Out of the past: May 16

1997

Ron Shumate, who won more games than any other basketball coach in Southeast Missouri State University history, has been fired as the head men's basketball coach; the firing is linked by the university to an NCAA investigation into the Indians' program; also out are Shumate's three assistant coaches: Randy Curl, who was suspended and whose contract won't be renewed when it expires at the end of June; Kirt Cochran and Scott McCowan, who resigned.

Sgt. Eric Friedrich of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department is the recipient of the 1996 Timothy J. Ruopp Award; the award has been presented yearly since 1984 in honor of Ruopp, a past employee of the Cape Girardeau County sheriff's office, who was killed in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer in California.

1972

While it was apparently professional thieves who pulled one of the largest house burglaries in Cape Girardeau at the home of Mrs. Donald L. Harrison on Oak Lei Drive over the weekend, authorities say they still have something to learn about jewelry; the intruders thoroughly ransacked the house, taking an estimated $25,000 worth of furs, silverware and other items; but three jade bracelet and earing sets were left on the bed in the master bedroom among the disarray of other articles the thieves obviously thought of little value.

With preliminary construction work well underway, Missouri Highway Department officials at Sikeston are projecting a late fall completion date on ramp additions to Interstate 55 at Cape Girardeau's south edge and resurfacing of Highway 74 from the interstate to Dutchtown.

1947

Cape Girardeau's successful effort to secure Harris Field as a municipal airport has begun to pay off materially; the War Assets Administration yesterday gifted the city with equipment at the field valued at approximately $25,000; the equipment includes a tractor, 500-gallon pumper fire truck, 1 1/2-ton pickup truck, air compressor, six oil drip basins, control tower horn, two lawn mowers, two-wheel trailer, four oil heaters, exhaust fan, two large tractor field mowers, 200 fire extinguishers ranging from 15-pound to 5-pound sizes, two desks, four chairs and a four-drawer steel filing cabinet.

Seventy-two seniors of Jackson High School receive their diplomas in the evening in the school stadium, the first commencement held out of doors in the history of the school; delivering the commencement address is William E. Skadden of Springfield, Illinois, executive secretary of the Illinois Welfare Association.

1922

The argument between representatives of the American Legion and the Cape Girardeau Baseball Association as to the disposition of Fairground Park on July 4 was fully aired at a session of the City Council yesterday, although no decision was made; until a few days ago, Jack Hammonds, adjutant of the local Legion post, had believed Mayor Ed Barks had agreed to the Legion using the park for its annual Independence Day picnic; then he heard the baseball association had scheduled a double-header with Dyersburg, Tennessee, for that day.

Jackson seems to be certain to have a baseball game every Sunday afternoon from now on; the Jackson Ball League, headed by attorney E.A. Mason and Max Sigoloff, has arranged for a series of games, half to be played at Jackson; last night, a league of Black players was organized, with Edgar Mason as manager and Wilson White, a World War veteran, as captain; the Black players will supply the excitement on the Sundays when the white players are absent from the city, and all games will be played on the Gladish field.

-- Sharon K. Sanders