Pages Past: Sept. 13

On this date ...

1961: Citizens Bank of Clovis and Clovis National Bank had established accounts for victims of Hurricane Carla, one of the nation’s all-time most powerful tropical cyclones. The local Red Cross, Boy Scouts and Salvation Army were collecting food, clothing and bedding to send to victims. Carla, which made landfall near Port O’Connor, Texas, destroyed nearly 2,000 homes, killed 34 people and caused at least $300 million in damage in Texas alone.

1956: A Lovington man accidentally shot himself while driving about 10 miles west of Melrose. Joe Jenkins Jr. 29, told police he had been looking at his new .22 pistol, then laid it in his lap while passing a car. The injury was to his upper right thigh and he was treated at Clovis’ Memorial Hospital.

1942: A rubber shortage and other wartime concerns was forcing area sports teams to cut back on competition. Muleshoe canceled its conference football games, Melrose cut its football schedule in half and Elida announced it would have no inter-school athletics contests for the entire 1942-43 school year.

A different game ...

1909: Detroit Tigers outfielder Ty Cobb hit his American League-leading ninth home run, all of them coming inside the park.

They’re just acting ...

2004: Clovis High School girls basketball coach Miles Watters was teaching actors to play basketball. The cast for “Believe in Me,” an $8 million film, was working out twice a day so they could look like ballplayers when filming started.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. Contact him at:

[email protected]