Pages Past

April 18

On this date ...

1970: Harry Miller, who coached Eastern New Mexico University to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics basketball championship in 1969, accepted the men’s coaching job at North Texas State University.

Miller compiled a 104-37 record in his six seasons at Eastern, taking the Greyhounds to the NAIA playoffs three times.

“Besides being an outstanding basketball coach, what impresses me about Harry Miller is that he is a builder of men,” ENMU President Charles Meister said.

1965: Two federal prisoners who escaped their guards near Santa Rosa were captured about two hours later in a roadblock set up three miles west of Tucumcari.

Ronald Leslie Hopwood, 25, of Phoenix, and Paul David Carte, 19, of Oakmont, Pennsylvania, were being transported from Phoenix to St. Louis when they made their bid for freedom.

They overpowered two guards and took them, along with a third prisoner, to an abandoned farm house off of US 66 and handcuffed them. The prisoners then fled in the car being used to transport them.

One of the guards had an extra handcuff key, freed himself and hitchhiked into Santa Rosa, where he alerted authorities to set up the road block.

Hopwood and Carte offered no resistance when recaptured, the Tucumcari Daily News reported.

It’s their business ...

1966: Midway Speedbowl races were held at 1 p.m. every Sunday off of U.S. 70 between Clovis and Portales.

Admission was $1, or 75 cents for students and servicemen. Children under 12 were admitted for free.

Transitions ...

1965: The daughter of a prominent Tucumcari family, her husband and their 2-year-old daughter were all killed in a plane crash near Plaquemine, Louisiana.

Richard Baker, 27, was flying the plane that crashed into a cow pasture.

Baker, his wife Phyllis and their daughter Evelyn all died. Officials said they were returning home to Lafayette, Louisiana, from a visit in New Orleans.

The Bakers had been married in September 1959 in Tucumcari.

Phyllis, a 1958 Tucumcari High School graduate, was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Parker of Tucumcari.

1960: Pfc. Jerry Nix was in Portales on 19-day leave from Fort Ord, California, where he was stationed in the Army. Nix attended Portales schools and was a helicopter mechanic.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. For more regional history, log on to his weblog at:

www.highplainsyesterdays.com