The 1970 Lubbock Tornado

Painting by Thomas Hart Benton

(Wikipedia) The 1970 Lubbock tornado was a tornado event that occurred in Lubbock, Texas, on May 11, 1970. It was one of the worst tornadoes in Texas history, and occurred exactly 17 years to the day after the deadly Waco Tornado. It is also the most recent F5 tornado to have struck a central business district of a large city. Continued

Sonny Curtis

 

(Wikipedia) Sonny Curtis (born May 9, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Most of his work falls into the pop and country genres. He was a teenage friend and band member with Buddy Holly in Lubbock, Texas.
... Curtis joined the Crickets after Holly's death in 1959, and soon took over the lead vocalist role in addition to lead guitar. As the credits show, he was part of the band for the 1960 album In Style with the Crickets for which they recorded the original versions of two of Curtis's best known songs, "I Fought the Law" and "More Than I Can Say" (co-written with drummer Jerry Allison). Along with Cricket Jerry Allison he participated in Eddie Cochran's last recording sessions, including the song 'Three Steps to Heaven.' Continued

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

 

(Wikipedia) Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas. Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, Texas.
His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honkytonk brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as to Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. Continued

Buddy Holly's Classmates Remember The Pioneer 60 Years After 'The Day The Music Died'

 

(NPR) … Rock and roll got an especially cold reception in Lubbock at the time. Nelson remembers preachers regularly smashing vinyl records or using cars to crush them.
Local teenagers who wanted to listen to rock and roll would circle their cars out in cotton fields, blast the radio and dance. Nelson recalls that the conservative people in Lubbock "thought the young people were going to hell." Continued

ALSO: On the Enduring Genius of Buddy Holly, Sixty Years After His Death

Don Whittington

This Kremer Porsche 935 K3 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979, driven by
Klaus Ludwig, Don Whittington and Bill Whittington. (Dan Wildhirt) 

Reginald Donald "Don" Whittington, Jr. (born January 23, 1946) is an American former racing driver from Lubbock, Texas, who won the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans together with his brother Bill Whittington and Klaus Ludwig on a Porsche 935, although Ludwig, a multiple winner at Le Mans and elsewhere, did most of the driving in the heavy rain as the brothers did not have any real racing experience prior to the late 1970s. Don's brother Dale also competed in open wheel racing. His father, Don Whittington, Sr. was also an American racing driver in the USAC National Championship from 1957 to 1959.  Continued

Buddy Holly

(Wikipedia) Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and singer-songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll.
Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression; he learned to play guitar and to sing alongside his siblings.
... Unhappy with Bradley's control in the studio and with the sound he achieved there, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day", among other songs. Continued

Jerry Allison

Buddy Holly and
the Crickets in 1958
 (top to bottom: Allison,
 Holly and Mauldin)

(Wikipedia) Jerry Ivan Allison (born August 31, 1939) is an American musician, best known for being the drummer for the Crickets and co-writer of their Buddy Holly hits "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue."
Allison's first professional recording can be heard on a 45-rpm disc of a local group, Hal Goodson and the Raiders. This very rare recording was named "Who's Gonna Be the Next One Honey." It was also performed at the Norman Petty studio in Clovis, New Mexico, about six months before "Peggy Sue" was recorded.
In their early days at the Lubbock Youth Center, Buddy Holly's vocals and guitar were backed only by Allison's drumming, allowing for some of Holly's best guitar work. Continued

Don Bowman

(Wikipedia) Don Bowman (August 26, 1937 – June 5, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter, comedian and radio host.
He recorded for RCA Victor between 1964 and 1970, charting in the Top 40 with the novelty hit single "Chit Akins, Make Me a Star."
Bowman worked at several radio stations, including KRZK in Branson, Missouri.
Bowman was born in Lubbock, Texas, United States, and was the original host of the radio show American Country Countdown. Continued

Craig Ehlo

(NBA.com) A 6-7 guard, Craig Ehlo was a mainstay in the Cleveland Cavaliers' backcourt for many years, contributing both as a starter and a sixth man. A reliable outside shooter with a good three-point shot, he followed Coach Lenny Wilkens from Cleveland to Atlanta, signing as a free agent with the Hawks in 1993.

After three seasons in Atlanta he moved on to Seattle in the summer of 1996 as a veteran free agent, making significant contributions in the first half of the 1996-97 seasons but then seeing limited playing time after midseason. A native of Lubbock, Texas, Ehlo spent two years at Odessa Junior College and then finished his college career at Washington State. Continued

Joe Mauldin

(Wikipedia) Joseph Benson Mauldin, Jr. (July 8, 1940 – February 7, 2015) was an American double-bassist, songwriter and audio engineer, best known as the double-bassist and an original member of rock and roll group The Crickets.
... Born in Lubbock, Texas, Mauldin became the bassist in the group The Crickets, which included Buddy Holly and drummer Jerry Allison and guitarist Niki Sullivan. The first rock band he played in was The Four Teens of Lubbock in 1955.
He appears to have recorded with this group (that included the recording artist Terry Noland) in Dallas, prior to his recording with Buddy Holly in Clovis, NM. Continued

Sonny Curtis

 

(Wikipedia) Sonny Curtis (born May 9, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Most of his work falls into the pop and country genres. He was a teenage friend and band member with Buddy Holly in Lubbock, Texas.
... Curtis joined the Crickets after Holly's death in 1959, and soon took over the lead vocalist role in addition to lead guitar. As the credits show, he was part of the band for the 1960 album In Style with the Crickets for which they recorded the original versions of two of Curtis's best known songs, "I Fought the Law" and "More Than I Can Say" (co-written with drummer Jerry Allison). Along with Cricket Jerry Allison he participated in Eddie Cochran's last recording sessions, including the song 'Three Steps to Heaven.' Continued

Francis Lubbock

(Wikipedia) Francis Richard Lubbock (October 16, 1815 – June 22, 1905) was the ninth Governor of Texas and was in office during the American Civil War. He was the brother of Thomas Saltus Lubbock, for whom Lubbock County, Texas and the City of Lubbock are named.
Born in Beaufort, South Carolina, Lubbock was a businessman in South Carolina before moving to Texas in 1836. During the Republic of Texas period, President Sam Houston appointed Lubbock to be comptroller. Continued

Buddy Holly

(Wikipedia) Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and singer-songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll.
Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression; he learned to play guitar and to sing alongside his siblings.
... Unhappy with Bradley's control in the studio and with the sound he achieved there, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day", among other songs. Continued

The 1970 Lubbock Tornado

Painting by Thomas Hart Benton

(Wikipedia) The 1970 Lubbock tornado was a tornado event that occurred in Lubbock, Texas, on May 11, 1970. It was one of the worst tornadoes in Texas history, and occurred exactly 17 years to the day after the deadly Waco Tornado. It is also the most recent F5 tornado to have struck a central business district of a large city. Continued

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

(Wikipedia) Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas. Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, Texas.
His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honkytonk brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as to Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. Continued

Don Whittington

Reginald Donald "Don" Whittington, Jr. (born January 23, 1946) is an American former racing driver from Lubbock, Texas, who won the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans together with his brother Bill Whittington and Klaus Ludwig on a Porsche 935, although Ludwig, a multiple winner at Le Mans and elsewhere, did most of the driving in the heavy rain as the brothers did not have any real racing experience prior to the late 1970s.
Don's brother Dale also competed in open wheel racing. His father, Don Whittington, Sr. was also an American racing driver in the USAC National Championship from 1957 to 1959.  Continued

Buddy Holly

(Wikipedia) Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American musician and singer-songwriter who was a central figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. Holly was born in Lubbock, Texas, to a musical family during the Great Depression; he learned to play guitar and to sing alongside his siblings. ... Unhappy with Bradley's control in the studio and with the sound he achieved there, Holly went to producer Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, and recorded a demo of "That'll Be the Day", among other songs. Continued

Helen Wagner

(Wikipedia) Helen Wagner (September 3, 1918 – May 1, 2010) was an American actress. Born in Lubbock, Texas, she is best known for her long-running role as Nancy Hughes McClosky on the soap opera As the World Turns. She was the longest serving actor on an American soap opera. ... Wagner played the soap opera's matriarch, Nancy Hughes, from its debut on April 2, 1956, until her death. She was acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records for having the longest run in a single role on television, a position she held until 2010. Continued

Don Bowman

(Wikipedia) Don Bowman (August 26, 1937 – June 5, 2013) was an American country music singer, songwriter, comedian and radio host. He recorded for RCA Victor between 1964 and 1970, charting in the Top 40 with the novelty hit single "Chit Akins, Make Me a Star." Bowman worked at several radio stations, including KRZK in Branson, Missouri. Bowman was born in Lubbock, Texas, United States, and was the original host of the radio show American Country Countdown. Continued

Craig Ehlo

(NBA.com) A 6-7 guard, Craig Ehlo was a mainstay in the Cleveland Cavaliers' backcourt for many years, contributing both as a starter and a sixth man. A reliable outside shooter with a good three-point shot, he followed Coach Lenny Wilkens from Cleveland to Atlanta, signing as a free agent with the Hawks in 1993.

After three seasons in Atlanta he moved on to Seattle in the summer of 1996 as a veteran free agent, making significant contributions in the first half of the 1996-97 seasons but then seeing limited playing time after midseason. A native of Lubbock, Texas, Ehlo spent two years at Odessa Junior College and then finished his college career at Washington State. Continued