Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1950: About 1,100 fans came out to Bell Park and were treated to a 6-3 victory by the hometown Clovis Pioneers over Pampa, Texas, in a West Texas-New Mexico League baseball game.
Left-hander Tom Gallagher improved to 2-2 on the season, holding the Oilers hitless into the sixth inning and allowing just three hits overall.
Gallagher finished with an 11-13 record and a 6.02 earned run average in his final season of professional baseball, according to baseballreference.com .
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.
1965: State Health Department officials were warning area residents a “colorful little ball” sold as a firecracker could be mistaken by children as candy.
Officials were asking dealers to pull the balls from their shelves, saying they had been declared illegal by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
1969: The Clovis News-Journal comics lineup included “Peanuts,” “Mickey Finn,” “Short Ribs” and “Bugs Bunny.”
Charlie Brown was telling Snoopy that he’d be gone for two weeks and that goodbyes were difficult.
“My throat feels like I’ve swallowed a hockey stick,” he said.
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.
1972: The 41 contestants for Miss Clovis Baby Doll 1972 were preparing to compete. The competition was to be held at the Marshall Junior High Auditorium.
“(C)ontestants will appear in both dress and sportswear attire and will be asked to respond to one question,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Miss Clovis Baby Doll contestants were between the ages of 3 and 6.
A winner and two runners-up would receive prizes from local merchants.
Miss Clovis Pageant judges would also judge the Baby Doll contest.
Tickets for the afternoon pageant were $1.25 for adults, 75 cents for students. Pre-school children were admitted free. Tickets could be purchased at London Britches, Montgomery Ward or Taco Box.
1975: Eastern New Mexico University officials said 1,948 students had enrolled for the summer session. That was a record, breaking the mark of 1,782 set the year before.
1975: Clovis had a new street-sweeping machine. Mayor Chick Taylor said the machine could pick up water, oil, bricks, bottles and “just about any kind of debris,” the Clovis News-Journal reported.
Commissioner Jim Jacobs, joking about the city’s stray animal issues, asked: “Does it pick up cats and dogs?”
“Yeah,” the mayor replied. “If you point it in the right direction.”
The machine cost taxpayers $50,000.
1988: Almost 60% of those polled by an Albuquerque newspaper said New Mexico teachers were underpaid.
More than 48% of those polled said they would support a tax increase to fund teacher pay hikes.
The Albuquerque Journal poll, conducted by Research and Polling Inc., surveyed 1,329 registered voters statewide.
About 3% of those polled said teachers were overpaid, while 22% said they were adequately paid and 17% said they were undecided.
Pages Past is compiled by David Stevens and Betty Williamson. Contact:
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