Phillips Blackhawks: Memories Page 4

I need to settle a bet with a guy who lives in Lubbock and swears the first incarnation of Sutphen's Barbecue was in Borger. I say the REAL, very first Sutphen's Barbecue was in Phillips, Texas. Can anyone settle this for us?

I distinctly remember going to Sutphen's in Phillips when it was only a small building on the east side of the highway across from where a 7-11 store was later built. Sutphen's later moved into the building where they are now located in Borger. The building formerly was some sort of establishment which sold chicken.

November 4, 2002.....NOT MORE THAN 5 YEARS AGO, MY BROTHER JOHN ( CLASS OF 51 ) AND I, MELVIN SELLERS ( CLASS OF 48 ) WERE HAVING THIS SAME ARGUMENT OF THE START OF SUTPHEN'S AS WE WERE EATING LUNCH AT SUTPHEN'S. I SAID I COULD REMEMBER EATING A SANDWICH AT SUTPHEN'S IN BORGER AT A SMALL SHOP A FEW BLOCKS WEST OF MAIN STREET ON 10TH STREET BEFORE THE PHILLIPS LOCATION. HE DISAGREES, SAYING HE COULD REMEMBER THE STARTING PLACE AS PHILLIPS BECAUSE HE WORKED AT PHILLIPS AND PASSED BY THERE EVERY DAY, WHILE DISCUSSING THIS, WE NOTICED MRS. SUTPHEN AT THE CHECKOUT COUNTER AND NOT TOO BUSY SO WE ASKED HER ABOUT THE START OF SUTPHEN'S. SHE SAID THEY DID START ON 10TH STREET IN BORGER AND WERE THERE 1 MONTH BEFORE MOVING TO PHILLIPS. SURE WAS A GOOD LUNCH WITH OLE JOHN PAYING FOR IT. THIS IS A GREAT SITE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

In response: Sutphen's Barbecue did start in Phillips at the location the editor mentions. Next door was a small auto repair shop. Our family ate at the Sutphen's restaurant in Phillips frequently and the recipe was the same as it was after they moved to Borger in the previously known restaurant, Myer's (sp?) Fried Chicken.

Sutphen's Barbeque originated in the little building in Phillips across from the 7-11. When I was in school a "student" lunch was 50 cents! The Lubbock store was many years down the line following Amarillo and Dallas.

The little convenience store across from Sutphen's was not a "7-11" .....it was called "Toot'N Totem".

The auto repair shop next to Sutphen's was called Speegle's. Butch Speegle was also a PHS student - 1960 or so as I remember.

I have an old Sutphen's Barbecue Restaurant menu which states, "Since 1949". I also have an old Sutphen's business card which says, "Since 1950". So, I suppose Sutphen's barbecue business, located in Phillips, began around 1949.

More about Sutphen's Bar-B-Que....the fellow who ran the smoker-cook pit in Phillips was named Clarence. He would always manage to slice off one rib if you were around very much - just 1 -not 2! He would claim that rib wouldn't make it past Margie's inspection. My brother and I were frequent visitors to the back door of Sutphen's and Clarence's smoke pit.

Does anyone know anymore about Miss Bisbee? She had a very interesting life away from teaching music at Phillips. She flew planes in WWII, served in the Peace Corps and more.
`A reply from Robert.....HELEN BISEE CAME TO PHILLIPS IN 1946. LEE JOHNSON BROUGHT MISS BISBEE AND CODY FONDREN TO PHILLIPS; THEY HAD BOTH BEEN TEACHING FOR HIM IN THE WINK, TEXAS SCHOOL SYSTEM.`

What great fun we had in Mrs. Chapman's music class. Remember the box full of dress-up clothes? We used to dress-up and perform for the rest of the class at least once a month. I am sure you all remember the "no gum rule" for music. One day I found myself with a mouthful of grape bubblegum and class had begun, not wanting to interrupt my wonderful teacher I did the only logical thing a 5th grader could do. I opened my music book and stuck my gum inside. A few weeks later "to my horror" Mrs. Chapman was standing in front of our class with the book opened to some very torn and grape gum covered pages. She wanted to know who did this? My, up to that minute, friend on my right stood up at attention, raised her right hand and stated "I cannot tell a lie, April Roberts did it." So the mangled book and I took a trip to Mr. Adkins office.

One of my children (an award-winning grade school teacher) recently asked me what it was like living in Phillips during the early '50s and wondered if I had exhibited any "rebellious behavior" during my formative years. My response was an immediate, "No!". But, then, I began to regress and I remembered my eighth grade year. My favorite Phillips teacher had to be Mrs. Lacy in the sixth grade. Mrs. Lacy introduced us to the world of science and nature. I recall the insect collections, rock collections, bird nests, Indian artifacts and various nature books and games. I vividly recalled how excited I was during that school year and looked forward to each class with enthusiasm. During my eighth grade year, one of my friends got the idea of hitchhiking to Borger to see a movie and, maybe, meet some "wild Borger girls". Of course, we had to smoke cigarettes to make a big impression. So, we caught a ride to Borger, attended the movie and did not see any girls at all. Hitchhiking back to Phillips, we were standing on the side of the road, puffing on our cigarettes, when a sedan stopped and the door opened. What a shock I had. It was Mrs. Lacy and her husband. With a disapproving glance, she instructed us to get in and asked me what my parents would think if they saw what I was doing. She shamed me into an apology and the promise not ever to behave that way again. She stressed that I had good potential and not to waste my life. In fact, I never did smoke again and have always remembered that most important lesson that Mrs. Lacy taught me. Mrs. Lacy was the very best! Now that I am older than dirt, I have two children, who are educators, and they are telling me to behave or they will put me in a home. God truly has a sense of humor.

Probably the craziest time that I ever experienced at good old PHS was an art class. It seems our instructor, Mr. Lillard, had himself a drinking problem. He would on occasion, sneak into his office to have a snort. The art class was held in a non-connected building, adjoining the wood & welding shops. In those days, bomb threats were "cool." Some of the crazier folks (of which I am proud to admit, I was not one of) would occasionally slip into Mr. Lillard's office and call the main office with a bomb threat. Without fail, the bomb threat would cause a welcome "fire drill" precisely 5 minutes later. One day, Mr Lillard was particularly zonked. After the bomb threat call was placed... and the caller(s) were safely back in the room, Mr. Lillard slipped back into his office for another sip. While he was out, somebody decided to bring a little reality to the expected fire drill, so they set the rather large trash can, which was totally full of paper towels on fire. Mr Lillard staggered back into class and sat quietly at his desk. As the flames grew higher and higher, he still didn't notice. The smoke got so thick, I honestly think that he could barely see the papers on his desk...the ones that he was pretending to be working on so intently. Let's just say that we were all happy that the fire drill came when it did. Otherwise, the building would've burned down. Or, at the very least, Mr. Lillard (and the rest of us) would've died of smoke inhalation. Mr. Lillard never said a word... about that... or about anything else that was done in that class the entire year. I suppose the poor fella deserved it for drinking on the job... but, I never laughed so hard and simultaneously felt so sorry for someone in all my life. You simply wouldn't believe the "stuff" that went on in that class.

PS: In retrospect, I'm not sure this story is funny-- but it really did happen. We had a fire drill to disguise a bomb threat search, when we really had a fire.

Brenda remembers the smokers in the back of the bus. There were (I believe) 8 of us back there and only KWY and myself got to go see JIK. Of course JIK was going to send us home for 3 days. He told us that if we told who else was back there no one would go home, just a busting. YEAH!!!! We would not tell who else was there so we got a short vacation. By the way I still do not ride any of those roundy-roundy rides.

Hello Phillips Grads!! I still think my dad bleeds ORANGE, must be why his only daughter loves the color. My dad graduated from Phillips and I have heard stories of the "Good Ole Days" in Phillips. I spent many of days in that great place with my grandparents and would not trade them for the world. One of my favorite stories about my dad's "YOUNGER" days can still make me laugh so hard that I cry. Anyone remember how Mr. Ramsey's car just happened to show up on the sidewalk, missing, or anywhere it shouldn't have been. I sure would like to talk to JIK to see what my dad was really like! Now I know why he only rides things that go up and down not round and round!!

I just wanted to say thanks to you Craig for this wonderful site. I finally got my dad to sit down with me and surf the site. Three hours later I got my turn to visit it. I just wanted to say how PROUD I am of Mr. Ralph Pumphrey who will graduate in Jan. 2003 with his Masters in Business. My mom has endured his school days along with her teaching career and now that it's almost retirement age he wants to climb the career ladder, just when they have the empty nest. I bet JIK would be surprised. Daddy we are proud of you and support you in everything. Thanks to the great teachers in Phillips for helping my dad become the wise man I know. I can't even drive out to the plant without remembering what great fun I had in Phillips. The hayrides, football games, the Phillips Fair (as we called it), the pool and the safety I felt when I went to sleep and nobody ever bothered to lock the doors or shut the windows. What a great place it was and will always be remembered as.

Ahhh! The green shoes and socks after marching in the Cotton Bowl back in 1960. Poor Francille Andress was a nervous wreck about the rain and storm clouds and we being the rotten kids we were just added to her fears. I slipped out of the motel room and went next door to the bowlong alley and got us some late night snacks.

Black socks were mandatory for the dress code in the PHS Marching Band. The black shoe polish story caused a long lost memory to pop up. We were in Amarillo for some sort of marching band hoopla in about '65 and as we suited up, Charlie Hampton realized he did not have black socks. He and another guy ran over to a little store and bought black shoe polish and Charlie dyed his ankles and feet with the black polish. Mr. Robbins was absolutely speechless. Those of us who knew Charlie didn't give it a second thought.

I noted the story on eraser fight while Coach Chesty Walker was out of class. I recall he often left class to have a smoke in the boiler room. He also had the texts (algebra, plane geometry as I recall) memorized. Somehow we all got through the classes. He was quite a person on and off the field.

I have fond memories of the Harvest Moon Ball. I remember attending (with someone who is still very special to me) with a cast on my right leg. We had to split the pants to the new suit I had, just to accommodate the cast. We still had a great time with many laughs in spite of my "disability"....those were wonderful times!

Miss Boyd seems to be a recurring topic. I remember one time when someone in my class told her that all the pipelines from the plant ran right under the school and if there ever was a big explosion the school would go up right along with the plant. Well sure enough sometime later that year there was an explosion which, as usual, rocked the school. Miss Boyd exited the school with great haste and refused to return until Mr. Kimmins convinced her she had been had! Everyone in our class had a great laugh, but paid plenty later!

On our many band or choir trips, we would sing songs because Walkmans hadn’t been invented then. One of the songs I learned on one of those trips was sung to the tune of Glowworm and the words were:
There in the moonlight, glimmer, glimmer Stood a figure slimmer, slimmer.
Eyes mascaraed and hair peroxided Standing in the breezes she looks lopsided
Ruffles on her petticoat, swaying in the breezes Sounds like sandpaper rubbing on her kneeses
All the things that women do Can make a man go wild!

Mr. George is memorable for many of us. However, I was the one that broke the news to Mr. George that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. We were in his history class right after lunch when Linda Cochran passed me a note telling me what she had heard on the news when she went home for lunch. I knew he would want to know, so I mounted all the courage need to interrupt his lecture to tell him. He was in such disbelief that he left at once for the office to find out for sure. When he returned some minutes later, he had tears in his eyes. I can't remember exactly what happened after that, if we were dismissed or if there was some sort of announcement over the P.A. system. But how memorable is that: the greatest tragedy in 'our' history and to be the one to tell the great Mr. George about it.

These stories are great and it is so nice to remember the great times at old PHS! Mr. George supplied many laughs and I guess his re-enactment of the entrance of Texas into the union was experienced by every class. I doubt that very many folks our age can remember so vividly their high school teachers. We had so many good ones such as Mr. George, Miss Boyd, Mrs. Harrell, etc. We were truly blessed. Craig, thanks for making these shared memories possible. I miss those days!!

Well, I have had something on my mind for the past 50 years or so. Truly, I believe that my brilliant, little mind was "warped" by Mrs. Hubbard (Of course, Mrs. Hubbard was the greatest!) and another choir teacher, whose name now escapes me. I remember when I was in elementary school and Mrs. Hubbard listened to our voices during "tryouts" for school choir participation. Mrs. Hubbard listened to my voice, looked at me momentarily with a frown, said nothing, then moved on to the next student. I did not make the choir. But, the most traumatic experience came when I, later, was in another school choir and the music teacher gave instructions to all students, then looked at me and stated the following, "Please, just move your mouth with the music - do not make any sounds!" I have wondered all of these years if any of my former classmates had to endure similar "pain" of choir rejection and, possibly, sought therapy??? Now, in my old age, I attend church services regularly. I once was invited to sing in our church choir and that really scared me. My beautiful wife now cautions me not to sing where anyone sitting in the pews can hear my voice. I continue to have "flashbacks" of my early childhood days trying out for Phillips school choirs and being rejected. I often wonder if Willie Nelson or the Beach Boys had the same problem in their schools?

How many remember Home Ec with Miss Dynes and Mrs. Thompson? I never have made that orange juice with the raw egg beaten up in it! I have learned a few sewing short-cuts! Remember the show (or movie as they are now called) at Phillips? On Saturday I got 25cents: 9 for the movie, run next door and get a 1 penny gum-ball at the 66 Cleaners, then 10 cents for popcorn. After the show there was a nickel left for a drug store coke to drink as I walked home---out of a cone-shaped paper cup. It was called Briggs Drug until Joe Cook took it over---don't remember the name then. And music class and later choir with Mrs. Hubbard---I still remember many things she said---"Stand up straight and open your mouth while singing" comes to mind first. And I want to thank all the kids at my table in study hall 7th hour. I had to write 500 words out of the dictionary quite often for Freda Shuttlesworth and they would usually help!

I do not know about many of you, but I know that when I was an elementary school student in the late '40s, I did not have any disposable income to pay for a Phillips High School football ticket. Several of us "urchins" decided that we wanted to see a particular football game and we attempted to sneak in under a fence at a secluded location under the bleachers. On arrival, we were surprised to see about a dozen very young Phillips kids with the same idea, one holding up the bottom of the fence for the others. After I had crawled under the fence, a very, very prominent school administrator suddenly walked up and "volunteered" to hold up the fence for the others. He looked very stern and I knew that he would call my parents to tell them about my dishonest behavior. I was scared and felt stupid about my lack of judgment. But, he displayed a compassionate smile and delivered a lecture about dishonesty. He told us that he would let us in to watch the game, "this time". But, the next time he caught us, we would be in very serious trouble. Man, I was confused but very impressed by his kindness. Anytime I was tempted by my pals to do anything illegal or dishonest as a child, I thought about that character-building incident on a warm, September night in Phillips, Texas. We were all fortunate to have such wise teachers during our formative school years.

Does anyone remember the all-class assembly JIK called one day and refused to let anyone go back to class until the culprits of a prank done on him were identified? Of course the only ones who knew what he was talking about were the two people who had done the prank, and weren't about to say a word. Everyone else didn't care due to being out of class and didn't want to go back anyway. It got so bad and his face to red from ranting and raving (while pacing back and forth across the stage), we thought he would have a heart-attack. He even went so far after 30 minutes passed to offer a monetary award to anyone who would turn the culprits in. The funny thing was that he would not tell anyone what had happened to him, so everyone tried in vain for days to find out; no one talked. Maybe, one day, I will tell what really happened to cause all the commotion. (this happened in 1970/1971)

I recall having a meeting with some authority in Phillips High in 1948. Seems like someone was watching me "watching" my sophomore classmates use black liquid shoe polish to paint "Seniors 1950" on the sidewalk in front of the school buildings. It was more noticeable on the side of the "66 Cleaners" up the street, though. If it didn't wear off, that would be a good couple of years' advertising. But, as luck would have it, after this meeting, I got to volunteer my services to scrub the advertising off. My friends did come to my aid and help. After all, I was just "watching."

How many of you guys remember when Coach Walker left his math class the day we had the eraser and chalk war, it was I believe in 47 or 48. There were at least twenty five of us, only boys, in the class so we were all involved. Someone yelled, "Here comes Mr. K.", the room was a mess when he stuck his head in and saw what had been going on. He looked us over and yelled "Y'all need to be horse whipped". We did clean up the room, and believe it on not, no one got whipped. Coach Walker never left the room again.

I remember once in late 59 or early 60's, John Henderson, Jimmie Clements and a wad of music lovers "plugged in" their amps and were jamming at Jack McNeese's Gas station late one night. When I saw what was happening I circled back and came back down the hwy. with my spotlight going back and forth through the crowd. There were guitars and amps going in every direction. I can't repeat what Henderson said when he realized it was me.

Well, I just had a huge "flashback" about Mrs. Nicholson and the high school chemistry lab. I vividly recall a well-known student, who will remain nameless, using available rubber hoses and hooking up the water faucets to the gas outlets and turning on the water. I do remember water leaking from the gas pipe joints attached to the ceiling. Since I was an eyewitness, I felt like I was an accessory to the crime and believed that I wouldn't live long enough to enter a university to study advanced chemistry. I still feel badly that we gave Mrs. Nicholson such a hard time, especially in our biology class. I have the highest respect for teachers such as Audie Nicholson and Mr. Kimmins who had the awesome responsibility of keeping us under control.

I was in chemistry with Riddick Grooters. He didn't quite blow up the lab. He just wanted to know if he could make nitro-glycerin with standard compounds in the lab ( he could ). Mrs. Nicholson almost had a nervous breakdown disposing of it! The burger stand across from the high school was owned ( I think ) by Tisdales and was called the Hawks Nest or Hawks Hut. Contrary to JIK's belief I didn't end up in prison!

Allright it is 1969 and we are on the Senior Trip in Colorado Springs. While in the motel room, someone decides that Pat Stallings hair is toooo... long [The summer of love & the song "Hair" somehow bypassed and didn't apply to Phillips, Texas]. Pat's hair was cropped with dispatch by unappreciative fellow students....Anyone remember this?

I remember the day I turned 18. The guys (led by Allan Holland) in Mrs. Moulton's class took all my clothes and put them down around the corner leading to the Jr. High. This action was normally reserved for the Freshmen that happen to be stupid enough to go to the bathroom upstairs during this time frame. I had noticed something funny...I was the only person in the bathroom. The door came open and there was Alan and few of the other guys on the football team. They explained to me what they were going to do. I warned them that I would hit anyone coming close to me...and Alan said "so" and then did his laugh as only Alan could. I was still warning them as they were taking all my clothes out the door. I was stark naked. I got up and decided I'd better find my clothes. I could see a pants leg around the corner going to the Jr. High. But since I was naked I could not run down the hall and get them without risking being seen by the homemaking dept class just to the North. I was contemplating on what to do...when I heard footsteps in the hall. I closed the door until my eyes were about the only thing you could see. There came Mrs. Moulton. She happened to see the door ajar, and asked if everything was ok. (I had left my books in the classroom prior to going to the bathroom). I was real vague in my answer. She pressed a little harder for an answer of what might be wrong with me. I finally got enough courage to say I had no clothes on. She kind of smirked and said..... what? I reiterated my position concerning my state of nakedness. She then let out a very low pitched barely audible laugh. Then asked me how did I become to be naked. I answered the only answer a high school boy would.....I don't know. She then asked me where my clothes were. I told her, and then she wanted to know how my clothes got down there? The standard high school answer....I don't know. Needless to say, she went and retrieved my clothes and gave them to me. I got dressed and went to class. I was beyond embarrassed.....way beyond. I went into the room and was not going to make eye contact with anyone in the room. I went to my chair behind Barbara Graves and sat down. For a mili-second no one made a noise. Then one person burst out laughing and it was like a dam had broken loose. I had held my finger in the dyke for only one second or less. Mrs. Moulton was kind enough to stop the chatter after about 5 minutes or so. It seemed like an hour at the time. I have many more tales as most of the others have. But some of them involve Morris Kurt and are not appropriate in this forum.

One of the things we thought was really funny was when we would put chalk in the rubber glove of a certain math teacher; we called it "tradition."

The old Plemons Road going through Sunset Heights was a fairly fast traveled road similar to Phillips Ave. One night we decided to slow down some of the traffic and laid a large piece of cloth on the road attached to a string which was connected to a highline pole. The first fast car coming down the road had the cloth flipped up in front of him by one of us on the other end of the string. The driver chased us and finally caught one and he told the rest of the names. It's a wonder we did not wreck and kill someone. But as the kids we were, we did not think of that.

Can not believe no one has written about Mr. George. How many teachers have you had that will play catch with the make believe ball and glove or cry when he lectured about the Civil War. He always said "a good team can move and a poor one can't". Don Meek stepped out of bounds and Doc Lane was a really great kid. I still have those History notes and those things are in my notes.

Yep...... I remember him picking us up in the old bus that he called his Ford-Caddilac. He would take us down to Men's Club Lake and work us out for baseball. I remember one time that I fired a ball towards home plate and beaned him right on the head. He just took off his hat, scratched his head, and gave me a good stare. I also remember him puffing away on his Winstons and sneaking into the janitor's room to have a smoke. How 'bout him putting on his hat, walking out the door, closing the door, and then knocking on the door and introducing himself as Texas wanting to come into the Union. Next he would come in and answer Texas. I can remember more stories, but I've got to go... Good ole Mr. George!!

One day while walking down the hall, Mr. Kimmins met me at the other end. As required, I was wearing a dress and it was made in homemaking. As many of us remember, she would measure our hems for us to meet the requirement. Mr. Kimmins stopped me and made a comment about my dress being too short. I tried to explain to him that my slip was causing my dress to ride up but he would not listen. Knowing that I lived close to the school, he told me to walk home and change. I told him okay. By the time I arrived at home, I was mad. That dress was just made in homemaking and Mrs. Dynes measured the hem for me. After telling my mother what happened, I went into my bedroom to change. My mother did not comment on the dress that I put on before walking back to school. As I came back into the building, Mr. Kimmins was there. He told me that the dress looked better and thanked me for going home to change. That afternoon, I asked Ms.Dynes to measure the dress for me. The hem measured 4 inches above my knees. She told me that she should send me to the office but after I told her the story, she laughed. I was not sent to the office. My mother was really surprised when she heard what Mr. Kimmins said. She was afraid that she would get a phone call before the day was out because she knew that the dress was shorter than the one that I had on.

I was a junior or senior and was keeping the clock for a freshman basketball game vs. Dumas when Coach Charlie Topinka was the coach. Kelly Cooke was drilled going in for a layup and he took great exception to this unwarranted contact and began to flail the assailant. Mike Zink was for whatever reason on the bench at the time. He started heading for the fight with great harm in mind. But Charlie was right behind him and grabbed him by the back of the neck and just shoved him through the door at the end of the floor. Mike didn't know what hit him and by the time he could recover and reenter the gym, the fight had been stopped. Funniest thing I ever saw.

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