At the center of school spirit was the student bodies (and the communities') love of the Clover Bend Eagles and sports in general.
Clover Bend High School fielded baseball, softball, volleyball and track teams, but what the school students and community love best wer
e the girls and boys basketball teams.
BASEBALL
The Clover Bend Baseball program started strong. M.D. "Doc" Williams was Superintendent during the early to mid 1940's and he also served as baseball (and basketball) coach. Williams was a professional pitcher in the AA Class Southern Association. His fastball and control were his strongest assets. He hurt his pitching arm and had to give up professional baseball, but his depth of knowledge of the game and love of young people and teaching gave many young "Eagles" a good grasp of the fundamentals. More than one Clover bend youngster went on to play professional baseball. People still talk about Lance Phillips hitting a baseball so hard it landed on the gym roof in left field, which was about 450' from home plate-a pretty good lick for a high school boy! Lefty Ammon was a college and professional baseball player who coached one year after Mr. Williams left. Mr. W.R. Glenn, another gifted athlete and professional baseball player, came to coach at Clover Bend in 1949 and he continued the strong baseball tradition. Mr. Glenn would have in all probability made the "big leagues" if his eyesight had not failed somewhat.
The love of baseball during the 1940's and 50's was really widespread at Clover Bend and almost anywhere you went you could hear Harry Carey (and the old sergeant, Gabby Street) on the radio broadcasting St. Louis Cardinal baseball games. Most of the boys at school knew every players' name on the Cardinal roster and most of the players in all 8 teams that made up the National League at that time. Several students were good enough to have entered the broadcasting profession. A good example of this was Lloyd "Slick" Pope. His depth of knowledge of baseball was truly astounding for a kid his age (12-13 years) Some really big games were played between the schools in Lawrence County. The schools with a split term, such as Clover Bend, had the best teams because of the summer term, which was in session during baseball season. Walnut Ridge, and Hoxie once they dropped split terms, did not participate in high school baseball. Egypt was always the "team to beat" in the early 1950's, but the sweetest victories were over Lynn.
TRACK
Track was started when Mr. Jack Keith came to coach at Clover Bend in 1948. The very first team fielded by Clover Bend had one of its members, Bly Thorn, winning events at the State track meet. It was humorous, watching farm boys from Clover Bend participating in track and field events, because we didn't even know what they were, much less how to do them. Jerry Graddy was one of our high jumpers, and both Bly and Ray Thorn could run the 880 yard dash like crazy.
BASKETBALL
Basketball was almost everyone's first sports love. The girls and boys teams were always competitive and entertaining. Both girls and boys teams won several county tournaments, with a good number of district and important invitational tournament trophies being brought home. On a couple of occasions a run for the state championship was made. The girls teams of the mid 1940's and 1951 almost won the championship. The girls starting team that year consisted of Lela Dobbs, Pat Quarry, Betty Ann Jean, Clella Anne Lee, Betty Hampton and Glenda Steele, who was only a 9th grader.
Both boys and girls teams of the 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's always gave a good account of themselves. To walk through the empty gym now brings chills and choked pride to the former athletes who have run up and down that floor so many times. The fond memories of those very special days so long ago are the epitome of what school memories should be. These days of school shootings and other horrors make our growing up at dear old CBHS all the more wonderful.
