Mansfield High School - Hornet / Green Years Yearbook (Mansfield, MA)

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Two new members gained posts on the school com- mittee in the fall elections. Mrs. Elmer Watts and Mr. John J. Langdon. The band gave its annual concert on May 19, at the same time that Superintendent Anderson received a $400 raise. Sixty-four students traversed the school for the last time as June arrived. Hurricane ‘Carol’ rudely interrupted the grand opening of the newly completed high school in Sep- tember, 1954. Following the dedication in the new 600 seat auditorium, 522 students flooded the build- ing. The breakdown in the senior wing of the six year school was: 94 Freshmen, 95 Sophomores. 66 Juniors, and 62 Seniors. Many of the parents banded together to form the Mansfield High School P.T.A. By December only $1200 remained of the cost of the high school. Mr. Robinson returned to Mansfield High in December to dedicate the new gymnasium. In the game that followed the MHS Varsity netted 34 free throws en route to a 60-47 win over the alumni. 175 faithful Hornet fans turned out at the Boosters’ banquet for the boys and girls basketball teams. Mr. Anthony P. Melchiorri was named to chair- man of the School Committee, which was then meet- ing in the new auditorium. Now that the new high school had a complete library, many students, according to a Mansfield News’ interview, were planning to study there instead of the Public Library. 1600 students crowded the high school as the doors opened for the 1955-56 school year. Adult Education, a new program funded by the town, was holding its sessions in the new high school. High school students had three days sawed off April vacation because of an earlier polio epidemic. Two days later twin blizzards tied up the town with 28 inches of snow. Warm days soon followed, and the fifties’ teenage rediscovery of youth had an effect on clothing styles. Superintendent Anderson noticed this and issued a ban on all tight jeans, “Duck” haircuts, Garrison belts, flashy shirts, and other conspicuous clothing. The class of “11, known as the attic class, held its reunion at MHS. The baseball team ended its season on a sour note, bowing out to Milford in the State Tourney, 2-0. On opening day of the football season in 1956-57, Tino DiGiovanni and John Pomfret scored to give MHS a 13-0 win over Canton. DiGiovanni scored thrice against Case in a 26-24 win, and led the team to a 33-23 win over Dartmouth. Harold L. Qualters, a former Park Row principal, was appointed to assist H. Lea Mushroe, MHS prin- cipal, on New Year's, 1957. Administrative raises upped the budget to a high of $502,000. MHS started a new honor roll, and the school com- mittee announced that it cost $300 to educate one pupil in Mansfield. John Pomfret scored a record 377 points in basketball, and the band earned a spot in New York City’s Saint Patrick’s Day parade. Two administrative changes took place as the 1957- 58 school year opened. Theron Thompson was Super- intendent, and Mr. Qualters was named principal. The Hornets ranked 7th in Class ‘D’ football after a win over North Attleboro. On Thanksgiving Day MHS won 52-7, a record. The band went to the South Eastern music festival, and a choir of 130 performed a concert in late May. 75 seniors graduated. Late in 1957 the MHS gym was named in honor of Don Currivan, a former professional football player and alumni of MHS. who died on the Cape in the spring of °56. 1958-59 saw the school establish a National Honor Society. following in the footsteps of Foxboro High. Another relatively new MHS feature, the Alumni Scholarship Fund, raised $395 by mid-December. As a part of the $574,784 budget, the teachers received a $200 raise. Mr. Qualters announced that the valedictory and Salutatory addresses would once again be given by the top two seniors in the class. Previous to this the four essayists had rendered the speeches. Senior Basketball player Geoff Stearns scored a whopping 552 points in tha 1959 season (19.7 points per game), a new record. Stearns also became the first player to score 1,000 points in a Varsity career. Also led by freshman Ron Gentili, the team was Bay State Champions. 1959 marked the first time that Boys’ Golf became a sport, and tennis was on the schedules for the first time in 14 years. MHS also announced that North Attleboro would not be on the grid schedule for the fall of °69. That particular fall turned up roses for the Hor- nets. The squad, led by Gentili, and Tony Day, went undefeated for the campaign and was State Class ‘D’ champions. The results appear below: Mansfield 16, Somerset0 Mansfield 8, Dartmouth 6 Mansfield 32, Franklin 6 Mansfield 26, Case 0 Mansfield 26, O.A. 6 Mansfield 24, North 0 Mansfield 28, Canton 6 Mansfield 14, Foxboro 6 Gentili scored thrice in the Franklin game, and 3000 fans were on hand for the North contest. The 1960 school budget stood at $621,717. The English Department announced that the school paper, the “Tatler,” was to be revised. Boston College football coach Ernest E. Hefferle spoke at the Foot- ball Banquet. Before the class of °69 graduates Supt. Barker resigned. Albert J. Murphy succeeded Barker as the 1960-61 4 EPID ok cee yer citll | eee er ee Graduation Class of 1955

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bs Ja hal i ee ee ee ET, Q ST AA oy ot ‘ Among sport’s highlights was a 7-0 win by the Hor- net’s football team over Foxboro. Dick Pescosolido’s 60 yard toss to Curtis Griffin accounted for the only score. Griffin also showed his dominance on the hardwood, leading the Mansfield five to a 48-29 win over North. He netted 15 points. The school board approved a $233,846 budget for 1951-52. Sixty-three students received diplomas under sunny June skies. The 1951-52 school year opened with a new princi- pal at the helm, Knute Larson. He had a Bachelor of Arts degree from Clark University and he took office with many novel ideas in mind. Among them was the formation of a Student Council, which he said pro- moted self leadership and participation in good gov- ernment. 22 students were elected from each of the four grades. The teachers received a $100 raise as the budget ballooned to $265,402. The Mansfield Co-operative bank started an on- the-job training program with business students at MHS. The idea of a new high school began to gel and move closer to reality as the spring approached. The new facility was to contain grades 7-12, and it gained the approval of the school committee. With that sur- veys and studies of the land were made at the East Street site and groups of executives went to visit area schools for prospectives ideas. When a rough idea of the school was made, an architect, at a fee of $30,000, was flown in from Boston to design the structure. The first Mansfield High School uniformed band, under the direction of Mr. James Gallo, played its first concert at the Grange in early in early May. Following graduation ceremonies the class held its traditional banquet in the old high school gym. The 1952-1953 school year saw the state render its approval of the new high school building. Pamphlets and fliers were distributed all over town to tell the public about the facility. The building which was to go up on East Street, was to have 30 rooms went for an estmated cost of $1,585,000 dollars. The Mansfield News ran a feature, ““The Hornets Nest,” which contained stories, editorials and inform- Mansfield High School 75th Anniversary ation written by the MHS students. The school budget for the 1953-1954 school year reached an all time high of $303,034.19 when it gained approval of the School Committee. Everett W. Robinson, associated for 40 years with Mansfield High School as a principal, guidance exec- utive, and teacher, announced his retirement. Band maestro, James Gallo. and the newly formed Mansfield Band Parent Association, raised $2000 for new uniforms for the 75 member group. 49 seniors graduated and the following week was the 75th reun- ion of the first MHS graduating class. Three hundred twenty-seven children were in the hallowed halls of Mansfield High School as the 1953- 1954 year began. The new school, which the town was finally to receive after a 20 year wait, was in the news again. East Street was to be widened to 60 ft. to accomodate the body of traffic. Soon came the realization that the school was to cost almost $200,000 more than the operating budget of the town itself. That ultimately served to drive the already escalating tax rate even higher. Everett W. Robinson

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Class of 1916 at SOth reunion (1966) school year opened with 497 in the senior wing. Ralph DePillo, and Gentili received All-Hockomock football honors, though MHS did not repeat as champs. The budget of $667,571 showed a $45,000 increase Over previous operating costs. The Alumni Association announced that it had $633.57 in its scholarship fund by January, ’61. Gentili led the team to the State Class ‘C’ basket- ball finals, where MHS upset Grafton High 53-40. Diane Cleary was valedictorian and Kathleen Houghton was salutatorian as 96 seniors graduated. The band highlight of the year was an exchange trip with Agawan, a town no band member had ever vis- ited. Mr. Murphy announced that some improvements were in order for the 1961-62 school year. Among his suggestions was a 10,000 volume library, and a lan- guage lab, better lighting, and overall curricula improvement. Murphy’s motives for this were to strengthen the students for college entrance exams. The history, math, and foreign language curricula were all improved. In the high school enrollment of 647 there were ten sets of twins, which assistant principal John F. Maloney said was a record for a high school of Mansfield’s size. The Mansfield Hornet band conducted an exchange with a band from Burlington, Vermont. School Committee Chairman Melchiorri announced that he would not run for re-election, as he had pur- chased the Central Market. All out support was given to the Citizens’ Scholar- ship Fund drive. A road block on route 140 raised a grand total of $4321. Superintendent Murphy announced that the High School had dropped Driver Education as a course because excessive student interest had driven the cost high. Jane Cronin was valedictorian, and Barbara Kudd- zol was the student who rendered the salutatory speech as 111 seniors graduated. The 1962-63 school year was greeted with another mandate from Superintendent Murphy, who stated, “Parents should not encourage children who persist in defying reasonable rules and regulations.” Disobedience of this order was soon to follow, as six students were expelled for vandalism. The offen- ses that Murphy termed vandalism were such things as wrapping toilet paper around the front trees of the high school and pulling out the north goalposts at Memorial Park. Hornet band director James Gallo asked the school committee to permit the entry of more children into the band, but the administrators upheld the previous limit, which said that 72 could participate in the band, and ten in the color guard. Gallo backed up his plea with the fact that there was a surplus of band uniforms, but to no avail. The new elementary school to be built opposite the high school was named in honor of Everett W. Rob- inson, who gave of his life diligently in the forty years of his service to Mansfield High School. Midway through the school year the valedictorian and salutatorian were announced. They were, respec- tively, Diane Marshall and Elaine Maxwell. The MHS basketball team traveled to the Tech Tourney, but bowed out in the first round to a power- ful Rockland team, 65-59. $60,000 was allocated for the purpose of repairing the high school. The area of most concern was the brick wall of the school, which needed to be repained and waterproofed. The original building errors which caused this were said to be “just faulty workman- ship.” The boys tennis team won the Hockomock League title for the second consecutive campaign. The MHS band, drill team, and color guard won the first prize in the city of Quincy’s annual Christ- mas parade in 1963. A Statistic from the superintendent’s office noted that the salaries of the teachers accounted for 7 % of the school system’s operating budget. The band had another exchange, this time with the Princeton (N.J.) High School. The Hornets also gave their annual concert on April 17. 12 students, a mixture of seniors and underclass- men, were accepted into the National Honor Society during candlelight ceremonies in the school audito- rium. $9000 in scholarships was awarded to 117 sen- iors, the largest group ever, on Class Day. The Hornet baseball team, behind winning pitcher James Albertini, captured the Hockomock League title with a 6-3 dousing of the King Philip Warriors. 652 students were present at the outset of the 1964- 65 school year. The valedictorian was Miss Wilma Farinella and the salutatorian was David Ingram. The difference in the averages of the two was .001. A study by the administrative offices showed that 47% of the student body ate school lunches. “We are really moving along,” said Mr. Gallo as the band of 115, color guard of 10, and drill team of 24 prepared to set off an exchange to Newton, New Jersey. Teachers and administrators in the elementary school level were not invited to attend the Com- mencement exercises. Donald Sweet held a pre-class rally in the school parking lot. 300 students were on hand to hear Sweet ask for support of the MHS athletic teams. The boys tennis team won the Hockomock again, this time led by Bob Annese in singles and Dick Dutton and Don Maxwell in doubles.