The Bobcat yearbooks of this era were usually dedicated to an individual or individuals who had some effect on the lives of the students. The 1940 annual (http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Brookings-High-School/32650?page=0) contains separate dedications for the boys and girls in the school. The boys are recognized first for their athletic achievements. Credit is then given to the FFA for having a large (the largest in the state, with over 70 members) and active chapter, and for helping the music and speech departments achieve outstanding success. They are also recognized for their gentlemanly manners, as they have been "ready and willing escorts for the fine ladies of our high school." The girls, too, are recognized for their athletic prowess in GAA and in their tumbling program. Their homemaking skills were especially noted, and their musical talents contributed greatly to the fine arts programs. They played a large part in the success of the speech programs and the school paper. They were also instrumental in publishing the annual.
It has escaped my attention that the superintendent, Mr. J. E. Martin, attended Kansas State, while the principal, Mr. M. A. Lynott, studied at Yankton College. It is a strange coincidence that the athletic director who took over for "Nig" Johnson has connections to both of these schools. Mr. Jim Holwerda replaced "Nig" in the fall of 1973. He attended Kansas State and played on their nationally ranked basketball teams of the late 50's. His college coach was "Tex" Winter, who later was the coach at Washington. Mr. Winter recruited Lee Colburn, but Lee chose to remain in town at SDSU. Mr. Winter was also an assistant to Phil Jackson, who won numerous NBA championships as coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. Some of us may have seen him play in the "Barn" while he was in college, as he played for the University of North Dakota. (http://www.biography.com/people/phil-jackson-224897#synopsis) Before coming to Brookings, Mr. Holwerda was the basketball coach at Yankton College, where he fielded some very strong teams in the NAIA division. Mr. Holwerda was very influential in my early years of teaching and coaching.
The senior class president was Hugh Barnett. He and his wife farmed north of town, and had seven children. The oldest was a couple of years behind us in school. Several of his children were students of mine. (http://www.eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=1252_HBarnett33) The secretary-treasurer of that class was Cecilia Moriarty. She was a brother to John and Paul, who have played major parts in developing Brookings. ((http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=1460002Multhauf))
Another name that may be familiar is Eivor Birath. He brother was Harry, who worked at the Northwest (now Wells Fargo) for a number of years. He had two sons who graduated in 1970 and 1971. Eivor was actually born in Sweden (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1043818).
Olin Gile was also a member of that class. He was also a noted farmer in the Brookings area. His two daughters Judy, class of 67, and Kathy, class of 65, were a few years older than we were. I became acquainted with Kathy when both of us worked at the "Bug Lab" north of town in the early 70's. I believe he was known for his Christmas light display. People used to come from miles around to enjoy his light show.
The student body president was Gene Waltz. He was the owner of Waltz Hardware downtown. Daughter Sherry was a year ahead of us, while son Randy was two years behind us (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=338747).
The "Hall of Fame" included Hugh Barnett (most representative senior boy, most perfect gentleman, and most reliable), Cecilia Moriarty (prettiest girl, second most perfect lady), while the most perfect lady and president of the homemaking club was Mary Connelly (Robyn's aunt?).
Zerl Frie was the editor of the Broboca. Could this be a sister of Sandy Frie, who graduated in 1968? Among the seniors were three Morrisons, Dorothy, Howard, and Phyllis. Phyllis would marry Herb Lakman, and lived next door to us for about 10 years. They had a son Doug, class of 63, and a daughter Patty, class of 68.
The only two faculty members we would likely know would be Mr. Horrigan and Mr. Bell. Mr. Horrigan attended "State", and earned two letters in basketball, while Mr. Bell attended Northern in Aberdeen, and earned three letters in football. I knew that they had coached before becoming administrators, but I did not know they played collegiately.
As noted above, BHS has had some fine musicians. The 1940 band was led by six majorettes (do high school bands even have majorettes anymore?), and received national recognition when they "appeared before us on the screen in a newsreel, taken by Paramount Studios during Hobo Day." Remember seeing those newsreels at the movies when we were younger?
Since there were relatively few extra-curricular activities compared with today, some of the clubs had rather large memberships. As mentioned, FFA had over 70 members, the most of any FFA chapter in the state. The Latin Club had 54, while the French Club had 25.
Intramurals were not confined to just a few sports. Included in the list of activities were hockey, volleyball, boxing, wrestling, basketball, a kicking contest (football?), and a free-throw contest. The president of the Monogram Club, which oversaw the intramural program, was Clarence Sturdevant, father of Diane of our class. The vice-president was Gene Waltz, who is remembered above.
The athletics' section contained not only the pictures of the teams and the season results, but also a brief summary of each game. Football games were likely played at Pioneer Park, as the bandshell is in the background of the team picture. Varsity basketball games appeared to have been played at the Junior High (Central Elementary), while freshman games were played in the "Pit," according to the pictures. It is interesting that in basketball, the varsity defeated the alumni for the second year in a row, while the "B" team wins of 24-0 and 14-1.
Since the annuals were issued at the end of the school year, the track and field results were from the previous school year. At the meet in Estherville, Bob Stewart ("Biology Bob") captured first place in the shot put, as did the football relay team. Anyone know what a football relay is? Did they use a football instead of a baton? We sometimes have throwers relays at our meets. The shot-putters and discus throwers for each team put together 4 X 100 meter relay teams, but they use a regular relay baton. We have also had a banana relay, in which a banana is used instead of a baton. The winner is not necessarily the team crossing the finish line first. The winner is the team whose last runner eats the banana first after crossing the finish line.
No comments:
Post a Comment