MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1998
For Roger Maris, the magic number was 61 in '61. For Mark Mcgwire, it may be 68 in '98. Big Mac hit Nos. 67 and 68 Saturday in the St. Louis Cardinals' 7-6 loss to visiting Montreal, moving two in front of Slammin' Sammy Sosa with one game left and an incredible seven ahead of the record Maris set 37 years ago.
50 years ago — 1973
DYERSBURG, Tenn. – Dyersburg High School received reaccreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools Wednesday after a three-day study by 23 visiting education specialists. The evaluation visitation
is required every 10 years to continue accreditation status.
75 years ago — 1948
Giving every indication it will live up to its billing as the greatest event of its kind ever staged in Memphis, the 36th annual Mid-south Fair and Livestock Show broke all opening day records with a crowd of 34,901 yesterday. The largest previous opening day crowd was 31,901 in 1941. L.B. Herring Jr., fair manager, said 21,640 thronged the grounds the first day — a Monday — last year.
100 years ago — 1923
Gov. Austin Peay, Tennessee's chief executive, will reach Memphis this morning from Nashville to be the honored guest of the Tri-state Fair Association for a day, it was announced yesterday by Frank D. Fuller, secretary, following receipt of telegraphic advise from the governor yesterday, who was at the Knoxville State Fair. The governor, perhaps the only one of the executives of the three sister states to visit the biggest fair ever conducted in Memphis, chose Mississippi Day and a Thursday, to boot, calculated to bring possibly 27,000 or 28,000 people to the grounds as the largest attendance this season. Thursday has always been the day of the biggest attendance.