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Contact: Jennifer Anderson (andersonj@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
10/10/2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES- The Natchitoches Motorcycle Club is the subject of an exhibit in the Cammie G. Henry Research Center in the Eugene P. Watson Library at Northwestern State University.
Records of the club and its activities are contained in the H.G. Hawthorne Collection. The club, which had a short existence, was established in July, 1948. During this month, the club recorded their initial meeting minutes and registered with the American Motorcyclists Association (AMA), a national organization that is still in existence. The club is assumed to have lasted officially for two years as the last minutes are dated September 1949.
Though the Natchitoches Motorcycle Club was only around for a few years, the records show that they made the most of them. Included in the collection are many mementos documenting their adventures on the road both near and far from Natchitoches. Numerous photographs and programs of various motorcycle races and events in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama as well as evidence of one read trip to New Orleans are in the collection. Most impressive are souvenirs and photographs of their visit to Daytona for the 1949 Annual Bike Week.
Members of the Natchitoches Motorcycle Club included Ted Beasley, L.P. Blevins, Charles Cagle, Cooter Campbell, Theodore Chambers, Peter Cloutier, H.C. Cooper, Jeff DeBlieux, Laird Fletcher, Lane Foshee, H.G. Hawthorne, Billy J. Holand, Bill Holmes, Jack Jordan, Ervin "Bozo" Lawrence, Billy McMichael, Malcolm C. Miller, Roger Nickerson, Robert Pender, LaFonn Reid, Edwin E. Stoker, Sam Tobin, Billy West, Curley Williams, Raymond Wilson.
The exhibit also includes materials related to the rise in popularity of British motorcycles in America during the same period as well as a general look at motorcycles influence in popular culture.
Dale Sauter of the Cammie G. Henry Research Center is seeking additional information regarding the Natchitoches Motorcycle Club. Anyone with information regarding the club can contact Sauter at (318) 357-4585 or via e-mail at sauterd@nsula.edu.