MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1994 Inglewood, Calif. – The Great One stands alone. Wayne Gretzky scored his 802nd career goal Wednesday night, overtaking Gordie Howe as the greatest goal-scorer in National Hockey League history. The Los Angeles Kings center beat Vancouver goaltender Kirk Mclean with a wrist shot from the base of the left circle with 5:13 left in the second period. Gretzky raised his arms in triumph as the Kings rushed off the bench to engulf him in a sea of black and silver jerseys. The game was held up for a brief ceremony. Gretzky, flanked by his family, spoke to the Forum crowd from the ice, his face a-glow. He thanked his teammates and management, fans and family. And the sport he loves. Ultimately, though, Vancouver won the game, 6-3. 50 years ago — 1969 Jackson, Tenn. – Six more students were arrested yesterday — bringing to 74 the number of arrests in two days — and a 7 p.m. curfew continued in effect as 75 Jackson police and 125 riot-trained state troopers kept watch over the violence-torn campus of predominantly black Lane College. Although the college was closed for 10 days earlier this month in the wake of student vandalism and attempted arson and a boycott of classes, college officials said classes will be in session Monday. 75 years ago — 1944 The Red Cross War Fund Campaign here for $608,000 crossed the halfway mark yesterday as the largest contribution made to date, approximately $14,000, came from Memphis automobile dealers and their employees. Total contributions announced yesterday were $48,018, bringing the amount to date to $350,395. The end of the 15-day drive is officially scheduled for Saturday night. 100 years ago — 1919 German soldiers captured by the Allied armies furnished much of blood used in transfusions in base hospitals on the Western front, according to Maj. Max Henning, a Memphis surgeon, who has just returned from France. In most cases, the blood was given voluntarily and cheerfully upon promise that the donor would be allowed to remain abed, said Major Henning. 125 years ago — 1894 The objections now being made to the use of the Bible in public schools would largely cease if all parties could agree that it should be read and studied simply as a great classic, leaving alone the dogmatic questions which belong to theology rather than to literature.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Elvis Presley and fellow inductee Farley Guy, right, an old friend from Lauderdale Courts, are pictured on March 24, 1958. After reporting for duty about 6:30 a.m. at the Draft Board office in the M&M Building, 198 South Main, they and other inductees would spend much of the day at Kennedy Veterans Hospital for processing and physicals before boarding a bus for Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. By the 28th, Elvis arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, where he would undergo six months of training before shipping off to Germany. Presley moved about the rec room at Kennedy constantly. “If you think I’m nervous, it’s because I am,” he joked.