100 years ago – October 23, 1924
JUNIOR CLASS ‘11’ TROUNCES SENIORS
The first American football game held in many years in Healdsburg was staged at the high school field Friday afternoon, when the Junior class eleven defeated the Senior class gridders, 6 to 0.
The lone goal of the game was made in the first quarter, when Captain Eddie LeBaron of the Junior squad carried the ball over the line. The Juniors never again got closer than within 20 yards of the Senior goal, and frequently were pushed back to within 10 yards of their own goal.
The game was remarkably well played, considering that only two of the boys had ever played football before, while several had never seen a football game. Captain Lawrence Carpenter of the Senior class was the star for his team. The defeated upper classmen have challenged the victors to another meeting to be held next Friday.
75 years ago – October 21, 1949
GHOST GOBLINS WILL PARADE HERE HALLOWE’EN NIGHT
A bewitching event will be the boys’ and girls’ ghosts and goblins party planned by the Elementary School Parent-Teachers Association. Preliminary plans for the annual fete were announced when the P.T.A. unit met early this month under the direction of Mrs. Waldo Iversen, president.
The Hallowe’en function Monday evening, October 31, will begin with a costume parade. Children are to mass at the American Legion Hall at 7 p.m., and they will march from there to the Elementary School auditorium. No special prizes for costumes will be given, it is planned, but all participants will receive a treat.
Children in the primary grades will leave at 8:30 p.m.; those in the fourth, fifth and sixth, at 9 p.m.; and students of the seventh and eighth grades will remain for dancing until 10 p.m. In the event of rain, the young people will meet at the school auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
50 years ago – October 17, 1974
FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES SPY PLANE SWOOPS ALONG RIVER
An unusual looking aircraft resembling a large grasshopper, recently seen flying over the Russian River at very low altitude, has aroused a great deal of interest from residents.
According to Colonel H. A. Flertzheim, Jr., recently appointed to head the San Francisco District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the aircraft is actually an Army Mohawk surveillance plane developed for combat surveillance of the battlefields in Vietnam to detect enemy camps and trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Corps is adapting military combat equipment for peacetime civilian use, to assist in data gathering for the Russian River Comprehensive Study presently underway.
“This is an excellent example of how taxpayers’ money allotted for military purposes can be converted to benefit the public welfare,” Flertzheim said. “Rather than letting these planes sit idle now that they are no longer needed in Southeast Asia, they are being put to use to gather land use and water quality information necessary for an environmental protection and enhancement study of the Russian River Basin.”
The Mohawk photographs taken at altitudes of 1,000 feet will supply detailed land use and water quality information through high-resolution, large-scale photos.
The Flashbackers are docents for the Healdsburg Museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11am – 4pm, at 221 Matheson St.