No.15: Basketball Crazy

In the mid-1960s Tupelo went absolutely crazy over high school basketball. In that era the Mississippi High School Activities Association divided high schools into 4 classifications: AA, A, BB, and B. State basketball champions in each classification met in the Grand Slam Tournament in Jackson. While Tupelo High School had won AA championships before, the 1964-1965 team was the first to win the Grand Slam in 1965. The Golden Wave won another Grand Slam in 1966, took a year off in 1967 and won the Grand Slam again in 1968. The trip to Jackson became an annual expectation. Students all over town would check out of school and go to Jackson to back the Golden Wave. When the conquerring heroes returned to Tupelo in their caravan of team cars and fan cars, they were met at the high school by a huge contingent of fans of all ages. Basketball goals sprang up on driveways all over Tupelo, and many of us bought leg weights to emulate Jumpin' Jim Mattox who supposedly learned to jump out of the gym by wearing leg weights. Tupelo was absolutely basketball crazy.

Stan Byrd found this 1965 North Big 8 Basketball Tournament program among his sports memorabilia, and it brought back memories of those basketball crazy days. To give you some idea of how good this team was, four of them went on to earn scholarships to Mississippi State and four earned scholarships to Itawamba Junior College. And Coach Kermit Davis became the head basketball coach at State.

Incidentally, the old Big 8 conference consisted of 2 or 3 times that number of the biggest high schools in the state before the state started having football playoffs in each classification.

No.14: Where Are They Now?

Graduates of Tupelo High School found on the Web include:

Bryan Hawkins, Class of 1970, hasn't left Tupelo, but he's come a long way. He's the founder and president of Hawkeye Industries, "one of the most technologically advanced contract sheet metal fabrication companies in the South."

http://www.hawkeye.ws/
http://imagestupelo.com/index.php/site/articles/business/hawkeye_industries_is_one_of_the_states_fastest_growing_companies

Dr. Daniel Dotter, Class of 1970, is a professor of criminal justice at Grambling State University, and author of the book "Creating Deviance: An Interactionist Approach." (See Page 2 of the link below.)

http://www.gram.edu/news/update/udapril%2006.pdf

Lon Rains, Class of 1970, is now the Director of Communications for Northrup Grumman Corporation.
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=152528

No.13: Milam Coaches

Milam Coaches: Jerry Clayton, Bubba Thompson, and Walker Wood

Jerry Clayton was the head basketball coach at Milam until he succeeded Kermit Davis as the basketball coach at the high school. Davis left to become the head basketball coach at Mississippi State after winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles in 1965 and 1966 (I think). Clayton left coaching a year or two later when he was elected Lee County Chancery Clerk. When Coach Clayton left Milam to go to the high school, he was succeeded by Freddie Joe Chiles.

Bubba Thompson was the laid-back head football coach at Milam. I remember having him for PE in the seventh grade. It seems like he popped popcorn everyday and ate it while he watched us sweat. Coach Thompson was a gentle sort, but he could swing a mean paddle if he were pushed too far.

Walker Wood (even now I cringe at the thought of calling him anything other than Coach Wood) was just out of the Marines when he came to Milam to coach eighth grade football and assist with ninth grade football. He swung the hardest paddle of anyone I ever saw, and he seemed to enjoy doing it. I had him for eighth grade health, and we were all absolutely terrified of him. Those who knew him best could tell story after story about how he gained his reputation. I ran into him in Tupelo several years ago and really enjoyed visiting with him. He had really mellowed. More recently I ran into a group of his former football players enjoying a reunion with him over lunch. What a guy.

No.12: The Lyric

Built originally as an "opera house" for use by traveling vaudeville acts and other entertainers, the Lyric is now the home of Tupelo Community Theatre. But in my day, it was a grand movie theater. As young children we sometimes went there on Saturdays for matinees that lasted all afternoon. Later on it was the primary destination for dating couples. It seems strange to think of it now, but in that era movies repeated on a continuous basis with only the cartoons in between. So it was not necessary to know exactly when the movie started. You could always watch the end and then watch the beginning after the cartoon. When the movie got back to something you remembered, someone would always say, "I believe this is where we came in." Of course, many would watch the movie more than once. I suppose that came in handy if they didn't really understand it the first time.

The alternative movie house in my day was the Tupelo Theater, located on the south side of Main Street next to Reed's. (It's now part of Reed's.) A long, narrow building, it only had two seats on one side of the aisle and maybe six on the other side. The other alternatives were the two drive-ins: the Lee Drive-In on Robert E. Lee Drive and the 78 Drive-In on what is now McCullough Boulevard. Who can forget pulling into a spot on the gravel lot of those drive-ins and hooking the speaker to the rolled down window. Before air conditioning was commonplace, we didn't really think about what an uncomfortable way that was to watch a movie.

Now all of those old movie houses and drive-ins have given way to multi-plex theaters. And the movies aren't quite as good, either.

No.11: Dudies Diner

Some will remember this Tupelo landmark better than I do. I'm not sure I ever ate there, but people always talked about Dudies Diner, Home of the Dudie-Burger. I believe it may have been at one time a Memphis trolley car that was moved to Tupelo to become a diner. In my memory, it was parked just south of Crosstown on the east side of Gloster. Dudies Diner has been restored and is now found at the museum at Ballard Park.

Thinking about Dudies reminds me of other similar dining experiences from my childhood and youth. O'Callaghan's Dairy Bar was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Gloster and Jackson. The large parking lot was gravel rather than paved, and I can still hear the sound of the gravel when you pulled onto the lot. That sound was known to make a child salivate like Pavlov's dog. You could honk your horn and a carhop would come to the driver's side window. The driver placed the order after consulting with the other riders. When the carhop brought the food (burgers, malts, shakes, or maybe just an ice cream cone), the driver rolled his window down part of the way and the tray hooked onto the window. Of course you could go inside and eat at the counter from the stools or sit in a booth if you were lucky enough to get one.

Folks on the east side of town had similar dining experiences at Johnny's Drive-In. Johnny's is still an operating diner. Of course, the carhops have long since retired.

At the top of the 'Blog is a picture of Sherer's, by far the most popular spot for teenagers when I was that age. Before Sherer's there was Little Joe's Clover Leaf Drive-In on the west side of Gloster, just north of Jackson. I believe it took its name from the planned interchange of Highway 78 (now McCullough Boulevard) and Highway 45 (Gloster). The interchange never became a full clover-leaf, but Little Joe's kept the name.

A blog follower sent the following link to some historical information about the Sherer's franchise:

http://www.birminghamrewound.com/sherers.htm

No.10: An Interesting Experiment

In the early 1960s, Tupelo and Lee County students began to experience what is now known as "distance learning." Today's distance learning is via the Internet. In our day, the innovation was "educational television." Channel 9 (WTWV, now known as WTVA) in Tupelo began broadcasting educational programming during the school day at the request of Tupelo school superintendent Charles Holliday. Some of the stars of educational television, Tupelo style, are pictured above. Left to right, they are: Senora Wilson, Betty Duvall, John Shelton, Terry Thornton, and Sarah Tate. You may remember another, Elizabeth Taylor, who taught a science class via educational television in the last stages of the educational television experiment. Some of us had her live and in person for ninth grade general science class at Milam. One day she wanted us to watch a recorded version of her television lesson where she sang: "The earth is like a great big grapefruit, 26,000 miles around. You could dig right through to China, if you could get through the ground." (If you want to charm your grandchildren with that little educational ditty, she sang it to the tune of Rueben, Rueben, I've Been Thinking.)

No.9: Tupelo High School Band - 1968

(Photo courtesy of S. Byrd)

The 1968 Tupelo High School Band is pictured above with their director Jim Scott. As I look at the faces in that picture, it seems the band would have been very small indeed had it not been for the sophomore class.

Did you ever wonder why the band wore red and blue uniforms when the school colors were blue and gold? I think I remember someone telling me years ago that the official school colors were actually red and blue, but the blue and gold were a later version after the athletic teams first started being called the Golden Wave. If anyone has a better explanation for the colors of the band uniforms or any idea when the Golden Wave became the Golden Wave, please add a comment.

No.8: Tupelo Golden Wave

This 1968 newspaper photo shows D. Adams, J. Reed, Coach Purvis, D. Cruse, and B. Worthen. Coach Purvis came to Tupelo along with Coach Cheney and other staffmembers Coach Waite, and Coach Thompson in the late 1960s. They brought option football, isometric exercise, and wrestling mats to Tupelo. The football uniforms in the late 60s were a washed out yellow and the white helmets had a large T on the sides. On the whole, they looked a lot like Tennessee Volunteers. "Here's to old Tupelo, faltering never. We pledge our loyalty forever and ever ... Fight, fight, fight with all our might for Tu-pe-lo. Tahee, taha, tahee, ha, ha, Tupelo, Tupelo, rah, rah, rah." Does that bring back memories?

No.7: Hotel Tupelo

The Hotel Tupelo was THE hotel in Tupelo in the 50s and 60s (and before). All the civic clubs met there and formal events were held there. It was the only place in Tupelo with an elevator until the new four-story federal building that housed the post office was built in the 60s. The THS Key Club met at the Hotel Tupelo when I was in high school. I remember one meeting when one of our members found a cooked cricket among his green beans. After that we started meeting at the Rex Plaza and other locations. This was an ad photo from The Album, the very original name for the THS annual. Note that WTUP broadcast from the upper floor of the Hotel. You may remember that WTUP was the young folks' radio station and WELO was the grown-ups station - except of course if you wanted to listen to Tupelo athletic events. Jack Cristol was the voice of the Wave on WELO and Wallopin' Wayne Coleman broadcast the games on WTUP, Top Dawg Radio 1490. Wallopin' Wayne was a better DJ than play-by-play announcer.

The Hotel was torn down and a new five-story BancorpSouth (formerly Bank of Mississippi, formerly Bank of Tupelo) headquarters was built on that site. BancorpSouth is a major regional bank with branches all over the Southeast. The post office in the federal building that was built in the 60s is now a branch with the main post office on Thomas Street in West Tupelo. WTUP and WELO are still on the air, but both have a very small audience now.

BancorpSouth Bank, located on South Spring Street, where the Hotel Tupelo once stood

No.6: Homecoming Parade

Back in the day, the Tupelo High School Band led the way for each year's Homecoming Parade through Downtown Tupelo. (They still do.) Each class constructed a float by covering someone's truck with a chicken wire frame stuffed with toilet paper. I remember working on our sophomore float at the Coca Cola Bottling Plant.

High School students met for pep rallies in the gym on the afternoon of home football games, and sometimes for big basketball games. Each class would sit together in sections of the bleachers. At one point in the pep rally, the sophomore cheerleaders would lead the sophomores in a cheer, the juniors cheerleaders would lead the juniors, and the senior cheerleaders ... You get the idea. A group of teachers would decide among themselves which class had out-cheered the other classes and the winner was awarded the "spirit stick."
.

For homecoming, the pep rally had the added feature of the presentation of the homecoming court.

No.5: Downtown Tupelo

McGaughy's, a women's department store, was one of many retail establishments in downtown Tupelo when my generation was growing up. Other women's stores included Westbrook's, Pryor's and several others that came and went during my childhood. Men shopped at MLM and Hinds Brothers and of course, Reed's and Black's were department stores for the entire family. As a child, Woolworth's and Ben Franklin and Marlin-Cook's were some of my favorites. Amazingly, there were three jewelry stores next door to each other on Main Street (Dreyfus, Riley's, and Brasfield's), as well as Martin's and Estes Jewelry elsewhere downtown. And there were a number of shoe stores like the Corner Shoe Store, Lyle's, and several others. I always wanted Red Goose shoes because you could get a prize-filled egg with each purchase, but most of my shoes, other than tennis shoes, were Buster Browns from Reed's.

I remember fondly our annual Christmas shopping experiences Downtown, where Christmas music could be heard over speakers throughout the Downtown area. We bought bath powder for our mother at TKE Drug Store and socks or handkerchiefs for our dad at any one of the department stores. Those were simpler times. I don't suppose malls had even been thought of at that time, at least not yet in Memphis or Birmingham.

Today, there is very little retail shopping in Downtown Tupelo other than Reed's and MLM. Tupelo Hardware is still where it was, but all of the others mentioned above have long since departed. Downtown Tupelo is still a vital area with very few vacant buildings, but much of the old retail space is now filled with various business and professional offices.

No.4: Tupelo HIgh School

Tupelo High School moved to this site on Varsity Drive on the north end of Lee Acres in 1961. This early picture dates to the time when my generation was in high school and shows just how sparsely developed the area still was in the late 60s. The Civic Auditorium had been added by our time at the high school.

Before we were in the 10th grade, they removed the permanent walls between some of the classrooms and inserted folding walls to allow for "team teaching." I remember Mrs. Robinson teaming with Mr. Murphey for geometry, Miss Yerby teaming with Mrs. Stepp for sophomore English, and Mr. Richardson teaming with Mr. Horton for biology. Large group biology lectures were done in the air-conditioned rooms at the back of the Auditorium.

Coach Waite and Mr. Shelton were the drivers' ed teachers in the "classroom" behind the curtain at one end of the gym. When we moved from the simulators to the real cars (complete with brakes on both sides of the front seat), I had Mr. Shelton. Coach Waite's drivers got to go to Bill Bates Grocery for ice cream cones, but we just drove around and around in Lee Acres, giving hand signals to slow down or turn.

Tupelo High School moved to its current location on Cliff Gookin in 1991. If you live out of town and haven't seen that campus, you'd be amazed -- lots of buildings arranged around a quadrangle. It looks more like a junior college campus than a high school. The football stadium is on site, and it is much larger than the old Robins Field venue. But it will never have the ambiance of the old field.

No.3: Milam Junior High School

This old postcard shows Tupelo High School and Milam Junior High School in the 50s. By the early 60s, the "new" high school was constructed in the north end of Lee Acres on Varsity Drive, allowing the junior high to expand into both of these buildings. By the time I arrived at Milam, the transition was complete. The sixth and seventh grades were housed in the old junior high building (left side of photo), and the eighth and ninth grades were housed in the old high school building. All the elementary students from Church Street, Joyner, and Rankin attended Milam, and those from Lawhon stayed at Lawhon through the ninth grade.

I remember being thrilled as a sixth grader to have the opportunity to attend pep rallies in the auditorium (Emma Edmonds Auditorium?) for the Milam Ripples football team. It seemed very grown up to go to a school with a football team. The high school played in the old Big 8 Conference and Milam played the junior high counterparts from several of those schools. Our big rivals were Columbus Cook and Columbus Caldwell.

No.2: Church Street Elementary School

Church Street Elementary was one of only four elementary schools in Tupelo when I was a child -- the others being Joyner, Rankin, and Lawhon. Joyner was my alma mater. When I started there, Joyner went through the fourth grade, but a fifth grade was added before I was that old. Mary Frances Beard (Miss Mary) was our principal. Looking back, I remember her fondly. At the time, however, she seemed a rather imposing figure because of the rumor of her "electric paddle." No one wanted to be sent to Miss Mary's office; that's for sure. The principal's office was also where the volunteer moms performed the annual ringworm check in Miss Mary's dark closet with the aid of an eerie purple light. I never knew of a case of ringworm in those days, but we figured it must be awful because they kept checking us for it.

No.1: Where Tupelo Babies Were Born

Many of my generation began their lives in Tupelo at the Tupelo Community Hospital which looked as it was pictured in this postcard from the 1950s. You'd never recognize the place nowadays. The structure shown above is now completely enclosed (but still existing, I think) within a series of more modern building additions that have taken place through the years. It is one huge place now, and still growing. Don't bother trying to look it up in the phone book as the Tupelo Community Hospital, either. It was renamed the North Mississippi Medical Center years ago to reflect its more regional footprint. To see what it looks like now and to read a description of what our little community hospital has become, check out the link below:

http://www.nmhs.net/tupelo/