CLOVIS: OUR "PEACEABLE" LITTLE HOMETOWN

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"REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE" by Wylie Dougherty, CHS, '53
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Sometime around my senior year at CHS,1952-53, there was this "Rebel Without A Cause" event. (Remember the movie?) One evening, after some strong, harsh words at a local drive-in, two students agreed to settle their dispute, in a field somewhere north of Clovis. (I think it was just north of KCLV's broadcast facility.) No doubt the site was chosen to avoid police interference and arrest.

One of the combatants was a burly farm boy from the Texas Panhandle, Floyd "Red" C., a lineman on the CHS football team. The other was Don R., son of a noted car dealership owner, there in Clovis. The reason for this dispute is lost in history.

They agreed to meet at the above-mentioned field to settle their dispute. Word spread among the Main street draggers and somewhere between ten and twenty cars went to the appointed field, creating a circle of headlights which became the arena for battle.

The combatants went at it and "Red," known for being a big tough guy, promptly knocked Don out cold, and then asked if "anyone else wants some of me?" One of my friends, Raymond Williams, a very good Golden Gloves boxer stepped forward to answer the challenge. Some blows were exchanged and dazed-Raymond, spun out into the crowd, and not knowing what he was doing, the first one he zeroed in on was me. He was a southpaw, and I didn't want to meet that big left fist, which was aimed at me.

As he swung at my head, I answered with a right to the mouth which put him the "rest of the way out" for he was already really out on his feet when he came at me. I still have a scar on my right hand where my knuckles went into his teeth, and Ray has a scar on his chin from the stitches to close up his lower mouth. Until I left Clovis, Ray always asked me: "Why did you hit me?" My answer of "self defense" wasn't what he wanted to hear, especially since I was thirty pounds lighter.

This is the first, last, and only time I recall such an event---or taking part in one, with the cars creating an arena for a "no holds barred" fight.

I would be interested if any of the readers might have been there that night during our "Rebel Without A Cause" event.
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(MIL'S NOTE: Recently I had lunch with Wylie, and saw with my own eyes the white scar on his knuckles, still there after some 59 years. Is there a moral to this story? Yes, I think there is. Don't mess with Wylie...or "Red" either, should you happen to run into him somewhere.

My friends, don't you marvel at life?! There must be thousands of great untold stories out there---maybe almost as good as this one---all just waiting to be told! Have you got one?)

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BY MIL AND WYLIE
11/5/12


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