Copyright © 2017 John F. Oyler
September 28, 2017
Bridgeville High
School History, part five
The Bridgeville Area Historical Society continued its
research into the history of Bridgeville High School at its September “Second
Tuesday” workshop. This time we were able to cover four graduating classes –
1935, 1936, 1937, and 1938.
The facilitator began the session by reminding the audience
of conditions in the middle and late 1930s. The Depression had dragged on and
actually got worse following Franklin Roosevelt’s re-election in 1936. Severe
weather events were big news. The Dust Bowl Heat Wave brought 109 degree
temperatures to Chicago. The worst hurricane ever recorded (185 miles per hour
winds) hit the Florida Keys. It is interesting to read about these events and
compare them with the hysteria people have today about severe weathe.
Fibber McGee and Molly were the latest rage on the radio.
Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert starred in the Academy Award winning movie,
“It Happened One Night”. Fred Astaire had the number one record of the year –
“Cheek to Cheek”. Here in Bridgeville we all were poor (over half the families
with incomes below the Poverty Level); nonetheless those of us who were growing
up atin the 1930s have happy memories of the those years.
The 1934 football
team split even in eight games, but did manage to shut out South Fayette 20 to
0. The soccer team was good enough to beat Carnegie Tech 2 to 0, but eventually
lost the WPIAl championship to South Fayette. The basketball team advanced to
the WPIAL playoffs before an early elimination. The high school also fielded
teams in wrestling and baseball.
In those days the
Pittsburgh papers regularly ran features on outstanding high school students.
In 1935 Louise Papanek (“a splendid student”) and William Cronemeyer (“always
on the Honor Roll”) were among the young people thusly honored. The Junior Play
that year, “Mr. Pim Passes By”, starred Miss Papanek and Audley McFarland.
The Class of 1935
was sixty eight strong. It included two Oelschlagers (Betty and Loraine) and
two VanGorders (Evalyn and James) and numerous other names familiar to the
audience – Elmer Colussy, John Maioli, and Alice Weise, among others.
That Fall the
football team salvaged another disappointing season by beating South Fayette 24
to 0. The team photograph featured a very young coach Neil Brown, sporting a
brand new diploma from Grove City. The facilitator enlarged part of the
photograph and challenged the audience to identify someone in it. Sure enough,
my brother Joe, immediately announced, “That’s Jack Wight”. And indeed it was
the same Jack Wight who coached the ill-fated 1946 team before going on to an
extremely effective career as an administrator in the high school.
Led by Siegal
Thurman the Eldorado Dramatic Society of the High School presented a Christmas
play, “The Gift of the Magi”. We have no record of whether it was based on the
biblical version or on O. Henry’s well-known ironic short story.
The basketball
team, known in those days as “the Redshirts”, were again good enough to make
the WPIAL playoffs and to be eliminated in their first game. A promising
underclassman named “Tay” (Clair) Malarkey had managed to break into the
starting lineup early in the season.
Sixty six seniors
graduated in 1936, including two neighbors who would die in World War II –
Samuel Allender and Wayne Carson. Victoria Berton, who became our school nurse
and then went off to serve in the War, was in this class, as was Agnes Shadish,
who eventually became a very effective elementary school teacher at Washington
School. Other familiar names included Edward David, Origin (Gus) Ferree, and
Mike Toney.
Two more BHS
students were featured in the Pittsburgh paper that year – Angelo Pennetti
(“remarkable executive ability”) and Andrew Van Gorder ( “one of the Student
Council’s most active members).
Coach Brown’s
team went one and seven in the Fall of ’36, including an embarrassing 33 to 7
loss to South Fayette. The basketball team upset Peters Township in the first
round of the WPIAL playoffs before being eliminated. In addition to Malarkey,
Johnny Randolph and Frank Weise sparked the winners.
The graduating
class of 1937 had sixty eight members. Jimmy Patton, whose intellectual
curiosity and remarkable attention to detail has provided us with much of the
local history that we possess today, was a proud member of this class.
A win over
Montour and a tie with Cecil were the only bright spots of the 1937 football
season. The High School did field a cross country team that Fall. In the Spring
the BHS golf team, composed of students who had learned the game caddying at
St. Clair Country Club, captured the WPIAL championship.
The BHS students
honored in the Pittsburgh paper in 1938 were Gloria Lutz (“a charm all her
own”) and Dorothy Clarke (President of the National Honor Society). Miss Lutz
is fondly remembered by all of us who were her students at BHS a decade later.
Betty Crawford
had the title role in the Junior Play ”The Patsy”, the cast of which included
Clyde Carson, Glen Colton, and Bob Weise.
There were fifty
eight seniors in the Class of 1938. We know a little bit more about them than
the other classes of that era thanks to Dana Spriggs. His parents, Leonard
Spriggs and Eva Mouret, were members of the class. Like most Depression Era
classes the 1938 group could not afford a glossy Yearbook. They settled on an
informative hand typed and duplicated document.
Leonard Spriggs
was Editor of this Yearbook. At one of the Reunions of the Class of 1938 he and
his wife produced facsimile copies of it and presented them to all of their
classmates. Dana, thoughtfully, has provided copies to the Historical Society,
providing us with a valuable resource.
In 1938 (not yet
Dr.) Harold Colton was Supervising Principal and Mr. Fowler the Principal.
Joseph Ferree taught Latin and Mathematics. John Graham taught Biology and
Physical Education. In addition to coaching, Neil Brown taught Commercial
courses. Alma Weise had begun her career teaching Music.
William
Cronemeyer was the Class President; William McCool, June Thomas, Elmer
Phillips, and Mary Moore, the other Class Officers. Despite the lack of
photographs the Yearbook did a good job of reporting on all the class members,
utilizing a Who’s Who section, a Prophecy section, a two line poem, and a
Donors section.
The portion
devoted to activities and organizations was particularly interesting. Although
women did not compete formally in athletics, the Girls Athletic Association
provided the opportunity for them to participate in sports internally as well
as with similar organizations at other schools. One of the members of the
audience, Nancy Stanson Buszinski, brought a set of ribbons her mother, Mildred
Meyers, had won in athletic competition. She was pleased to see her mother
mentioned in this Yearbook as a member of the GAA basketball team.
Another member of
that basketball team was Sanntina Filippi. Her son, John Shipe, was also in the
audience. He had brought autograph books that his mother kept while she was in
school; they were passed around for perusal by the audience, as were Class
rings from 1934 and 1936 which Larry Godwin brought in.
Another interesting
organization was the Minor Sports Club. Mr. Graham was its sponsor; Joe Rizak
its president. It is not clear what its function was. The Band consisted of
forty pieces in 1938 and entertained at football games. All of us associated
with the Historical Society were pleased to see Lena Carrozza listed as one of
the members of the National Honor Society. Based on the impact she had on our
Society we are sure she was a major factor in that organization.
We obviously are
indebted to several generations of the Spriggs family for providing this
document. It certainly gives us considerable insight into life at Bridgeville
High School in the late 1930s.
The next “Second
Tuesday” workshop will be held at 7:00 pm on October 10, 2017, at the History
Center. In response to a special request the BHS History series will be
interrupted so we can discuss the James Franks murder close to its 102nd
anniversary.
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