MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 Years Ago – 1995

Dr. Cecil C. ‘Sonny’ Humphreys, who joined the University of Memphis when it was a fledgling teacher’s college and later shepherded the school through its greatest period of growth, died Wednesday night at his Memphis home. Dr. Humphreys, a Paris, Tenn., native who came to Memphis as a history professor and ended his career as one of the university’s pre-eminent elder statesmen, died at about 10:30 p.m. of respiratory failure. He was 81. “Sonny Humphreys epitomized the true gentleman and scholar. He had a winning way of winning friends and influencing people. He certainly was a role model for a lot of people for many years,” said Dr. Charles E. Smith, chancellor of the State Board of Regents.

50 Years Ago – 1970

Many skeptics feel moon explorer Neil Armstrong took his “giant step for mankind” somewhere in Arizona. There is wide support for a theory that the government and the news media conspired to hoodwink the public with a fake telecast of a moon landing. Others feel that man in space is infringing on God’s territory. These were some of the observations drawn from a survey conducted by Knight Newspapers in Miami, Philadelphia, Akron, Ohio, Detroit, Washington, Macon, Ga., and several communities in North and South Carolina.

75 Years Ago – 1945

Even the Germans know Mr. Crump. Lieut. Luke L. Mclaurine Jr., who recently returned to the U.S. after seven months as a prisoner of the Nazis, tells the following story: A German officer at Frankfurt on the Main was quizzing members of the B-17 crew of which Lieutenant Mclaurine was bombardier. He was asked his hometown. “Memphis, Tenn.,” he replied. “How’s Ed?” asked his captor in a familiar tone. “Ed who?” the Memphian asked. “Ed Crump,” said the German. The Memphis airman said he didn’t learn how the German knew of the Shelby County political leader.

100 Years Ago – 1920

San Francisco – William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champion of the world, took the witness stand in his own defense today in his trial here on charges of evading the selective draft act.

125 Years Ago – 1895

Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory – A battle is raging in the Chickasaw Nation between Governor Mosley and 200 insurrectionists. Six people have been killed and a score wounded according to reports from Tishomingo, the nation’s capital. The trouble started when the legislature ignored Willis Brown, Charles Brown and Noah Mcgill, who claimed to have been duly elected sheriffs of the nation.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES Stuka, mascot of the “Memphis Belle” takes a last look at England from the waist gunner's window of the bomber before the U.S. flying fortress and its' crew took off from a base in England for the United States in this photograph dated June 15, 1943. Holding Stuka is Capt. James H. Verinus, co-pilot, of New Haven, Conn. The plane and crew arrived in Memphis June 19th.