MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1995
Kansas City, Mo. – Ten-year-old Ben Stewart’s magic hat couldn’t save the Memphis Tigers in the NCAA Tournament Friday night, but it came excruciatingly close. In the Midwest Regional semifinals at Kemper Arena, Memphis (24-10) took defending national champion Arkansas (30-6) into overtime before Arkansas escaped with a 9691 victory. Arkansas will play the Virginia Cavaliers Sunday. Virginia beat Kansas 67-58 Friday night. The Arkansas-virginia winner advances to next week’s Final Four in Seattle.
50 years ago — 1970
President Nixon’s 10,000-word statement on desegregation yesterday prompted comments from school administrators that more federal funds would help, but some civil rights workers said the president’s plans were not enough. Nixon, in the most extensive statement ever made by a chief executive on school desegregation, recommended spending $1.5 billion during the next two years to make desegregation easier and more effective, to raise the standard of predominantly black schools and to promote interracial contact for pupils in predominantly white schools. “It appears,” said Sen. James O. Eastland, D-miss. “The President has declared a policy of separatebut-equal in the North while at the same time reaffirming a policy of forced integration in the South.”
75 years ago — 1945
Major Robert A. Elder, Memphis P51 fighter pilot, became an ace within hours yesterday by shooting down five enemy aircraft over Germany, the Associated Press reported last night. Major Elder is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eaton M. Elder. He graduated from Southwestern in 1940. 100 years ago — 1920
Plans for a campaign fund to move Southwestern Presbyterian University from Clarksville, Tenn., to Memphis were made yesterday at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and university officials. Named to the campaign committee were Dr. Charles E. Diehl, Henry Lake, Dr. William Crowe, W.E. Holt and C.F. Farnsworth.
125 years ago — 1895
Recent scandals in the Vanderbilt and Astor families direct attention again to the strange and inadequate divorce laws of the various states. Of the 44 states, 43 have separate and different laws governing divorce and remarriage. South Carolina has no divorce laws. In many states, remarriage of residents who have obtained divorces elsewhere is not recognized, nor is the divorce itself.