Yesterday in La Crosse
Yesterday 12/26/16
Yesterday 12/26/16
The Marching Chiefs party in California…47 years ago, Yesterday in La Crosse.
The La Crosse State band went west at the end of 1969 to perform in Pasadena’s Rose Parade. Three hundred people attended a dinner at UCLA for the Chiefs and La Crosse alumni. College president Sam Gates told the dinner guests that he had thought it wouldn’t be possible to send the band to California because of the price tag…75-thousand dollars…and a change in band directors just months before the trip. But Gates said the La Crosse delegation was having a wonderful time.
Not a good holiday season for Packers head coach Phil Bengtson. On Christmas Eve, Bengtson was loading a gift into his car when he tripped and fell backwards, breaking his hip. The Packers had a winning record in ’69, but finished third in the division behind the Vikings and Lions. Minnesota played in the Super Bowl for the first time that season.
At the movies that holiday season, two Disney films were playing…’101 Dalmatians’ and ‘The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.’ And there was a new James Bond, George Lazenby, in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.’ Forty-seven years ago, 1969, Yesterday in La Crosse.
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