Tales from the Morgue

Mrs. W.V. Coffman Named Winner Of First Award To Most Courteous Driver

December 9, 1951

By BOB CHAPMAN

Mrs. W.V. Coffman, 2819 Porter Avenue, who thought she was being stopped to be handed a ticket for a traffic violation, can boast the distinction of being the first El Pasoan to be awarded a courteous driving sticker by El Paso district office of the American Automobile Association.

Hereafter, this blue and gold courteous driving award sticker, which goes on the windshield, will be given every week to the driver who qualifies.

The project, known as “The Driver of the Week,” is being sponsored by the city Council of the P-TA, in co-operation with the Jaycees and Police Department. It is in line with the year-round safety campaign launched by the Jaycees.

Starting out to find the first courteous driver, Police Sgt. Hugh Bonds and Jerry Steiner, El Paso AAA district manager, sighted Mrs. Coffman driving on Piedras Street. They followed her east to Cebada Street, then north on the street to Douglas Street, where Sergeant Bonds drove up along side and told Mrs. Coffman to pull in to the curbing.

“My goodness, what have I done wrong?” she asked the sergeant.

“Not a thing ma’m,” Sergeant Bonds replied, much to her relief. “You are entitled to a courtesy driving sticker and we want to give it to you.”

Sergeant Bonds reported that Mrs. Coffman had been driving a car for 30 years, had never been involved in an accident and had never been handed a ticket for a traffic violation.

“On this occasion when we followed her, Mrs. Coffman kept within the legal speed limits and gave all hand-signals required by law,” Sergeant Bonds said. “Considering the cold weather, all this was an exceptional demonstration of courteous and careful driving

1952: Race Fan Killed At Ascarate Park Track

12/29/1952

An Albuquerque, N.M. auto racing fan was killed at Evans Oval in Ascarate Parks Sunday when he was struck by two speeding midget racing cars as he attempted to prevent a possible collision on the track.

Everett E. Staner, 42, was pronounced dead shortly after he was taken to El Paso General Hospital.

Doctors said that death was caused by “severe” head injuries.

Staner, a racing enthusiast who had traveled to El Paso for the special 50 lap midget auto race, leaped out onto the track as one car spun out on a turn partially blocking the track and setting the scene for a possible collision.

Staner, who has participated as a starter and flag man at many of the auto races at Albuquerque, was carrying a yellow caution flag at the time.

As Staner leaped onto the track one of the speeding midget auto racers struck him almost head-on throwing him into the air.

An ambulance, on duty at the track, rushed him to the hospital. Doctors said that he was still breathing when admitted although he had no pulse nor blood pressure.

He was pronounced dead four minutes after being admitted.

Seven speeding midget auto racing cars were quickly brought to a stop following the accident, as hundreds of persons congregated on the track.

Some 500 horrified spectators witnessed the fatal accident which occurred about 4:30 p.m. during the middle of the special 50-lap race.

Local racing officials said that Staner was allowed on the infield of the track for the races as a “courtesy” since he had long been active in auto racing in New Mexico.

Although not holding any official position for Sunday’s races, Staner was acting as a flagman on the southeast corner of the track.

Staner was division manger of the Greater Mountain Chemical Co. n Albuquerque and a member of Temple Lodge, AF and AM and the Santa Fe N.M, Scottish Rite

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Carrie Mae Staner, Albuquerque.

Funeral arrangements were pending Sunday awaiting notification of his wife and other members of his family.

Sunday’s mishap was the first serious accident at the Lower Valley track this year. The official racing season actually closed Thanksgiving Day, but midge auto racers had requested permission to stage the special race Sunday.

Local racing officials Sunday identified Ernie Dietzman of Phoenix as he drier of the car which spun out f the east turn sending Staner to leap out onto the track in an effort to flag down the cars and prevent a possible collision.

1909: Mathewson, Cobb, Scott and Waddell To Play Big League Ball in El Paso

During El Paso's inaugural fair in 1909 professional baseball players were invited to join with local teams in a tournament with a $1,000 prize. Douglas won the tournament with James Scott as pitcher.

Photo: Rube Waddell (left) and Christy Mathewson, El Paso, 1909. Rube throwing for Socorro, Christy for El Paso. Socorro won 1-0. Waddell was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Mathewson was added to the Hall of Fame in 1936 as one of the "first five" inaugural members.

10/31/1909

Teams of Southwest have Strengthened Ranks With Players of National Repute for Purpose of Winning Grand Prize of $1,000 - Such Men as Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, James Scott, Rube Waddell and Others Will Be in the Game - Fair Association Has Put Up $2,000 for Winning Nines.

The baseball tournament in which teams representing El Paso, Douglas, Morenci and Socorro will bring together the strongest aggregations of baseball talent to be found in the southwest and strengthened as many of them are by importations of star players from the big leagues will furnish the fans who visit the fair with such exhibition of ball as have never before been seen except in big league cities. Such players as Christy Mathewson, J. Scott, Ty Cobb, Rube Waddell and others whose names have not been made public through a desire to spring surprises on the public as well as on opposing teams have been engaged by the teams participating in the tournament.

Tournament Will Open Today

In order that the games scheduled for the tournament may all be played it has been found necessary to play the opening game Sunday morning.

The details of the tournament are given in the sporting section of this issue of The Times.

On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the baseball games will be called at 10 o'clock each morning in order to clear the infield for the horse show and races which will be in the afternoon. Saturday forenoon a game of football between teams representing the University of Arizona and the New Mexico agricultural college will be played and on Saturday afternoon will be played the concluding game of the baseball tournament.

1921: Wife has him jailed; Dog, still faithful, in same cell

02/02/1921

Castulo Bustamante works – but only occasionally, according to his wife. Most of the time he frequents “the bad places,” she says, and his fondness for tequila and the effects to be derived from that seductive distillation are such that when the favorite drink of Old Mexico is not available he will even condescend to drink the red liquor of the Americano. When he has absorbed either in sufficient quantities his conduct is such as to contribute to the miserableness of his wife and all humans with whom he comes in contact.

That is the story she told to Judge Pollock in corporation court yesterday and the telling through down on Castulo the severe condemnation of the court, along with a $25 fine, which means 25 days in the chain gang. There was no human sympathy from the court or the spectators for Castulo Bustamante.

But Castulo was not friendless. One there was in the courtroom whose heart was filled with happiness. Here was the joy of reunion with a loved one after a night of separation. Her dark black eyes looked lovingly at the forlorn figure standing at the bar and her voice gave expression to the delight at having found him after hours of search.

She is a little, white bull terrier, keen and alert, with her ears cocked straight up and her bobbed tail kept in continuous motion in anticipation of future joy in the presence of the one to whom she had given her live and allegiance. She followed the string of prisoners from the courtroom to the city jail, where the iron door again separated them.

The wife of Castulo is satisfied with the judgment of the court, which was to separate her for 25 days from her spouse, tried to persuade the dog to accompany her home, but the little terrier took her position outside the iron door and refused to leave. After a vigil of several hours the door swung open and the chain gang prisoners, who had been sentenced yesterday, were transferred to that section of the jail where they are kept.

This was her opportunity and before she could be stopped, like a streak, she went through the open door and Castulo, who had not yet recovered from the effects of a tequila debauch, and the one thing in the world that loved him were united.

Jailer Du Chesne had observed the little dog and its actions and last night there was one prisoner in the city jail for which the jailer held no commitment. The little white terrier will accompany Castulo when he goes out on the chain gang this morning.

1950: Old Hotel Dieu Registry Recalls early EP History

05/27/1950

 

Personal history, dear to the hearts of many Southwesterners, is being revived as attention is focused on the razing of one end of historic Hotel Dieu in preparation for the new $2,650,000 addition.

The names of many Southwestern pioneers are carried in a faded Hotel Dieu registry book for the 1895-1901 period and point up the personal vicissitudes of the men and women who built the Southwest.

A patient in 1901 was Solomon C. Schutz, El Paso’s third mayor, who served at his post in the hectic days of 1881 when four of his marshals were killed in line of duty. Schutz was the man who, calling a spade a spade, dubbed the city, “Hell Paso.”

Capt. John R. Hughes, famous Texas Ranger, was in the hospital on April 25, 1901 and remained for two days for treatment of a “gunshot wound.”

Many of the personages listed in the Hotel Dieu records are recalled by Dr. Paul Gallagher, El Paso County Medical Society member, whose family came here in 1891. Dr. Gallagher’s father brought the first microscope and X-Ray machine here for use in treating the hospital’s patients. Dr. Walter N. Vilas, assisted by the elder Dr. Gallagher, performed the first appendectomy in the Southwest in 1894 in Hotel Dieu.

The operation is well remembered by Mrs. H.E.. Stevenson, widow of Dr. H.E. Stevenson who for many years served on the Hotel Dieu staff. Mrs. Stevenson was the daughter of Dr. Vila and today at the age of 76 lives at 514 North Oregon Street.

FIRST APENDETOMY

Mrs. Stevenson recalled that the subject for the first appendectomy was one of their servants. At time of the operation, surgeons expected the patient might live for six months. Actually, Mrs. Stevenson says, the servant lived to a ripe old age.

It was in one of the rooms now being torn down, Mrs. Stevenson said, that her mother died. Her daughter, Mrs. Helen Stevenson, still carries on the family’s tradition in Hotel Dieu and is in charge of the central service.

Mrs. A.D. Norcop’s name appears on the registry in November, 1898, when her son, Patrick, was born. Patrick Norcop is now instructor of military science for the U.S. Air Force at the University of Southern California.

Another of her sons, A.W. Norcop, prominent local attorney, was 11 years old at the time of Patrick’s birth and tended the family’s ranch at Separ, N.M., while his parents were in El Paso for the blessed event. Mr. Norcop recalls that a blinding snowstorm struck the area during his brief term of ranch management.

FIRST WOMAN DOCTOR

Another of the patients in 1901 was Dr. Alice Merchant, the first woman doctor in the area.

Dr. Gallagher, who in 1920 became chief of the Hotel Dieu staff and chief of the surgical services, recalled that in 1900 here was no electricity and that lighting was done by gas. Heat was provided by wood fires, burning mesquite roots principally.

Chloroform was the anesthetic, which gave the surgeon in those days “a narrow margin of safety,” Dr. Gallagher said.

Many of the patients on the register were charity cases. An interesting sidelight on the times was the length of time required for convalescence after surgery in contrast to the short period needed today.

Hotel Dieu photo gallery

1976: First ordinance kept people, animals out of ditch

07/05/1976

The nation was three years short of its Centennial observance when the town of El Paso decided it was grown up enough to have its first government as an incorporated city.

The request of the citizens was put into legislation passed by the State legislature on May 17,1873, incorporating the City of El Paso. The charter authorized the naming of commissioners who would call an election on the second Tuesday in the following August.

SERVING as commissioners were Benjamin S. Dowell, Samuel Schutz, A. H. French, Joseph Magoffin and Allen Blacker. Blacker later was replaced by A. J. Fountain.

All were prominent pioneer citizens interested in the betterment of the town which lay on the east-west and north-south trade routes.

Dowell was elected mayor August 12. His six aldermen were Andrew Hornick, William Trycr, Joseph Schutz, Thomas N. Massic, John T. Gillett and John T. Evans. Within a few weeks, Schutz failed to qualify for his office and Massie, Tryer and Gillett resigned. At a second election in October, they were replaced by M. A. Jones, Allen Blacker, Parson Joseph W. Tays and Frank C. Marsh.

Lacking a city hall, the council made its headquarters at Dowell's place of business, a combination saloon and gambling emporium which also from time to time served as general store and post office.

It was the natural gathering place for the town's prominent citizens anyway, and lent itself well to the calling of seat of government. A plaque on Hotel Paso del Norte now marks the location.

THE TOWN water supply came mainly from a ditch or acequia which flowed from the Rio Grande along the approximate present course of San Francisco avenue, crossing what is now El Paso street and proceeding eastward in the vicinity of the Plaza Hotel.

Large cottonwoods grew along the banks of the canal and a small wooden bridge marked the crossing point on El Paso street, called in its early days the Alameda.

The city fathers were concerned about keeping the water supply as clean as possible. So their first ordinances were enacted with a mind to keeping people and animals out of the ditch. No more public bathing was allowed there, nor was wading or any degree of activity between that and swimming.

From time immemorial the custom had been for persons using water from the acequia to work on its maintenance in proportion to their use of water from it.

The new City Council, feeling it had to show its authority, adopted an ordinance requiring every male citizen of the town age 18 or older to devote at least one day a year to cleaning and maintaining the acequias. (A second one, known as the Magoffinsville acequia, ran a few blocks south of the main supply ditch for El Paso, in the vicinity of the present route of San Antonio avenue.)

WORKING A DITCH as part of the team of water users was one thing; to El Paso's early citizens, working it on orders from a group of politicians was something else. No one answered roll call for the annual ditch cleaning and the water commissioners, Gillett and William Tryer, were unable to respond by jailing everyone in town.

The next task was for the council to pass an ordinance authorizing Mayor Dowell to personally supervise work on the acequias and to advance money for expenses for the cleaning activities. Then he would be reimbursed through a tax on real estate within the city limits for the acequia and other purposes.

The levy was for $550, with George Butchofsky, the assessor and collector, entitled to 5 per cent of all sums collected. Samuel Schutz was first city treasurer.

THIS PLAN met with the same kind of enthusiasm that the ordinance on compulsory work on the acequia had inspired. Schutz resigned and was succeeded by H. S. Gillett.

For the period of August 15, 1873, to Feb. 14, 1874, the city collected a total of $3 in fines, although ordinances under which people could be fined had been liberal.

Among offenses were throwing cigar butts into the acequia and giving a public dance without paying $1 to the city. Only $210.08 was collected in taxes, and after expenses, the treasury had left only $9.25.

Lacking other sources of income, the council dreamed up a new scheme: several streets were closed to traffic and placed on the market. Dowell himself bought the portion of the street that now lies immediately south of Hotel Paso del Norte for $5.

THE 1874 campaign for city offices found Dowell competing for the position of mayor with Alderman M. A. Jones, an attorney and sometime schoolmaster. The main issue of the day became the question of licensing dogs, with Jones in favor of a fee on dogs and Dowell opposed. Jones won the vote by 33 to 17. His administration, however, weakened by lack of popular support, was the last for several years.

The town's fourth election, held Aug. 9, 1881, named Joseph Magoffin as mayor. The third election had not been held in accord with terms of the city charter and the fourth was called in order to restore the town to legality. Serving as aldermen were J. P. Hague, Warner Phillips, B. Schuster, Paul Keating, A. Krakauer and Allen Blacker. By this time, with the advent of railroads bringing new growth to the town, the council was able to assess a tax on 217 taxpayers and begin to operate in a manner befitting El Paso's new importance

1992: Magoffins helped shape early Southwest

11/29/1992

Marc Simmons
New Mexico Scrapbook

One of the finest historical and architectural monuments in the Southwest is the Magoffin Home, a 19-room adobe house with period furnishings located at 1120 Magoffin street in El Paso.

Built in 1875, the structure is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Magoffin name figures prominently in the history of the Southwest. The family came from Ireland and settled in Kentucky. By 1825, the eldest Magoffin son, James, had become a Santa Fe trader, heavily involved in overland commerce with Mexico.

Generous and congenial, James Magoffin was very popular among the Mexicans of the border provinces.

Everyone knew him there as Don Santiago. Soon after opening a store in Chihuahua City, he married a local belle, Maria Gertrudes Valdez. That further strengthened his social and economic position.

Sometime in the late 1820s, James was joined in his freighting and trading business by two younger brothers, Samuel and William. Not long after that he was appointed U.S. commercial agent in Chihuahua.

By 1884, having acquired a large fortune, James left Chihuahua City with his wife and children and moved to Independence, Mo., at the head of the Santa Fe Trail. There his wife died the following year.

Perhaps James had sensed the coming war with Mexico and wanted to get his family out of harm’s way. In any case, both he and his brother Samuel were to play a small but significant part in that chapter of history.

At the outbreak of hostilities, James was called to Washington and a meeting with President James K. Polk. He was asked as a patriotic duty to travel to Santa Fe and then Chihuahua City in an effort to persuade governments there not to resist an invading U. S. army that was on its way.

Not only did James speak fluent Spanish but he was related, through his late wife, to Manuel Armijo, the Mexican governor at Santa Fe. Thus, Polk thought he would make an excellent envoy.

Magoffin hurried west along the Santa Fe Trail, overtaking Gen. S.W. Kerny’s army of conquest at Bent’s Fort in southeast Colorado. At that point he found his brother also, with freight wagons attached to a huge merchant caravan following the army.

Brother Samuel Magoffin was accompanied by his new wife, Susan, only 18 years old and a Kentucky native, who was seeing the Wild West for the first time. Her adoring husband had provided her a handsome and comfortable Rockaway carriage and a servant girl to lessen the hardships of the trail.

Susan was destined to become the most famous of the Magoffins, owing to the diary she kept of her experiences over the Santa Fe Trail and down the old road to El Paso and Chihuahua City.

Her diary was lost for many years but finally discovered in an old trunk and first published in 1926. It remains a rich source of history for the war year of 1846.

At Bent’s Fort, James Magoffin secured a military escort and rode on to Santa Fe in advance of Kearny. We know that in the capital he had a secret meeting with Gov. Armijo – and although there is no written record of exactly what transpired, the suspicion exists that he persuaded the governor to abandon New Mexico without a fight.

Armijo did flee and Kearny’s troops seized Santa Fe Aug. 18, without bloodshed. The merchant train arrived soon afterward and Susan rolled through the plaza in her carriage.

In he diary she wrote: “I have entered this city in a year that will always be remembered by my countrymen, and under the ‘Star-spangled banner,’ too.” She and her husband were greeted by brother James with a bottle of champagne.

Next day James Magoffin rode south to continue his “intrigue.” But at El Paso he was arrested by Mexican authorities as a spy. For the duration of the war, he remained imprisoned, first at Chihuahua, then Durango. With peace in 1848, he was finally released.

After the war, James settled on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande in the El Paso valley.

He married again and his estate became the bustling settlement Magoffinsville, a forerunner of El Paso.

By 1851 he was joined by son Joseph, from his first marriage. It was Joseph Magoffin who would carry on the family name, serve four terms as mayor of El Paso, and in 1875 build the Magoffin Home that is today a historic showplace.

It is that residence – together with Susan Magoffin’s diary, still in print – that keep the Magoffin name alive and warm in the memory of all lovers of Southwest history.

Magoffin Home photo gallery

Geese, Cotton, Pecans Occupy Stahmann Farms

April 29, 1956

A bigger short-time success story than that of Stahmann Farms, Las Cruces, N.M., would be hard to find in the Southwest.

Starting with 150 acres of irrigation-reclaimed lands in 1925, the farms’ management came to the conclusion fluctuating markets made one-crop farming a shaky business.

Consequently, in 1932 the first pecan trees were planted to back up the cotton crop. In the late ‘30s other land was given to alfalfa and stock-raising to further diversify the farms’ interests.

Twenty years later the farms’ management had become interested in the labor-saving possibilities presented by running geese in the cotton patches to keep the weeds eaten out. It appeared they might then market the geese.

A market study revealed goose sales were falling, but Stahmann solved the problem by marketing a different goose from the traditional stuffed-fat Christmas fowl. The Stahmann variety soon became known as a “Junior Goose.”

Lean and young (not over 16 weeks old), the junior goose went over well with food editors and housewives. In 1954 – two years after experiments had shown geese to be a profitable third crop – 190,000 of the Mesilla Valley fowls were sold from coast to coast.

Grown now to 4,000 acres in size, the farms have 96,000 pecan trees, which produced about three million pounds of nuts last year. Between the rows of trees the cotton grows and between the cotton rows the geese grow.

The farms, under direction of Deane and William J. Stahmann, now operate their own cotton gin and pecan shelling installations. They conduct their own breeding experiments with cotton and have developed two new varieties for which demand is growing.

Economy is the watchword. Broken pecan shells are used as ground covering in the gosling and goose pens; excess goose eggs are hatched and the goslings sold; goose down (about three carloads last year) is sold; a nursery of young pecan trees advertises “The Shade Tree That Pays You Rent.”

Stahmann Farms photo gallery.

1987: UTEP's Jeep Jackson dies

05/03/1987

By Robert Moore and Rick Cantu
El Paso Times

Hernell "Jeep" Jackson, a star basketball player for the University of Texas at El Paso, collapsed and died Saturday afternoon after playing in an exhibition basketball game. He was 23.

The preliminary cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest, said Lt. Col. Jim Lawson, spokesman for Fort Bliss, where the basketball game was played.

Lawson said Jackson had no history of heart trouble and that "he was a jock of the first order. He was in absolutely superb health." He said he did not know if drugs were involved in the death.

An autopsy is scheduled for today. Dr. Juan Contin, El Paso County medical examiner, declined to speculate on the cause of death.

Miners basketball coach Don Haskins aid, "I am very upset to learn of Jeep Jackson's death. I find it extremely difficult to believe a young man like Jeep, who obviously was in excellent health, is dead." His comments were in a statement released by UTEP Sports Information Director Eddie Mullens.

Jackson played for six or seven minutes in Saturday's exhibition game, then sat down on the bench and collapsed at about 2:55 p.m.

He as taken to Beaumont army Medical Center, where he as pronounced dead at 4:09 p.m.

Jackson, a senior criminal justice major, was a 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard. He played four years for the Miners and was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team last season.

Saturday's exhibition game was being played at Fort Bliss' Logan heights gymnasium with some soldiers and five players from the Houston Oilers football team.

Spec. 4 Kyle Stewart of Fort Bliss said he was sitting next to Jackson when he collapsed.

"I was talking to him and he just passed out. That's all I thought it was," Steward said.

He said Jackson had given no sign that anything was wrong.

"I was talking to him about how the game was going. He wasn't sweating hard or anything," Stewart said.

An ambulance from Beaumont arrive at 3:01 p.m. and paramedics tried for almost 15 minutes to revive Jackson in the gym, Lawson said.

The ambulance took Jackson to Beaumont, arriving at 3:23 p.m.

When Jackson arrived, "there was no sign of a heartbeat, respiration or electrical activity in the heart," said Dr. Scot Lewey, who treated Jackson.

Doctors used electric defibrillation and other measures to try to revive Jackson, but he was pronounced dead at 4:09 p.m.

Contin, the county medical examiner, did not want to say what he would be looking for when he performs the autopsy today.

"We don't know anything right now, so I can't say anything," Contin said. "We will know tomorrow (Sunday)."

Teammate Wayne Campbell ran into the hospital at bout 5 p.m. He emerged an hour and a half later, with is arms around friends and tears in his eyes.

Miner assistant coach Nate Archibald also was at he hospital for more than an hour, and spent much of the time wandering around the lobby and the parking lot in an apparent daze.

Neither Campbell nor Archibald would comment.

Several other friends of Jackson's rushed to the hospital, and all left in tears.

UTEP trainer Dave Binder said Jackson never appeared to have a health problem while playing for the Miners.

Jackson had a physical examination before the season and "Jeep always looked to be the picture of health."

Jackson, who played four years at UTEP, was the team's leader on the court during the 1986-87 season when the school won its fifth consecutive WAC basketball championship.

The team made it to the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament before losing to Iowa, 84-82.

Jackson graduated from Gardena High school near Los Angeles in 1982 and was scheduled to graduate from UTEP this summer.

In the statement released by the UTEP sports information office, Haskins said, "Jeep was always ready to play. He was an upbeat young man with a sunny outlook on life. He was always ready with an encouraging smile or a good word for those around him.

"The thing I will remember most about Jeep was seeing him running to the stands and hug his mom and dad after our final home game."

Jackson's father, Mason Jackson of Carson, Calif., said , "it's tough right now. Real tough.

"Jeep had never been sick in his life. He just had some injuries related to sports. But he was never sick."

The elder Jackson said he and his wife had not talked yet about whether they would have a service in El Paso for their son.

Former UTEP Athletic Director Bill Cords, now in the same job at Marquette University in Milwaukee, said Jackson was an "inspirational young man" and a good role model for young players.

Cords said Jackson didn't possess a lot of talent when he arrived at UTEP, but "turned himself into a great player with his hard work."

He added, "Aside from basketball, he was just an outstanding young man. He worked hard academically and athletically. We must remember what he did, what he stood for, and how he handled himself in life."

Jackson befriended many people in El Paso and those friendships endured. Shortly after Jackson arrived at UTEP, he met Earl Maxon. About a year later Maxon moved to Littleton, Colo., where he owns a restaurant, but they kept in touch.

Maxon met Jackson through David Wilbanks, an El Paso dentist. "We both were over at David's house a lot, and Jeep was always playing with the kids," Maxon said Saturday in a telephone interview. "Jeep was the friendliest person I've eve met. What a great kid. What a loss. It's just unbelievably sad."

Saturday's game was co-sponsored by the Army and the National Football League Players Association as a morale-booster for Fort bliss.

After Jackson was taken to Beaumont, Army officials canceled the remainder of the game and cleared the 300 spectators from the gym.

Jeep Jackson

Born: March 13, 1964

Home: Carson. Calif.

High School: Gardena Calif., graduated 1982

College major: criminal justice

Career plans: professional basketball or law enforcement

Highlights: guard, University of Texas at El Paso Miners, played on four Western Athletic Confernce championship teams (UTEP, 1983-84 through 1986-87); all-WAC first team, 1986-87; all WAC tournament team, 1987.

Jackson's UTEP statistics

CAREER

Games: 123

Starts: 74

Field goals: 298 of 640

3-point shots: 25 of 56

Free throws: 216 of 296

Total points: 875 (7.1 per game)

Rebounds: 202

Steals: 170

Assists: 312

SENIOR SEASON

Games: 31

Stars: 30

Field goals: 137 of 267

3 point shots: 25 of 56

Free throws: 77 of 105

Total points: 414 (13.4 per game)

Rebounds: 63

Steals: 67

Assist: 74

1987: Hundreds mourn for Jeep Jackson

1987: Coach Haskins wants Jeep's number retired

1987: Heart, not cocaine, killed Jeep Jackson

 Jeep Jackson photo gallery