MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1993
CHICAGO — There were big markets, booming markets and so-called hot markets. Then there was the Memphis market, which left the National Football League cold. Examine the city’s failure to land an NFL expansion franchise and you can focus on the city itself. The league on Tuesday selected Jacksonville, Fla., to complete a twocity expansion process that tabbed Charlotte, N.C., on Oct. 26. Memphis, meanwhile, was found lacking, a losing finalist, just as it was in 1974. There were concerns that while other cities were either big or booming, Memphis’s population in years to come would remain stable or shrink. There were concerns many people in Memphis’s market — both in the city and in the Mid-South — couldn’t afford to buy NFL tickets. There was a notion — right or wrong — this is a minor-league town.
50 years ago — 1968
Odell Horton, director of city hospitals and health services, said yesterday he would accept the Criminal Court judgeship of Judge Ben L. Hooks if it were offered to him. Sources close to Gov. Buford Ellington said yesterday that the $15,000-a-year job had been offered to Mr. Horton, but not by the governor personally. Mr. Horton’s interest was contrary to earlier reports that he would refuse the post. He said he felt the position would be a new challenge for him. “Every lawyer wants to be a judge,” he said, “and I think this would be a great opportunity.” Appointed by Mayor Henry Loeb as the first Negro to hold a major city office, Mr. Horton declined to discuss the offer since “Judge Hooks has not officially resigned yet.”
75 years ago — 1943
Chi Omega at Southwestern will entertain from 5-7 o’clock tonight in the sorority lodge with an open house for Army Air Cadets attached to the 13th Training College Detachment on the campus. Vases and baskets filled with cardinal and straw flowers, colors of the sorority, will decorate the rooms. Coffee, doughnuts and sandwiches will be served.
100 years ago — 1918
William H. Bates, widely known Memphis citizen and president of S.C, Toof & Co., one of the South’s leading firms, died yesterday. Long active in local politics, he was first chairman of the Memphis Artesian Water Department. He joined the Toof firm in 1876.
125 years ago — 1893
The steamer Clyde, which sank yesterday at Rockport Bar, 12 miles above Johnsonville, Tenn., is in bad shape but can be raised. All efforts will be taken to restore the steamer.