STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The Brawley Wildcats won the Imperial Valley League basketball championship and gained the home team advantage that goes to the league champion in the Class AA California Interscholastic Federation, Southern Section playoffs.
The Wildcats meet Yucaipa Friday night at the Wildcat gym.
Yucaipa was second in the Desert Valley League with a 6-3 league record. Yucaipa plays Bloomington tonight in its final league game.
Brawley was 6-0 in IVL action and has a fine 20-2 season record. The Wildcats led the IVL in every statistical department. They lead all the statistics, unless something strange happens at Calexico tonight.
40 years ago
Brethren High School of the Olympic League came into the Imperial Valley Friday, looking for an easy victory in the first round of the SCIF Class A Basketball Playoffs.
The Warriors were tall and talented. They were winners in 65 percent of their games and had to play four quarters against the Imperial Tigers with a 10-10 record.
Something happened the Warriors didn’t expect. Coach Ron Smart received a super effort from his starting five and blew away Brethren by a final 60-47 tally.
IHS gym fans were sky high when the game started. They couldn’t believe the first half and second half proved the overall playing abilities of the Tigers.
30 years ago
Filibuster — when you hear the word, you think of a legislator talking endlessly to prevent certain legislative action.
But there is another meaning to the word. It may denote an American who fomented insurrection in Latin America in the 19th century. And if that filibuster had succeeded, Imperial County would not be in California, but in a country called the Republic of Sierra Madre, consisting of Baja California, Sonora and California.
Responsible for this unusual chapter in our history was a man named William Walker, who called himself “the grey-eyed man of destiny.”
He was born in Nashville in 1824, studied medicine but was not successful as a physician, tried practicing law, and was less than successful in that.
Some of the information on Walker’s activities was received from Fernando de Necochea of Calexico, grandson of Jose Maria de Necochea who was born in Spain and whose son, Gabriel, had come to the Calexico area in 1898. He was listed as one of the earliest settlers of the border town.
In 1853, three years after California became a state, Walker had formulated his ideas. California, in those days, was a long way from other states and communication was low. The Apache Indians were threatening the settlers in Arizona and might, Walker reasoned, come as far west as the Sonora desert area that would become the Imperial Valley and other areas on the border.
20 years ago
BRAWEY — El Centro farmer Virgil Corfman has been involved with sugar beets as a contractor or grower in the Imperial Valley since 1945.
“It’s a good rotation crop. I’ve been happy with it,” Corfman said.
Corfman is not alone in his praise of sugar beets. He was one of several hundred people who came to Holly Sugar’s Brawley processing plant Friday to celebrate the plant’s 50th anniversary. Farmers and Holly officials, employees and retirees also celebrated the 100th anniversary of Spreckles Sugar Co., which Holly acquired in 1996.
Sugar beets have been harvested in the Imperial Valley since at least 1938. Holly Sugar’s Brawley plant began processing local beets in the spring of 1948.