NED'S MEMORIES OF CLOVIS

by Ned Biddix, guest writer

The "Little White Church on the Corner"

You asked about my memories of growing up in Clovis. This has been difficult for me and I have asked my sister for a little help on this. I recall some of the guys' faces, but many events from those days escape me now. I still know some of the names of a few of the parishioners in our church, but I can't remember the name of our fifth grade teacher or teachers.

I sure remember how hard the La Casita playing field was, and how it hurt when we went down.

I played  baseball with a neighbor guy who had a fence around his backyard by the alley, and we did have certain areas where the ball would leave the field---such as centerfield was a home run; but any balls hit down the line were doubles. After one hit, the pitcher would have to go and find the ball. You see, this was only a two-man game!

I  recall playing basketball at La Casita outside by the school but I don't know if we had any official games. I remember Don Grant being very competitive and I was always up against him in all sports, except when we were both running backs together on our football team.

We had the baseball field by the school and I remember a little, but not much about it. As the guys talk about those days with me by email, it does bring back some incidents. Smells, they say, bring back memories to people readily and I can remember locker rooms (LOL) and the smell of those tamales the vendors were always selling on the streets.

 Your bully stories interested me. Funny all towns had or have a so-called "bully", but my daddy always told me , "son there is always someone out there that can whip your butt, so don't  forget that and be careful who you pick a fight with! "

 One thing that still stands out in my ole mind is we had a race one day in the fifth  grade; it was either in phys-ed or at recess. At the time I thought I was the fastest in the fifth grade class, so thought any competition would be the least of my worries. Guess I was the fastest boy, according to all the guys.

 In the final race, I thought I was way ahead and home free and I looked over my shoulder  would you believe?! I'll be darned, a girl by the name of Weeda was right on my heels.  I will never forget how fast she was and she probably wound up being the Queen of  Homecoming in 1953! She sure could run and I had a lot of respect for her for the rest of the year! 

 I wonder where she is today---probably in Hollywood or living on a ranch in N.M. with a millionaire husband! On the other side of the story---I always had a hard time running away from pretty girls! LOL

 As you said in your story, I would loved to have been on that basketball team that won the '53 state championship! Bobby told me all about the stars that the team had and two of the guys playing for UTEP. That's awesome! I used to hear from Alvis some, and some of the other guys.

      

I do wish my parents were still alive and I could write a short story about all our experiences in "The Land of Enchantment" that year."

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MIL: One chuckles a bit when reading about the limited room for playing neighborhood baseball in those days, and the "ground rules" that were necessary. Remember Richard Drake's account about playing baseball, in his "Hull Street" story.

After reading the CHS "Kerfuffle" story, five or six have written in to note that they too are living their lives with a pencil lead or ink spot---somewhere on their bods.

NED: On "Kerfuffle"----"Nice story, Mil. I had a similar experience when in grade school having horse- play with my buddy, Ted. He reached back from his seat in front of me and stabbed me with a fountain pen and today I still have that little blue ink spot on my left kneecap. We used to kid about it all the time until he passed away, about ten years ago."

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FOR MIL'S
By Ned Biddix,
Guest Writer

Sent from my iPad