January 24, 2007

The Commercial Appeal files

Kingsbury coach Bill Todd watches anxiously from the sidelines as his team's 11-point lead dwindles late in the game against Frayser on Jan. 25, 1963. Behind Mike Butler's 25 points, the Falcons held on for a 64-60 victory, their 13th straight. Todd would later become athletic director of Memphis city schools from 1970-1989, then served two terms on the city school board. He also did color commentary for Memphis State football and basketball games. Todd, who had a heart transplant in 1991, died in 2004, but not before helping raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight heart disease.

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January 24, 2007

Jan. 24

25 years ago: 1982

A proposed Germantown City Charter revision that would revamp recall procedures and slightly change the power of the mayor will be considered by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen in the next several weeks. Under the current charter, a recall election can be held after a petition with signatures from half the people who voted in the last election for that office is turned in. The official could be removed from office if at least 66 per cent of the recall election voters favor the ouster. The proposed charter would require 25 per cent of the registered voters to sign the petition for an election to be called. A simple majority voting in favor of recall would be enough for removal. The mayor would lose his tie-breaking vote under the proposed charter and also would be given a veto power, which could be overridden by the vote of three of the five aldermen.

50 years ago: 1957

Monte Carlo -- Monacans celebrated with champagne and fireworks the birth Wednesday of a blue-eyed girl to their ruling prince, Rainier, and his American princess, the former Grace Kelly. The strong-lunged miss, described as having dark hair and a tiny imperfection on her nose that looked like a freckle, was bundled in grandeur in a gilded wood cradle in which her father was rocked. But she was weighed on an ordinary American baby scale brought from Philadelphia by her grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Kelly, and tipped the scale at 8 pounds, 3 ounces. The tiny Princess, who will inherit 24 ancient European titles and her father's throne in this 367-acre principality unless there is a boy heir, was named Caroline.

75 years ago: 1932

Members of the Hunt and Polo Club today will hold the first fox hunt of the season over the club's estate and over the grounds of the Memphis Country Club. Mrs. W.B. Chapman and J.C. Pulliam are in charge of the chase and Howard Stovall will be master as well as handler of hounds.

100 years ago: 1907

Jackson, Miss. -- E.H. Moore, state senator from Bolivar County, said yesterday that he will renew his fight for a law abolishing the county convict lease system and compelling the counties to work their convicts on the public roads or establish penal farms.

125 years ago: 1882

Memphians received welcome news yesterday when the city officials announced that the mud will soon be scraped off the sidewalks downtown. The officials also announced that Beale will be rescued from the mire and restored to terra firma.