Interesting Trivia

As promised, here are some incidental highlights while researching the  Hall of Fame nominees.  The date of the Register will be listed, along with the headline, followed by a brief synopsis of the article.

May 13, 1926 Contracts Are Let for Completion of the Brookings High School Building  When the high school was originally built in 1921, the board evidently lacked enough money to complete the structure.  This contract "provides for the completion of the entire second floor of the building.  The new auditorium will be the chief feature, as it will provide a place for all the school activities--band work, music, debates, public performances, and the like.  It will be strictly up to date and will seat approximately 500.  Seven new class rooms will be aailable, and the domestic science, normal training and physics equipment will all be moved to the new building." 

June 3, 1926  Class of 38 Receive First Holy Communion--Statue of St. Therese also unveiled at Catholic Ceremony
First Holy Communion is a milestone for a young Catholic.One of those young Catholics was James V. Connelly.  Would this be an uncle to Robyn?  One of the two girls who unveiled the statue of St. Therese "The Little Flower" was Mary Connelly.  Would this be Robyn's aunt?  The pastor at that time was Fr. Francis Xavier Dooley.  He was also the pastor when many of us received First Holy Communion.  Below is our First Holy Communion picture.  Can you identify them?  

Summer 1929 (forgot to write the exact date) Several School Houses Reported as the Oldest.
One of those listed is District 79, located south of Volga.  It was erected in 1884.

Nov. 14, 1929  Loses Two Toes  "Milton Moxon, 18-year-old son of Geo. Moxon, is minus two toes on one of his feet, the result of a hunting accident on Sunday.  He was carrying his gun under his arm and is not sure how it happened, but believes that in some way the trigger caught on his jacket and was discharged.  The load struck the two middle toes, and lacerated them so badly they had be be amputated.  He has a mighty sore foot foot, but otherwise is getting along all right."   It just so happened that a couple of days after I had come across this article, there was a couple in the library looking for some historical data on their family.  After we exchanged pleasantries, I found out they were cousins of Tom Moxon. 

 July 31, 1930  Brookings School Had Very Humble Beginning Back in Winter of 1979-80. Two  of the early teachers were Mrs. Horace Fishback and her sister Miss Leona Van Dusen.

May 10, 1934  Some of State's Grid Hopes For Next Season  One of the players pictured is "Arndt, Tackle."  This would be Al Arndt, father of Jim (class of 1968), and owner of Al's Sport Shop, where many of us purchased our baseball gloves, bats, basketball,s footballs, etc.

May 9, 1935  Wm. Connelly Dies at Elkton, Aged81: Was Early Pioneer  This is Robyn's great- grandfather.  Grandson Morrell Connelly ( Robyn's father) was a pallbearer.

May 23, 1935  Local Boys Named on Freshman Crack Platoon at College  Harvey Schroeder (Nanette's father) of Bruce was selected to be a member of the "freshman crack drill platoon of State College...The crack drill platoon is constantly in demand to give exhibitions of their pleasing show at different occasions of the year such as Armistice and Memorial Days, the Military ball and other occasions of the like." 

Mal(sic) 14, 1935 (Should this be May 14?)  New Chief of Police, City Attorney Appointed--Jas. J. Collenny to Head Police, E. A. Berke City Counsel (sic) James J. Connelly is Robyn's grandfather.  He was chief of police for a long time (til early 60's perhaps?)


April 10, 1935  Estelle Dickson Is Captured at Kansas City, Bullets End Career of Husband-Bank Robber   16- year old Estelle Dickson and her 27-year old husband Benny were the pair who robbed the Northwest Security National Bank in Brookings and the Corn Exchange Bank in Elkton.  "Benny's abrupt killing and Estelle's capture elicited little comment in Brookings."  The vice-president and manager of the Security bank stated that "he was glad they got Benny and the capture of Estelle seemed to be the next logical step."

April 13, 1939  Lenore Bork Becomes Bride of Virgil Braley  Would Lenore Bork be a relative of Carol Bork of our class?  One of Virgil Braley sons is Steve Braley, who was a year ahead of us in school. My recollection of  Steve is from Little League baseball.  He was a pretty good ballplayer.   The family moved to Huron around 1963.

April 10, 1930  Why Study Halls Should Be Abolished  This item by a Gordon Olson is an unsolicited editorial from the high school newspaper The Broboca.  It seems appropriate to quote the letter in full (mistakes are as they appeared  in  the original):      
      "Study halls in certain and frequent instances are abstructive to the idea that if the teacher is not in the room, they can raise whoopee!  These tactics do more harm than good.  This condition discourages the studious pupils that want to study.
       Study halls are merely places to study; therefore why should person who do not want to study be required to remain there.
       In the morning before homeroom period the best conditions in regard to quiet and the amount of studying that can be done, exist.
    The elimination of compulsory study halls would also benefit the teachers.  Instead of being required to parole a study hall, they would be able to work with and advise students who need additional instruction.  
     Not only would the faculty benefit, but students would be able to go home, play, work, study in comfort or do many other things more interesting than sleeping in study halls.  This arrangement was successfully tried three years ago.  Why wouldn't it succeed again? 
      The abolition of study halls would shift more responsibility to the students.  This would undoubtedly contribute toward a more successful post--high life, wherein he will be forced to exercise initiative.  
       If we look at the problem solely from the viewpoint of how the presence or absence of study halls affects the students studies, we again find evidence to indicate that these study periods should not be required.
     In that only a few can take advantage of the library at one time and no one can leave the building to seek information, a student sometimes sits and does nothing.  For these reasons as well as others unenumerated, study halls should be abolished."

 April 17, 1939  Letters To The Editor  (From the Broboca)  Open Letter to Gordon Olson:
    Will all due appreciation to the editorial on "Why We Should Abolish Study Halls," this is being written to show the one and only disadvantage.
     The big catch would be sleep!  Where would we of the student body catch up on our sleep if it were not the nice soft, well cushioned seats of the study halls (Oh, yeah!).  Can you think of anything nicer than, after a hard night, to go into study hall and sleep?  No!  We plead with Mr. Lynott and the school board not to do away with our one and only means of getting a bare two hours sleep a day!  Spare us this one meager pleasure that we have from 8:30 a. m. to 4 p. m.  If this is done you will have our hearty and sincere thanks.
                                 
                     (Signed)  Study Hall Snoozer.



  

Summer Recap

Now that summer is just about over, and school has started, it seems appropriate to highlight some of the events that concern some of our class members.

About a dozen years, the activities director at BHS began a Hall of Fame to recognize some of the outstanding athletes, coaches, and other contributors that have played a prominent role in the history of BHS athletics.   Each May since then, a committee of former BHS students has convened and selected those individuals worthy of selection.  Those results will then be announced about a week prior to their induction, which is generally the first home football game of the following season.  Our talented class is fortunate to have had three athletes selected:  Lee Colburn, Jim Kortan, and Tom Osterberg..  When the names of this year's inductees will be released, an entire blog post will be devoted their achievements.

Some of the people on that committee asked me to do some research on some of the nominees.  Since the Public Library has copies of old Registers on microfilm, it was a fairly easy and enjoyable task.  While searching for information on those athletes, I also found some information pertaining to the parents and even grandparents of some of our classmates.  That information, too, will be posted on a later blog entry. 

Meanwhile, this summer has some pleasant surprises.  Bob Adams of the class of 1968 made a number of forays into Brookings.  He frequently visits with some of the locals, such as Mike McClemans and Steve Hayes. We make the obligatory dining excursions at Nick's and Pizza King.  He often brings his bicycle along, so he and I can go for nice rides around the area.  In late June, we met up with Jim Duffey, also of his class.  Jim's father is still going strong in his 90's, and Jim comes back perhaps once a month to keep tabs on him.  We met at Nick's one noon for a couple of hours to reminiscence.  Joining us were Steve Hayes and Craig Steen.   We swapped some great stories about growing up in Brookings in the 50's and 60's.

On one of Bob's visits, we checked out the Brookings County Historical Museum in Volga.  What a great way to spend an afternoon.  On the grounds there is one of the first schoolhouses in the county.  It was built around 1885, and finally closed down about 80 years later in 1965.  Some of our classmates may have very well attended that school in the 50's and 60's.  Some other trivia will be posted on a later blog.

 In early July, Stan Skubic and his daughter were in town for a few days to help his parents celebrate their wedding anniversary.  It may be their 71st, if memory has not failed me.  Jim Kohler and his wife Mary hosted Stan, his daughter, and a few other classmates for a lovely dinner in their honor.

Also in July, I happened to be in the SDSU library and ran into Patty Vick.  She indicated that her mother was having some difficulties, and that she would be unable to attend the dinner at the Kohler's.  We all hope and pray that Patty's mother is doing better.

In August, John MaComb was pictured on the front page of the Register.  He and another gentleman were shown repairing  broken wheelchairs.  Had I been using my brain, I would have copied that picture and posted it here.  However, my absent-mindedness was showing, and I failed to copy his picture. 

Did anyone make a trip to see the total solar eclipse, or were you already in its path?  



  

It's Not Quite Livestreaming, But it is BHS Basketball from 1968-69

Did you ever wonder if films still exist of that great bunch of basketball players in the Class of '69?  You will recall that those players won the ESD Conference two years in a row, 1968 and 1969.  Runners-up at the Class A state tournament in 1969, they won it all as state champions in 1968.  Good times!  Four of those players ended up in the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame in recent years.

Due to the diligence of the great Johnny I, this blog's owner and caretaker, some of those 16mm films were rescued several years ago, just seconds before becoming dumpster debris.  (Thank you, John!)  John even took on the task of getting those films digitized and onto DVDs for the viewing pleasure of team members and coaches.
 
Now you, interested members of the Class of '69 and anyone else, can check out those same film segments on YouTube.  Several weeks ago, John suggested that I publish those videos, four in all, on YouTube.  If others could publish cat cuties and baby burps, I could certainly learn to publish basketball game footage, right?  After all, YouTube wants people like you and me to contribute content for free, so that YouTube (and its parent, Google) can rake in the dollars on advertising.  More videos, more viewers.  It's all about capturing eyeballs, folks.  So the publishing process is indeed smooth and understandable.
 
Some things to remember:
 
1)  The process of converting 16mm film to a digital format introduces a slow-motion effect in the resulting videos.  Perhaps now, a half century later, we old-codger guys would move at the speed of the videos, but back then, we were fast up and down the floor, and quick underneath the baskets.  Remember us as the young bucks  --uh, Bobcats--  that we were then. 

2)  16mm film was expensive.  The cameraman was instructed to film only action on offense and defense; very few free throws are shown, for example.  If you are conditioned to expect today's livestreaming of athletic events, end-to-end with no interruptions, these videos will look disjointed.

3)  16mm film was expensive.  (Is there an echo in here?)  Color film was most expensive of all,  so black-and-white film served to record athletic events.
 
4)  The first three videos have 10-second gaps (approximately) between the segments.  John Iverson included an excellent 1960's soundtrack on the DVD, but copyright laws being what they are, these YouTube videos have no sound associated with them.
 
5)  All four videos are home games.  As is still done to this day in Jostad Gym, the recording camera faced south, toward the student body seating section.  
Look for classmates ... try to find yourself.

"Trying to find yourself" ... was probably what you were doing half a century ago, too!  

  Select a clip ... make it full screen, maybe ... and enjoy.

 

Revisiting The Nature Park

Last summer, one phase of our reunion activities was held at the Nature Park south of Brookings.  While there, a man was fly-fishing for trout at one of the nearby ponds.  Obviously, there were trout to be caught.  Catching trout is somewhat of a rarity in this part of the state.  Most natural waters get too warm for them to survive for any length of time.  However, last week some of us ventured out to those same ponds, and found at that there were trout galore.  We were catching them like we used to catch bullheads at some of the local fishing spots.  Most of them were thrown back, but a few of the larger ones we kept for some rather nice culinary delights later in the week.  A number of local schoolboys also plied their angling skills, catching them even faster than we did.  Will continue to visit these local waters to see how long this extravaganza will last. 

She Experienced A Century Of History

Another of our esteemed elders passed away recently.  The mother mother of Karen (Thysell) Borsay passed to her eternal reward on April 11, 2017, at the age of 101.  What seems amazing is the history that she experienced during her lifetime, and the accompanying changes that occurred during that span.  Her marriage of 62 years is also a tribute to her faith and belief in the sanctity of marriage.  Not only is she survived by her children Anne, Karen, and Joseph, but she is also survived by her twin sister.  Her husband, who passed away in 2009, was, I believe, an entomologist at the Insect Lab just north of Brookings.  While never working directly with him, I became somewhat acquainted with him while working there during college.  It seems that Alan Leibel's brother Jay worked rather closely with Dr. Thysell, if memory serves correctly.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Karen and her family at this time.

March Madness and Sadness

This computer may have seen better days.  Thus, the few postings lately.

Basketball seems to be a popular topic at this time of year.  The Bobcats boys team was ranked #2 heading into the State "AA" tournament.  They had a stellar season, winning the conference championship.  In the tournament, however, they lost their first game in overtime to Aberdeen Central, 56-52.  They played Rapid City Stevens in the their next game, and came up short by one point, losing 54-53.  They earned 7th place by defeating Harrisburg 71-70 in double overtime.  The senior dominated team, much like ours back in 1969, finished the season with 20 victories, a feat that has been seldom accomplished by any Bobcat team.  The Bobcat girls were in a tough district and region, and were unable to qualify for the state tournament.  There was, however, an interesting article in a recent edition in the Argus-Leader that had connections to the the girls program.

In the mid-80's, the Bobcats had a powerful girls basketball program, achieving national recognition.  A key member of those teams was Amy Mickelson, whose father George was a lawyer in town, and would later become governor.  Amy's two daughters followed in their mother's footsteps, and became talented players, also.  This link -- http://www.argusleader.com/story/sports/high-school-sports/2017/03/25/brecht-sisters-found-love-basketball-family-connection/99584540/    may allow you to view the article.
 

Amy is #52 in the picture above, taken after they had won their second consecutive state tournament.  Her daughters bear a striking resemblance to her.

On the sad note, another one of our beloved parents has gone to her eternal reward.. Janette Perso's mother passed away on St. Patrick's day. http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=06854465_GPerso

A couple of nice comments have been received concerng Mrs. Perso.  One classmate noted

Our family grew up with the Perso’s who lived next to Midway Phil Peterson’s dad.

Often walked June and Jeanette to school.

Their block was the “girls block”: Perso’s, Larson’s, and the McCone’s.

Our block was the “boys block”: Meske’s, Bumgard’s, Foerster’s, Kingley’s, and Boggs’.

We did everything together.

Another email expressed similar thoughts.  "The Perso family lived down the alley from me and I have many fond memories of them.  Appreciate you letting us all know."    

 Mrs. Person was a highly visible member of the community.  Many of her grandsons and great-grandsons were active in athletics at BHS.  She, along with just about all of her daughters and sons-in-law and their children, was a regular spectator at those athletic contests in which they were participating, whether it be basketball, wrestling, football, or track and field.

On behalf of the class of 1969, our thoughts and prayers go out to the Perso family at this time.

On a related note, Arne B. Larson was an institution at BHS.  He arrived here in the mid-1940's, and did wonders for the instrumental music program.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Music_Museum describes the museum he developed after he left Brookings.  Is it a coincidence that his middle name is Baldwin, as in the piano? https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEViNRQdlYYiQAyIUnnIlQ;_ylc=X1MDMTM1MTE5NTY4NwRfcgMyBGZyA3locy1tb3ppbGxhLTAwNARncHJpZANLaTZqOGxvSFI1dXJsWXRMd1Z1NW5BBG5fcnNsdAMwBG5fc3VnZwMwBG9yaWdpbgNzZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tBHBvcwMwBHBxc3RyAwRwcXN0cmwDMARxc3RybAMzOQRxdWVyeQNhcm5lJTIwYi4lMjBsYXJzb24lMjBtdXNpYyUyMGNvbGxlY3Rpb24EdF9zdG1wAzE0OTA2MzMzMjM-?p=arne+b.+larson+music+collection&fr2=sb-top&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-004  Andre Larson, one of Arne B's sons, became the first director of the museum.  Unfortunately, he, too, recently passed away.  http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/argusleader/obituary.aspx?n=andre-larson&pid=184707354  This link is a wonderful story on the origins of the museum.  http://www.startribune.com/national-music-museum-in-south-dakota-is-a-world-class-trove-of-rare-instruments/401776565/#1

 

The Memories Of Two Fabulous Fathers

It seems that sadness strikes our friends several times within a short span.  Recently, in the last week of January and the first week of February, two of our classmates lost their beloved fathers.  Wes Audus, father of Dennis, passed away on January 26 (http://rudesfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/RudesF1/obit.cgi?user=51726587_WAudus).  On Feb. 6, Paul Kohler, father of Jim, went to his eternal reward (http://eidsnessfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/Eidsne1/obit.cgi?user=06418466_DKohler).

My knowledge of both of these fine men is extremely scant.Feel free to add any comments if you have information that would be beneficial for this post.

The boyhood towns of Mr. Audus, Crocker, Lily, and Thorp, were unknown to me.  An internet search revealed that the population of any of these towns  was never more than about 200.  Today, the total populations of all three of these "cities" may not surpass 25.  According to the last census, Crocker had 19 residents, Lily had 4, while Thorp was just listed as a township.  A census was unavailable (at least, I could find no record of one).  Perhaps someone has more knowledge than I about this matter.  As his obituary states, Mr. Audus was very clever and had a knack for creating functional machines out of spare parts. The education he received in those small schools provided him with the fundamental skills to lead a rich life.   

Mr. Kohler was very well-known through his work at SDSU, and he received numerous awards for his scholarship, research, and leadership.  What was truly impressive to me was his ability to shoot a basketball in his later years.  Very few of the top-level athletes at the present, whether at the professional, collegiate, or high-school level, shoot free-throws as accurately as Mr. Kohler did when he was 80 years young.  His performances outshone and amazed all those in his age group who had been gifted athletes in their younger days.  They were in awe that Mr. Kohler could shoot so well at that stage in his life. Some of those former stars that still lived in the area asked me what his background was..  Had he played a great deal of basketball when he was in high school or college?  I could not answer them.  When Mr. Kohler was a youth, it was common to shoot free throws underhanded (granny style is what we called it).  Is that the style he used?  When done correctly, it certainly is an efficient and economical technique.  Perhaps we can corral Jim sometime and find out the answers.  

 Our condolences, thought, and prayers go out to Dennis and Jim at the loss of their fathers, both of whom were known and respected throughout the Brookings community and beyond.