This picture is of the 1935 Roaring Spring Baseball Team that was a member of the Blair Twilight League. This is from the Elmer Burket negative collection which is currently being preserved at the Blair County Genealogical Society. It was submitted by Victor Curfman of Altoona, formerly of Roaring Spring.

Readers are encouraged to send or deliver old local photographs of general interest for use in Yesteryear. Information about people and places should be included. Photos must be 30 years old or older and should be sent to Yesteryear, Altoona Mirror, P.O. Box 2008, Altoona, PA 16603, or emailed to community@altoonamirror.com. For more information, call Brenda Carberry, community news coordinator, at 814-946-7459.

Local news on this date

April 11, 1951

Military and civilian personnel in Altoona were shocked when President Harry Truman dismissed Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur from all Far East commands on charges he failed to support the U.S. and United Nations plans to defeat Communism due to his conduct during the current Korean War.

April 11, 1976

In advance of the Women’s State Bowling Tourney at the Holiday Bowl and Pleasant Valley Recreation Center, an open house was held at the Sheraton Inn and a banquet was to be held at the UVA Club. Astronaut James Lovell, speaking for President Gerald Ford, sent congratulations and good luck for the physical fitness aspect.

April 11, 2001

Deborah Forgione, the estranged wife of the late Boyer Candy Co. owner Anthony Forgione had filed a lawsuit against current CEO Roger Raybuck, saying he wanted to take over the company.

April 11, 2016

WISE Women of Blair County honorees for 2016 were: Caroline Showalter (Rising Star), Patricia Gildea (Lifetime Achievement), Lenora Irwin (Community Service), Diana Ingersoll (Business Professional), Patricia Jabbeh Wesley (Arts & Letters), Jody Wallace (Education) and Maria Brandt (Non-Profit/Government).

April 12, 1951

The Altoona Traffic Planning Committee, George Bott chairman, was to meet with officials of the Altoona & Logan Valley Electric Railway Co. on plans to abandon the Juniata-Eldorado Trolley lines so that auto traffic could move more quickly through those areas and buses could be purchased to replace the trolleys.

The Knights of Columbus, Altoona Council 551, William M. Lennox supreme commander, celebrated its 50th anniversary over four days, ending with a dance and banquet at the Penn Alto Hotel. The Rev. Father Vincent Luther, principal of Altoona Catholic High School, gave the opening prayer.

April 12, 1976

The Altoona Coin Club, Ken Spielvogle president, was holding a show and sale at the Holiday Inn with prizes being supplied by the Broad Avenue Coin Exchange. It was also National Coin Week.

At first deemed too expensive to travel to Altoona, the American Freedom Train, steam powered and pulling 29 cars with historical artifacts, was to visit Altoona in July for three days if the Altoona Bicentennial Committee would sign a contract. Freedom Train representative Mafe Putts was meeting with Mayor William Stouffer.

April 12, 2001

About 30 professionals met at the Ramada Inn for a state Department of Welfare hearing on rumors the Altoona Center at Fourth Street and Lexington Avenue, which housed 119 residents, would close. Ford S. Thompson Jr., assistant welfare secretary, said it would not close.

Altoona resident Karen Donaldson called for a yellow campaign after China detained a spy plane with 24 people on board in China after it collided with a Chinese plane that killed the Chinese pilot. The crew was released after 12 days.

April 12, 2016

Canadian Pacific Railway dropped its plans to buyout Norfolk Southern Railway, a decision Bob Kutz, president of the Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council, called “fantastic” because it would have negatively affected rail workers’ jobs here.

John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock who was running for the U.S Senate on the Democratic ticket, spoke to students at Penn State Altoona. Fetterman is 6′ 9″ and weighed about 270 pounds, had visible tattoos, a partial beard and often wore shorts and hoodies. At one point, he weighed 400 pounds.

National, world news on this date

April 11

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which included the Indian Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act, one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. (The mission was aborted following an oxygen tank explosion two days after liftoff, and the crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on April 17.)

In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published guidelines saying sexual harassment in the workplace amounted to unlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

April 12

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded “Rock Around the Clock,” a song often cited as bringing rock ‘n’ roll music into the mainstream when it was popularized in the film “The Blackboard Jungle” in 1955.

In 1955, the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective following nearly a year of field trials undertaken by about 1.8 million American child volunteers dubbed “polio pioneers.”

In 1963, civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (While behind bars, King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham.”)

Local news compiled by Tim Doyle. National, world news from The Associated Press.