STORIES FROM THE PAST

50 years ago

Sheriff-elect Ray Rowe has named Joe Sutton, a Brawley police sergeant, to be his new undersheriff.

The appointment of Sutton — the number two investigator in the Brawley police department, and an ardent supporter of Rowe in the primary and general elections — has long been rumored.

This morning Rowe said that the final acceptance by Sutton came on Wednesday.

Today Rowe said that there would be no important immediate changes in operations of the sheriff’s office.

“I am going to leave the operation as it is presently,” he said, “to give me a chance to check each department one by one by one and then make changes as they are needed.

40 years ago

Central High School won the 12th annual El Centro Invitational Basketball Tournament title Wednesday night and that hasn’t happened since 1969 when Carlos Mina led the Spartans.

It was far from easy as the Spartans defeated the Vista Panthers, 46-43. Coach Otto Low and the Central varsity turned the trick with gutty and unyielding play.

Palo Verde won the third-place trophy in the Unlimited Division with a 75-68 victory over Calexico. Imperial reigns as consolation champion after beating Holtville, 55-50.

Some observers figured the Spartans would finish no better than third due to lack of scoring punch and bench strength. Bench strength was one of the reasons Central won. Low pushed fresh talent into the game at different times and the Spartan reserves responded with spirited play. Central took it to the Panthers for most of four quarters.