1977: What a year

1977:  What a year

The Permian Panthers went 13-1 overall in 1977 led by quarterback Vic Vines.

With the booming economy came other big headlines that year. Two jail breaks a week apart captured big headlines in October. On Oct. 20 four prisoners escaped from the Ector County Jail. The men, all serving time for burglary, cut through the bars of their cells using a hacksaw blade. Three of the escapees, Roy Leon Day, Jack Wilson Roman and Robert Lee Dawson were immediately recaptured. The fourth, Stanley Price Perrin, remained at large. Seven days later, Kenneth L. Bailey Jr., also jailed for burglary, broke out of the city jail. Bailey, who was being held in a minimum security cell, popped out a ceiling light fixture and climbed through a 12-inch hole in the ceiling that led to freedom. Bailey was apprehended four days later. The jailbreaks were the first in Ector County in 21 years.

    In late November, Richard Lockwood, vice president for Health Sciences Centers at Texas Tech sent letters to officials in Odessa, Midland and Big Spring revealing a plan to establish a Permian Basin Regional Academic Health Center in this area.

    A decision on which city would be selected for the teaching hospital was still pending at the end of the year. Following Lockwood's announcement, the Odessa Chamber of Commerce gathered 19,000 signatures supporting the branch here, and Ector County Commissioners offered to donate land in the vicinity of Medical Center Hospital if Odessa was chosen.

    Odessa boosters contributed $250,000 for a development fund, and local physicians pledged to donate 290 teaching hours per week to the teaching hospital. In other medical news, Medical Center Hospital completed its expansion project, bringing its total bed capacity to 380.

The Rev. Curtis Norris organizes the The House of Prayer Baptist Church on Broughton Ave.

Click here for 1977 Season Statistics

Click here for 1977 Individual Statistics