by Charly Mann 

I would like some help with Chapel Hill Memories. From what I understand the population of the United States is 307 million. Of that number 118 million are over 60 and I doubt if they have the energy to write articles about Chapel Hill. That leaves 193 million Americans who can help, however 120 million of those are under the age of 20 and thus do not have the time or experience for this endeavor. That still gives me a pool of 69 million to choose from. Unfortunately 59 million Americans are employed by the government – local, state, or federal, and we all know people who work for the government feel they are already doing their community service with their jobs. So my pool of potential contributors is down to 10 million, but there are also 7 million U.S. citizens serving in the armed forces and these men and women are just too busy protecting our country to help. That leaves only 3 million of you to help. Unfortunately there are one million Americans who are patients in hospitals or committed to mental institutions and they are of no use to me. Finally, there are 1,999,998 Americans serving time in prison, so that leaves just you and me, and I really could use your help writing about the people, places, and events of Chapel Hill's past.

Submit your articles to CHMemories@gmail.com.

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by Charly Mann

The Carolina Grill was located on West Franklin Street just beyond Fowler's Grocery Store and across from the bus station. I recall the place opening in the early 1960s and featuring good and very inexpensive food. I also believe it the first place on Franklin Street that featured bands several nights a week.

The Carolina Grill had the best hot dogs ever offered in Chapel Hil which were almost as good as those at Amos and Andy's  at Five Point in downtown Durham. They also had great cheese steak.

In the early 1970s I managed a store not far from the Carolina Grill and noticed that at lunch and dinner they usually had a long stretching down the street waiting to get in. They had full lunch and dinner specials for $1.69. One of my employees, Scott Valee, regularly got their hamburger steak lunch that included tea, a baked potato, and bread.

Another favorite student hang-out was Caffe Trio which stood at the corner of Franklin and Henderson. They served legendary shakes and was one of Chapel Hill earliest coffee shops. Most evenings the place reeked of cigarette smoke and was full of studying highly caffeinated students.

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This is George L. Coxhead's rate for one year of student health insurance in 1964

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by Lyle Jones 

Albert Amon was an Assistant Professor of Psychology and in the spring of 1963 he regularly accompanied evening protestors of segregation practices at retail businesses in Chapel Hill. While he had not been a participant in the nonviolent protests, he was sympathetic to their cause and he became accepted as the unofficial photographer of the Chapel Hill Freedom Movement. Al’s faculty office was in Nash Hall on Pittsboro Street at the Psychometric Laboratory. I was the Lab Director and Al and I were close friends. He met with me each morning after a protest to tell me about his adventures the prior evening. Al suffered both from acute asthma and from serious hypertensive disorders; he told me and many others that he expected not to live very long. He explained to me that medications for either disease served to increase the level of the other, but that his attendance at protests served to relieve the symptoms of both diseases, leaving him in a welcome state of exhilaration.

This is a protest at the Dairy Bar which was located where The Courtyard is today. The Dairy Bar had the best malted-milkshakes in North Carolina, and also served burgers, drinks, and fries at their sitdown counter. Blacks were not allowed sitdown service here or at the Colonial Drug Store across the street until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1966.  

As protests in Chapel Hill gained more widespread attention, conservative forces in North Carolina expressed greater concern and became more openly critical of efforts to overturn existing State statutes that supported racial segregation. The prevailing view as expressed in the media was that the protests were led by communists on campus. Of interest is one of Jesse Helms' 5-minute editorials on TV station WRAL in the first week of June, 1963: he recommended that the NC legislature consider enacting an a law such as that proposed in Ohio to make illegal the presence of communists or communist sympathizers as speakers on state university campuses. At the time, Helms’ suggestion appeared to have been largely ignored.

Jesse Helms believed that the Civil Rights movement in Chapel Hill was being inspired by communists who were coming to speak at UNC.

Al Amon reported to me on the morning of June 11 about his traumatic experience in Raleigh on the previous evening when he had driven to the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel, transporting three young African-American women who intended to try to register for a room that night. The hotel at that time served many NC legislators when the legislature was in session as it was then. Legislators were aware that a demonstration was afoot and had lined two-and-three deep on both sides of the path from the doorway to the registration desk so that the three young ladies were subject to extreme verbal abuse as they walked in to register. Of course, they were denied. Al stayed outside, but when asked by a legislator who he was and where he was employed, he stated that he was Al Amon, Assistant Professor in the Psychometric Lab at UNC (as Al told me and as also reported in the front-page story of the News & Observer of June 11, 1963). As he and I talked, Al was called by phone and asked to report to the office of Chancellor William Aycock. Al then returned to tell me that the Chancellor had received a call from a legislator in Raleigh, demanding that the Chancellor “fire that bastard Amon or else”. Aycock had replied that that was not the way the university did business. The Chancellor told Al that his Raleigh visit had created serious problems for the University, but that Al had the rights of every citizen to express himself freely so long as the expression remained within the law.

The two blacks in this photo are sitting down "illegally" at this counter waiting for service. They were arrested soon after this picture was taken. 

North Carolina Secretary of State Thad Eure observed the demonstration at the hotel on June 10 and was asked by Legislator Philip Goodwin (who was among those in the hotel lobby on June 10) to find some means of retribution "when UNC officials refused to discipline professors involved in the Raleigh protests". (Note that no professor other than Amon was present at the protests, Amon at that time had never been a protestor. He was an observer and a photographer, although later in 1963 and in early 1964, he became an active demonstrator at the Watts restaurant in Chapel Hill.) Eure acquired a copy of the Ohio proposal, adapted it for NC, and delivered it to Godwin on Tuesday, June 25. That same day it passed both the House and the Senate as HR 1395 and both bodies adjourned for the year. Eure boasted that he “kept it quiet between Monday and Wednesday from Governor Sanford". It was kept quiet from President Friday as well, and until its edition of Thursday, June 27, the N&O had published no report of the Act having been passed.

Bill Friday was the University of North Carolina President when the Speaker Ban law was enacted and fought hard to overturn it.

Eure has said, "It is absolutely correct to say the sit-ins [at the Sir Walter Hotel] were partly the motivation behind the [Speaker Ban Bill]". Another North Caolina legislator, "If you have to single out one issue to say what triggered it, it was Al Lowenstein [and the white professors] demonstrating in front of the Sir Walter Hotel filled with legislators from rural North Carolina". (Lowenstein was not present and as noted, the only professor there was Al Amon, not a participant, although having provided transportation for the three who were.)

Of course other issues also were in play, but had Amon not gone to the hotel on June 10, I believe there would not have enough heat to have generated by devious means and without debate HR1395 as it was enacted on June 25.

Alnert Amon took many photo of civil rights demonstration in Chapel Hill including the one above.

Later in 1963, Amon testified as a witness in Judge Raymond Mallard’s Orange County Superior Court. He then was charged by Judge Mallard with “inducing and procuring” another professor to trespass. Amon apologetically asked me for a loan of $500, the amount ordered by the judge to avoid arrest and detention; I was able to do so (and the loan was later repaid). The demonstrations and the Hillsboro trials are discussed in detail in John Ehle, The Free Men (1965) New York: Harper & Row. Several of Amon’s photographs are in that book, and many more are in the North Carolina Collection in Wilson Library.

In late summer, 1964, Al awoke at about 2am to walk to the medicine cabinet for asthma inhalator. Tragically, he collapsed in the enjoining room and died.
 

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by Neal Furr

I moved with my family to Chapel Hill in early June 1961 from a rural Cabarrus County area not far from what is now the Charlotte city limits. We ended up living in the Colonial Heights neighborhood that first year. Much to my great disappointment, I soon discovered that we had arrived too late for summer league baseball tryouts. So that summer, I spent a lot of time riding my bike down to the Little League field at Umstead Park to watch. I quickly associated players’ names with faces, so once school started, I realized who some of the boys my age were even if they didn’t know me.

Estes Hills Elementary School Chapel Hill soon after it opened

The 1961-62 school year and my experiences as a new sixth grader in town soon began. I was assigned to Estes Hills Elementary, north of town and the newest of the elementary schools in Chapel Hill at that time. The school was growing in student population, therefore, three new classrooms were hastily assembled and partitioned off in what had been a downstairs storage room. Downstairs classroom #1 was one of two sixth grade classes and was being taught by veteran educator Ms. Elizabeth Seawell. In the middle was classroom #2, the other sixth grade class with Ms. Mary Henley as the teacher, which was her first year back after several years away from the profession. This is where I was assigned. Next door in classroom #3 was a room of fourth graders, being taught by Ms. Helen Furr, who just also happened to be my mom. So when I got into trouble (which happened quite often that year), it was often double trouble. The principal at Estes Hills was an experienced administrator named Ms. Mildred Mooneyham, a lady short in stature with a very firm walk. Nobody crossed Ms. M. – not faculty, not staff, not students, not parents, nobody!

Ms. Henley was a widow who had grown children and lived on a farm south of town. She had no idea what she had got herself back into re-entering the teacher workforce. She had inherited a handful – make that several handfuls! It was a tough year for the teacher and some of the students as well. The best thing about our downstairs location was that it opened directly onto the playground. My first inclination was that maybe I could establish myself at recess since the classroom environment looked to be pretty tough. It turned out that some of my best memories of that year occurred on the playground. Although somewhat overweight, I did have a level of ball playing ability which I believe served me well in being accepted fairly easily. Other new kids were not always so lucky.

The rambunctious ringleaders (and all good kids) among the boys in my class were Mike Preston, Eddie Whitfield, Jimmy Vine, Jack Wilkins and Buzz Anderson (who moved away the next year). These were the guys you had to impress on the field of play. It didn’t take me long to figure out that we had some VERY smart kids in the sixth grade that year. Among the young ladies that were exceptionally bright were Sybil Wagner and Judy Schonfeld in my class well as the Kip sisters, Betsy and Nancy in Ms. Seawell’s class. Then there was Henry Hobson in my class and Walter Carter in Ms. Seawell’s class. They had only been in town a couple of years – their dads had been moved to Research Triangle Park in the late ‘50’s with The Chemstrand Corporation, one of the first major businesses to establish residency there. Now that I think about it, I had Ms. Seawell as a teacher as well since we switched up a few times each week for Reading class.

Estes Hills Elementary School First Grade Class 1966:  in this photo are Gus Jerdee, Susan Cohen, Robbie Conley, Wilson Daughtry, Myra Powell, Ruth Aiken,Kim Williams, Mike Riggsbee, Vail Cart, R.L. Bynum, Robin Huffines, Blair Tindall Sara Edmonds, Mark Masson, Kristy Klatt, Dorothy McNeill, Mike Hampton, Drake VanDeCastle, Drake Van De CastleKristi Klatt, John Anderson, Billy O'Neal, Liz Curtis, Liz Holm , Chris Penny, Sue Brickhouse, Natalie Harris, Jim Manahan, Jud Worth (Photo submitted by R.L. Bynum - the photographer was his father,Rupert Bynum Jr.)

For the first time in my educational matriculation, I struggled somewhat academically. Moving to a new school environment was much more of an adjustment than I had anticipated. That seemed to kick off a long line of teachers over the next several years telling me that I should be doing better in the classroom. I guess my interest in school continued to wane somewhat as I got older, I often just did enough to slide by.

It was an exciting time in the world we lived in that sixth grade year. The Roger Maris/Mickey Mantle race to break Babe Ruth’s single season home run record happened that fall of 1961. I got to watch Tar Heel football live that year for the first time. President John F. Kennedy came to Chapel Hill to speak in Kenan Stadium in October – they bussed all of us students over to attend. I got to witness Dean Smith’s first game in Woollen Gym as the new Tar Heel basketball coach in late 1961. I played organized (somewhat) basketball for the first time that winter as part of the Chapel Hill Recreation Department’s program. Years later, it became the game that I had a true passion for - although never a great player, I thoroughly enjoyed playing and coaching basketball until well into my fifties. U.S. astronaut John Glenn orbited the earth three times in February 1962 – we were allowed to watch on TV in the classroom. And in the spring of 1962, The Chapel Hill Little League expanded from six to eight teams. I played on one of the new teams, the Colts, and a couple Colonial Heights neighborhood friends, Tommy Roberts and Andy Skakle, were my team mates.

Front entrance of Estes Hill Elementary School in Chapel Hill

Ms. Mary Henley went on to teach several more years in Chapel Hill. She was a conscientious educator who genuinely cared about her students. Several years later, an elementary school was named for Ms. Elizabeth Seawell. And Ms. Helen Furr taught at Estes Hills, Lincoln and Guy Phillips before becoming the librarian at Elizabeth Seawell Elementary, retiring in 1994.

That year at Estes Hills has never quite left me. I moved to my current Raleigh N.C. neighborhood in 1992. Where do you think the neighbor currently living right behind me and the one across the street when I moved in attended elementary school? Why Estes Hills, of course!

Neal Furr has enjoyed a long career at IBM in the RTP, and has a passion for Beach and Soul Music. He wrote a column for the The Beach Music Reporter magazine from 2001 to 2004, and now writes CD reviews at the website www.beachmusic45.com. He also writes a monthly called Southern Soul Corner.

Chapel Hill Memories is looking for class photos from Estes Hills Elementary School. Please send any you have to chmemories@gmail.com.

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by Charly Mann

The highly regarded UNC football team kicks off their 2010 season on September 4th in Atlanta against LSU. On November 11th, 1961 I was eleven years old and sat in Kenan Stadium to witness LSU totally humiliate the Tarheel football team 30 - 0 on a very sad UNC Homecoming day.

#26 of LSU, Wendell Harris, scores an easy long running touchdown in the first quarter against UNC in Kenan Stadium in 1961

In 1961 I was a veteran of Kenan stadium, having spent almost every home game for the previous three years walking up and down the stadium stairs selling cold bottled soft drinks out of buckets filled with ice during the games. On this day however I was in the stands as a spectator with my father who told me I was going to witness one of the best football teams of all time. My Dad even told me that the LSU second-string team was better than most college first-string teams in the country.

The day was cool and cloudy and the game started at 2:00 instead of the typical 1:00 PM kickoff because it was being televised regionally. There were 28,000 fans in attendance, which was larger than most games, but at least 30% of the stadium seats were empty. Considering the population of Chapel Hill was only about 10,000 then and UNC's enrollment was about the same, this meant almost everyone in town was at the game.

LSU-UNC Game Day Ad with team rosters from November 11th, 1961. If you look closely you can see that year Sutton's was then known as Sutton's Drug Store and Toy Cellar. 

The game was incredible if you enjoyed seeing a clinic of great football. LSU was then ranked #4 in the nation, and I remember they were called the Bengal Tigers, but after that game I always thought of them as the Vicious Bengal Tigers. LSU scored easily on two early possessions with long touchdown runs by their halfback Wendell Harris. More amazing to me, Harris was also their primary kicker and scored three extra points and a field goal for his team. Soon after the first quarter LSU's young blond-haired head coach, Paul Dietzel, saw that his first team far outclassed UNC and put in his second string team led by halfback Bo Campbell. Campbell went on to average more than 10 yards per carry against the hapless UNC defense.

A member of the LSU "Chicago Bandits" defensive team tackles UNC fullback in the backfield for a seven yard loss 

As if the LSU offense wasn't dominant enough, their defense was even better, allowing UNC only 37 rushing yards. I also remember the LSU defense had its own name, the Chicago Bandits, which sounded pretty intimidating to me then.

There are two other interesting things I recall about that game. Up until that time every football uniform I had seen had been fairly bland, white and red, white and navy blue, white and light blue, but the LSU uniform really was spectacular with dark yellow pants and bright purple jerseys and gold numbers. The other thing was that a man who sat next to us said that he had seen the 1956 Oklahoma football team play, and this LSU team was better than them. On my way home I asked my Dad what this meant, and he said many considered that Oklahoma team the best football team of all time. That team I later learned had beaten UNC 36 to 0 in the first game of UNC's 1956 football season.

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