August 24 in A.A. History

In 1948, in the early morning hours, police raided the Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) Club in Springfield, Missouri. Seven members were arrested, tried, and convicted for gambling, even though the bets were limited to just 10 cents. The police deemed the activity illegal, resulting in front-page newspaper coverage that same day [right: Springfield Leader and Press story, pp. 1, 6].

In 2020, Clancy I. [left], 93, died of an undetermined cause while in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, according to his daughter, Mary I. Dougherty. He was undergoing rehabilitation for a broken hip and was nearing the end of his isolation period when the rehabilitation center informed her of his passing.

    Clancy had served as the director of the Midnight Mission [right (recent)] in Los Angeles for 46 years and was a sponsor to thousands. With a sobriety date of 31 October 1958, he had over 61 years of continuous sobriety. He left a very successful career at a Beverly Hills marketing firm to become the managing director of the Midnight Mission on Skid Row. Thus, he returned as a transformative leader to an institution that had previously expelled him for bad behavior. Under his leadership, the soup kitchen and residential facilities expanded, implementing programs to address the social needs of the Skid Row community.