Sixty years ago, and I was a 4th Grader. We finally were part of the “Big Building” and were allowed to buy football ribbons when the High School Cheerleaders came to the Grammar School to sell them at lunch time. As I remember, they cost 10 cents each and came complete with a “straight pin” to use to fasten them to shirts, blouses, and the front parts of the legs of jeans. They were also sometimes means of torture if a “mischievous big kid” cornered a “little timid kid” out of the sight of the duty teachers! Usually, there was more “threat” than “stick.”
Most of us 4th Grade boys hoped to buy our ribbons from Sarah Lee, Bettye, Donna, Gail, or Elaine—Cheerleaders who looked like “grown women” to us as they ran around the school grounds, seeing which one of them could sell the most!
As 4th Graders, we thought we knew how to play football, but we mainly tackled by “slinging” ball carriers to the ground rather than really tackling, as we later learned when Coach Canup lined us up for “spring training” tackling drills the next year!
But we liked to go to the Varsity Football Games on Friday nights, buy cold “cokes” out of ice water at the Concession Stand (run by the Band Parents), play “cup football” in the end zones, and run up and down the giant hill behind the football field to the northwest area.
We pretended to be Jerry McCuistion, J. B. Morris, Don Montgomery, Dennis Hensley, the guys who were captains and “did the coin toss” before the game to see who received the kick-off. And sometimes, we all wanted to be Alvin Kvapil or Ronald Montgomery, because they were the boyfriends of Sarah Lee Cates and Donna Rice, Cheerleaders.
And speaking of ice cold cokes, at halftime we young guys would go round up the glass returnable bottles that the fans had taken to their seats and thrown under the bleachers, because if we returned a “full case” to the concession stand, we were rewarded (paid) with a free soda! And, on more than one cold night, a dainty mother of a band student would give us free drinks if we would stand there and pull the drink bottles from the bottom of the giant drink cooler, filled with salted chunks of ice, and take them to the buyers. I can remember Richard Penny, Rod Stark, and I comparing dark blue fingers without “feeling” at the ends of some halftimes.
And, at each home game’s conclusion, Dad and I would walk back to our house on Maple Street without fear or concern, other than maybe waking up Mom and Ann if they had gone on to bed rather than going to the game!
Seniors were the “most important” students in the school, and according to the 1961 Jackrabbit, the following were SENIORS of 1960—1961. Leta Nan Robertson, Lynn Askew, Douglas Bush, Fred Castillo, Carolyn Criswell, Jim Dick Criswell, Mamie Nell Ford, Betty Garner, Linda Garrett, Judy Hamilton, Dennis Hensley, Loretta Herron, Mary Anne Hunter, Franklin Kasper, Alvis Lee, Ronnie Lewis, Charles Merritt, Don Montgomery, J. B. Morris, Hazel Murray, Clara Parker, J. W. Parker, Billy Penney, Jimmy Sanders, Roy Singleton, Dale Ware, Patsy June White, Dorothy Whiteman. Senior Sponsors were
Rea Thomas, Johnnie Henderson, and Bob Berry.
Senior Class Officers were President J. B. Morris, Vice-President Billy Penney, Secretary-Treasurer Patsy White, and Reporter Lynn Askew.
Superintendent was O. B. Johnson, and High School Principal was C. C. Warren.
The Yearbook Staff had two sponsors, Evelyn Henderson and Patsy Baker, and nine student members—Mamie Nell Ford, Carolyn Criswell, Lynn Askew, Hardie Mae Ford, Jim Dick Criswell, Jerry McCuistion, Carol Criswell, James Henson, and Mary Anne Hunter.
The Jackrabbit was “placed” in memory of Mike Smith, who lost his life in a car crash on the way to the Bi-District Football Play-off Game.
Finally, Bob Berry was the Band Director, an important person, since many folks came to games not only to see football but also to enjoy the HALFTIME SHOW, which showcased the Band, including James Henson (President), Carolyn Criswell (Secretary), and Patsy White (Librarian).
Please return next week for 1960 Football and other school features.
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