance of ENMU being demoted.

1951: The Clovis Pioneers had added two players to their baseball roster — Phil Costa and Henry Paskiewicz.

Costa was a “flychaser” who could also play first base. Paskiewicz was a third-sacker, the Clovis News-Journal reported.

Paskiewicz, 20, played 91 games for the Pioneers that season, hitting .296 with three home runs.

Baseball-reference.com reports he played three more years in Clovis, retiring from professional baseball after the 1956 season when he hit .311 with 19 home runs and 102 runs batted in.

Costa, also 20 in 1951, played in 34 games, hitting .298 with one home run. It was his last year in professional baseball, according to baseball-reference.com.

The 1951 Clovis team won 47 games and lost 94.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. For more regional history, check out his weblog at:

www.highplainsyesterdays.com