Forum Flashbacks: May 14-20

By Geoffrey Woehlk | May 15, 2026 |

MARYVILLE DAILY FORUM, MAY 13, 2001
25 YEARS AGO: First Pitch – Clayton Adams throws the first pitch at the Inaugural Softball Game at Donaldson-Westside Park Friday night. Adams is the great-grandson of Jack and Ruth Donaldson, who the park is named after.

25 years ago

Maryville Daily Forum, May 13, 2001

Abele breaks 64-year-old record

It was an event designed to better athletes’ qualifying marks to help them make it to the national meet.

Instead, the main story of the Northwest Twilight Open was the breaking of one of Northwest Missouri State’s oldest track records.

Bearcat senior Matt Abele took advantage of the meet and etched his name into the Northwest record books, bettering Herschel Neil’s long jump record by one-half inch.

Neil, who the track at Northwest is named after, set the long jump mark of 25-feet, 1-inch in 1937.

Abele went through his preliminary jumps and had scratched on jumps of 25-3 and 25-4 and expressed his frustration after each jump.

Then, on his final jump, Abele backed up and the predominantly Northwest crowd around the long jump pit started clapping to try to fire him up.

He sprinted down the lane, hit the board perfectly, soared and landed.

Then came the measurement. When it was announced, Abele had jumped 25-1 1/2, he jumped almost as high in the air and started sprinting around the infield, looking for people to hug.

75 years ago

Maryville Daily Forum, May 14, 1951

Body of Pfc James J. Davis Returned To the United States from Korea

The body of Pfc James J. Davis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wiley Davis, 1010 North Fillmore street, is among those of 352 Americans, including eight Missourians who lost their lives in the Korean war that have been returned to the United States. …

Mr. and Mrs. Davis received word in January that their son had been killed in action in Korea July 20, 1950.

Pfc Davis was the first man from the Maryville area to be reported missing in action after the start of the war.

He enlisted in the Army in March 1947, while a sophomore at Maryville high school and had been in the service since that time.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 75-year flashback is courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, accessible at shsmo.newspapers.com.