Georgia defeats Florida 21-10, bank to build Downtown parking garage
Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It may have been a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories from the week of Nov. 2-8, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The Jacksonville Alumni Club of the University of Florida became the largest UF alumni local club in the state. The announcement was made by Connie Hartley, district vice president of the state association. She said Jacksonville membership chair Nelson Harris had brought in the club’s 999th and 1,000th members that week, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith. Smith was an assistant football coach at Englewood High School.
“This makes the Jacksonville club the first alumni group in the history of the University of Florida to have more than 1,000 members and the distinction is recorded the same week the largest off-campus alumni event in the state is being held here,” said Richard H. Stratton, local club president. “The annual Florida-Georgia kickoff breakfast will be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at the Robert Meyer Hotel.”
Stratton, who would serve as master of ceremonies for the breakfast along with Gator Bowl President John Piombo, another Florida alumnus, said the main feature of the event would be an hour-long radio broadcast originating at the breakfast that would go over a 50-station hookup throughout the state.
As in past years the University of Florida Band and Gator cheerleaders would add to the festivities. After the breakfast the band and the cheerleaders were to go to Hemming Park (now Hemming Plaza) to hold a pep rally at 11 a.m. but it was canceled due to rain and cold temperatures.
Stratton said among the breakfast guests would be Gov. LeRoy Collins, U.S. Sen. Spessard Holland, U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett and “many nationally-known sports figures.”
• On Saturday, Georgia defeated Florida 21-10 behind the “flaming quarterback play” of Bulldogs senior Charlie Britt who also intercepted a UF pass and returned it 98 yards for Georgia’s final touchdown. The attendance for the game was 40,000 as fans huddled under umbrellas wearing raincoats and topcoats. The week before the game Cohen’s department store placed advertisements every day indicating that tickets were still available at $3.75 each.
• The Atlantic National Bank of Jacksonville announced plans to build a six-story parking garage with drive-in tellers and other banking facilities at the northwest corner of Hogan and Forsyth streets. The plan included construction of a tunnel under Hogan Street connecting a partial basement under the garage with the basement in the bank’s building at 121 Hogan St.
Approval of the tunnel was asked by J.W. Sands, the bank’s president, in a letter to the City Commission. He said in the letter that the drive-in tellers and other facilities would be on the ground floor of the garage.
“The laws of Florida in effect prescribe that to so use such ground floor facilities they should be connected with our existing banking office by a tunnel or bridge,” Shands said. He also said he believed the garage “would be of great benefit to our Downtown area and realty values.”
• Attorney William Towers said the leading citizens of Jacksonville “still haven’t come forward and said they want a professional football team here.”
He was a close friend of “Dallas oil man” Lamar Hunt who was organizing the American Football League. Towers also said 20 persons had offered to buy stock in the prospective team in amounts varying from $1,000 to $5,000.
“But the citizens, those who could purchase larger amounts, haven’t made any definite statements. We really need two or three backers who will put up $75,000 each,” he added.
Hunt met with 40 local businessmen the week before and told them he favored Jacksonville as the eighth team in the new professional football league. Play was set to begin in 1960 with teams in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Minneapolis and Buffalo. One more club was needed to fill out the eight-team league.
Hunt said Jacksonville was his first pick because the city had a large stadium, was growing at a fast rate and enjoyed weather in which football could be played through December.
• Preparations were already underway for the annual spring Charity Ball sponsored by the Rotary Club of Jacksonville.
Club President Robert R. Feagin said local charitable organizations had until Dec. 15 to submit presentations of their needs which might qualify them for the proceeds from the club’s annual ball.
Feagin said between $8,000 and $12,000 was expected to be available to a deserving charity after the ball.
• Dr. Harold W. Barrett was appointed the first director of the Millar Wilson Laboratory of Chemical Research at Jacksonville University.
He also became the holder of the university’s only endowed professorship under a trust fund of $500,000 left in memory of her husband by the late Mrs. Gertrude Rollins Wilson.
Dr. Franklin Johnson, JU president, said Barrett would have full faculty status as a research professor. He would be concerned primarily with research but would also teach a six-hour advanced laboratory course. Results of applied research carried on in the laboratory would be published under the auspices of JU. Any monetary returns resulting from laboratory discoveries would revert primarily to the trust fund.
• A U.S. Marine Corps detachment of 30 men was assigned to guard duty at Mayport Naval Station. The detachment was moved from Jacksonville Naval Air Station.
A naval spokesman said the move was part of the development of the station into a full naval station. Mayport’s security guards in the past had been entirely civilian.
• It was reported that 1959 marked the warmest and driest October in Jacksonville in 10 years. The U.S. Weather Bureau at Imeson Airport recorded two new temperature records and a tie.
The temperature averaged 75.7 degrees, 4.8 degrees above normal. The average temperature was 76.4 degrees in October, 1949.
The highest temperature of the month was a record 94 degrees on Oct. 1 and another record was tied the next day at 92 degrees. October, 1959 had five days of 90 degrees or higher against the normal expectancy of one day. The temperature was above normal for 29 days and below normal only two days.
Rainfall was recorded at 3.12 inches for the month, 1.59 inches below normal. It was the driest October since 1949 when 2.53 inches was recorded.
• The Salaam Club held opening ceremonies for its new building on Beach Boulevard. The $150,000 structure was air conditioned and had a central heating system. There were also two meeting rooms, a public address system and a swimming and wading pool.
• Deputy Sheriff Fred W. Brown was suspended for 30 days without pay by Sheriff Dale Carson as result of an automobile accident in which Brown was involved and he was charged with negligently operating a Sheriff’s Department automobile.
According to a report by County patrolmen who investigated the accident on Mayport Road, Brown was traveling too close to another car driven by Mrs. Herschel Clark of Fort George and drove into the rear of the car when it suddenly slowed down. According to the report Clark slowed abruptly when she ran into a fog bank apparently caused by fogging equipment of the East Duval County Mosquito Control District. Brown’s wife was in the car with her and both were unhurt. Brown received facial lacerations in the accident, as did Herschel Clark, who was riding in the patrol car.