MID-SOUTH EQUINES MID-SOUTH EQUINES

25 years ago — 1996

The group of soccer players that Memphis Futbol Club coach Richard Bute assembled five years ago will try to reach a long-sought goal today when it plays in the 20-and-under national semifinals. The 20-and-under team has been pursuing a national championship in various age groups since 1991, but has never advanced this far. MFC will play Westchester, N.Y., in a 2:15 p.m. CDT semifinal game in the U.S. Soccer National Championship at Indianapolis' Kuntz Stadium. ''We made it to the final four in a nation where 18 million players play this game,'' said Bute, 49, who has been coaching soccer in Memphis since 1981. ''We worked for this for five years." 50 years ago — 1971

JACKSON, Tenn. – With determination and perseverance, Marsha Alice Mcdonald, wearing the Miss Memphis State University banner, was named Miss Tennessee 1971 here Saturday night at the Jackson Coliseum. The 21year-old from Nashville was first runner-up to Carol Sue Ferrante last year. Ferrante is the retiring Miss Tennessee.

75 years ago —1946

Eleven flood control and navigation projects for the Mid-south, including the Memphis harbor program for the development of Tennessee Chute, were included yesterday in two bills signed by President Truman. While the bills authorize about $2,000,000,000 in flood control, navigation and water power projects, funds have not been set up for the projects and Mr. Truman said he would request none this fiscal year.

100 years ago — 1921

BATESVILLE, Ark. – The city of Batesville is improving its streets and the whole of Main Street has been graveled and graded. The streets are now in splendid condition.

125 years ago — 1896

ST. LOUIS – William Jennings Bryan has been nominated for president of the United States for the third time in a fortnight: by the Democratic Party, the Silver Party and now by the Populist Party at its convention here yesterday. Nothing apparently can stem the nation's sudden obsessive admiration of the ''boy orator from the Nebraska Platte.''

KAREN PULFER FOCHT/FILE Samantha Mercer,14, of Millington volunteers her time working with the horses at Shelby Farms on March 17, 2009. She checks on the horses who were grazing in the early morning fog.

BARNEY SELLERS / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILE LEFT: Mayor William B. Ingram Jr. rides through Downtown Memphis on May 18, 1964, as he led the Grand Parade, hat in hand and pipe in mouth, to wind up the five-day Cotton Carnival.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILES ABOVE: One of the first arrivals for the Le Bonheur horse show in September 1951 at the Fairgrounds was Inland Empire and John Bowers, general manager of the show, and Mrs. E.W. Hare Jr., a horse show committeewoman.

JIM WEBER / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILE RIGHT: Carriage driver Poppy Mcdonald and her horse Blue from the Carriage Company take folks for a ride through Shelby Farms on Nov. 8, 2011.

STAN CARROLL / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILE Christy Gross, founder and president of the nonprofit organization, and Winnie Pooh, a paint “mini,” are settling into the new stables at Dark Horse Rescue's near Byhalia in Marshall County on Nov. 13, 2012.

MIKE BROWN / THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL FILE ABOVE: Nose Better gets cooled off by Jesus Rodriguez in 2010 at the Germantown Charity Horse Show Grounds