STORIES FROM THE PAST
50 years ago
The Imperial Valley College athletic department is looking for a new head football coach as Lou Erber Jr. has resigned to become the top assistant coach at California Western University of San Diego.
“I feel that the offer was too good to turn down and hate to leave because I think that IVC has a fine future. But a person sometimes gets an opportunity that just cannot be refused, and this is one of those,” said Erber.
Last season was Erber’s first at IVC and his team was 4-5 in the Desert Conference. Erber came to IVC from Iowa State. He replace Don Rogers, who left for Butte Junior College.
On the plus side for Lou’s brief stay at IVC is the fact that he helped place every sophomore football player from last season’s team into a four-year college.
Erber is the fourth IVC coach to change jobs in less than a year as Rogers, Chuck Piper and Bob Lincoln switched jobs last spring.
40 years ago
White extremist literature and Ku Klux Klan stickers found on the Imperial Valley College campus this morning were believed to have been placed there over the weekend, said Dean Leptich, dean of student personnel.
“We think that they were put there by persons other than students,” Leptich added.
Meanwhile, Tom Metzger, grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in San Diego said today there is a recruitment effort going on in Imperial Valley.
He noted that they have been soliciting members “throughout Southern California” and the Valley “has been one of the target areas.”
He declined to say how many Valley residents are members.
As far as the literature circulated at IVC, Metzger stated, “We have a lot of members who have been distributing literature,” however, he was not aware of any specific drive over the weekend.
Metzger noted that the Klan “is very interested” in the present strike by the United Farm Workers against some Valley growers.
Meanwhile no approval to post the stickers bearing the legend, “The eyes of the Klan are on you” was issued by IVC officials, Leptich said today, and no one had approached the officials to place the literature there.
30 years ago
HOLTVILLE — Before his Holtville tournament finals match against unbeaten Art Sanchez of Indio High Saturday night, Central’s Gus Estrada sat on the finishers podium in the place reserved for the second-place finisher.
Ironically, that’s been the place reserved for the Spartan heavyweight the last two season in matches with Sanchez. He had wrestled Sanchez four times — all last year — and hadn’t won.
Make that 4-1. Estrada, trailing 5-3, pinned Sanchez with 58 seconds remaining in the second round. Prior to the pin, Sanchez had won 24 straight matches this season and has pinned all his opponents in the tournament.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen” Estrada said of his 19th win in 22 matches this season. “But I had a little feeling that I would win.”