1959 Flashback

1959 Flashback

As the year 1959 begins, I am in the 9th Grade at Frick Junior High in Oakland, California. We were the first class to graduate from the new building (the old building barely survived a strong earthquake a few years earlier). I would graduate from Frick in June of 1959, then it was on to Castlemont High in Oakland (I would start there in September of 1959). Castlemont was also an old building, having been built in 1929. It looked like an old castle, but it also had served it’s time. During my time at Castlemont a new building would be constructed, but I did get to go to the old castle during it’s final year (1959). I was still collecting baseball cards and football cards (anything that had gum packaged with it). These were some of the sets that I collected this year.

1959 Fleer Ted Williams cards

————————————————–News Events—————————————–

This was the year that Alaska became the 49th State and Hawaii became the 50th. This was the year that Vice President Nixon visited Moscow and Russian leader Nikita Khruschev would visit The United States. This was the year that Fidel Castro was recognized as the new leader in Cuba. On April 15 of this year he would visit Washington D.C. This was the year that tragedy would strike the world of popular music-the plane crash that would claim the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper). This was the year that would see the death of Blues Legend, Billie Holliday, continuing racial problems in Little Rock, Arkansas, an unemployment rate of 6.8 % and a Steel Strike that would last 116 days.

A big news story will start the new year-January 1, 1959. Fidel Castro takes over in Cuba.

February 3, 1959

—————————————–Cost Of Living—————————————————-

——————————————The World Of Sports——————————————

In the NBA playoffs this year it was the Boston Celtics defeating the Minneapolis Lakers in a 4 game sweep. In the World Series the Los Angeles Dodgers would defeat the Chicago White Sox 4 games to 2. In the NFL title game it was the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts again. The Colts would win again, this time 31 to 16. Johnny Unitas was the MVP again. The AFL was created this year-the original members were the Buffalo Bills, the Houston Oilers, the New York Titans, the Boston Patriots, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Denver Broncos, the Dallas Texans and the Oakland Raiders.

The 1959 NBA Champs-The Boston Celtics