Reading High School - Arxalma Yearbook (Reading, PA)

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24 THE RED AND BLACK and contributed a large amount to the grand total. The entire amount for which the Association aimed was S15,000, but only 510,000 was obtained, not, however, through lack of work by those on the dif- ferent teams. When this debt is once cleared, the Association will endeavor to procure a gymnasium for the school, if one doesn't turn up before then, which is extremely unlikely. It is certainly a sad state of affairs when one considers that a school the size of ours, is without a gym. All other High Schools, many small- er than ours, are equipped with up-to-date gymnasiums, where a course in physical training is part of the education. Does this then look as though we were pro- gressing? Does it look as though all pos- sible steps have been taken to insure those graduating from this school, not only of a good mental education, but something greater, more important than this-sound healthy bodies. It is not our desire to stir up resentment against any- one, but these things we think should be remedied, and that in the near future. Nuff Sed. First prize in the annual Eagle Essay Contest was captured by Pup Howden, while Johnny Noll took first honorable mention. Once again the heavy hand of fate rest- ed upon our class. On January 14, 1912, Herbert Lindberg, another one of our be- loved classmates, was claimed by death. About this time our chances of being basketball champs looked exceedingly bright. Everything was running along smoothly, when suddenly the team took one awful slump, and 1913 came to rest in second place. This sad fate, however, did not deter one of our number, Cummy Wolfskill from winning first prize in the Red and Black story contest. Cummy it will be remembered was second in the same contest the year before. On April 19, occurred an event which caused the members of the class of 1912 to gnash their teeth in rage and tear out their hair in great handsful. On that day our debating team consisting of Leinbach, Dellet and McKenna, upholding the affirm- ative of the question, Resolved, That the advancement of civilization is more in- debted to intellectual culture than to the force of arms, Went against the class of 1912, and completely overwhelmed them. Its seldom that a Junior team defeats a. Senior team and this makes the victory all the greater. In the election of class ofiicers for the Senior year, George Dellet captured the position of President, with Julius Sneez- er Fenstermacher as Secretary and Treas- urer. Johnny Noll was ,made Track Manager, and Harry Matten, Basketball Manager. About this time the Board of Managers for the Red and Black was elected. The offiecrs were as follows: Editor-in-Chief, officers were as follows: Editor-in-Chief, Bruce E. Howdeng Circulation Manager, P. Bitzer Leinbachg Advertising Manager, H. E-arl Erbg Business Manager, Cum- my Wolfskillg Treasurer, Pete Haugen, Ass't Circulation Manager, Brossman, Assistant Advertising Mana- gers, Potteiger and Walley. There is one thing for which we must give the Red and Black men of this year credit, and that is the promptness, with which each issue was gotten out. Few, if any classes have a record such as our class holds. So wonderful is this record, that I would fain disclose lt, but the extreme modesty of those on the staff forbids me doing so. We come now to our last year. In our first year, there were one hundred and sixty-eight in the class, but our last year shows a drop of over one-half, there being only seventy-seven remaining. In September, the swimming team again went against the Y. M. C. A. team, again met defeat, this time, however, by a margin of only two points. Wanner and Keiser, the stars of last year's team, again were right there with the goods, and contributed largely to the final score. The football team of this year was com- posed of practically all '13 men, there being nine of .our men on the team. Ted Leinbach captured first honors in the Alumni Contest, while Paul G. Mas- ters took first honorable mention. In the next event, the cross-country run, our class made a miserable showing, being beaten out by the Juniors. This was due largely to the fact that there were only about three of our men on the team. On the 'Varsity basketball team, we again find the names of two of our men,

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LITERARY 23 In September after a. pleasant vacation, we again returned to school. Technically speaking, in regards to foot- ball, it can be said that 1913 was there with chimes, having eight men on the squad. On Thanksgiving Day occured two events worthy of note. First, came the cross-country run, where we ran away with second place. Then, in the football game, Allentown was made to dance to the melody of 14 to 0. Ah, I had almost forgotten, Professor Kaufmann was not to be seen at the game, and everybody was wondering where he cohld be. Upon further inquiry, it was learned that just thc day previous, he had been Utied up, married, in other words, and was spend- ing his honeymoon touring in the vicinity of Stony Creek, Mohnton and Womels- dorf. At last, came an event we had long been anticipating. In November, we had our first real class meeting for the election of officers, which resulted in the choice of Theodore Miller Leinbach for President, and Leon B. Gilbert for Secretary and Treasurer. In March, after much discussion con- cerning it, was held the first meeting of the Student Council, formed to give students a voice in the government of the school. Later, at the suggestion of this Council, the student government system was in- troduced. The first committee to represent our class consisted of Johnny Masonek, George Dellet, our punky Senior presi- dent, Ted Leinbach, one of the bummest of class orators, and Bill Hartman. 1913's first literary achievement oc- curred when Johnny Fireplug alias Cum- my Wolfskill succeeded in capturing second prize in the Red and Black contest. Cummy, is to-day Business Manager of the Red and Black, and a mighty bum one, at that. In the track meets held in April, we managed to defeat the poor Freshies, and in this manner, hung onto third place. It was in these events, that one of our most bashful and unassuming members dis- tinguished himself by his excellent work in heaving the pill, or if you will, putt- ing the shot. This man has since starred in football and lawn tennis. I refer to none other than Walt Ravel, our punky Prophet, better known to us as Demos- thenes. When the 'Varsity Track Team was picked, it was found that there were two 1913 men represented, James J. McKen11a and Nig Reifsnyder, both of whom con- tributed largely to the success of the team. The first athletic event I find on record in our Junior year, is the swimming meet with the Y. M. C. A. It is, perhaps, not so well known that Reading High possesses a swimming team. The first team in the history of our school was organized to- ward the close of our Sophomore year, largely through the efforts of one of our mates, James R. Keiser. As Jimmie says, Swimmin' is the best sport in Readin' High, and who is better quali- fied to speak on such a dry subject than friend, James. The meet resulted in a victory for our opponents, but they had to work for it. . Several 1913 men represent- ed the School in this event, and among the glimmering satellites we find the names of Jimmie Keiser and. Bup Wanner. The election for class officers after a stirring campaign, resulted as follows: Edwin R. Haag, for Presidentg George Dellet, Secretary and Treasurer, Ed. Harper, Basket Ball managerg and James McKenna was chosen to look after the track team. Harper resigned later as basketball manager, and was succeeded by Nifty Elberly. Next on program came an event of great importance. During Thanksgiving week a campaign was held to pay off the debt of 515,000 on the Athletic Field. Just two years before, the Athletic Asso- ciation, seeing the great need of an ath- letic field of their own, but not seeing any steps taken in that direction by a certain body of men, whose duty it is to look af- ter the welfare of Readings school chil- dren, decided to get a. field themselves. Accordingly, a plot of ground was pur- chased at Fifth and Bern streets for this purpose. With the aid of the students, the field was laid out. The 1913 team in the Campaign con- sisted of Edwin Haag, captaing William Potteiger, George Pfau, P. Bitzer Lein- bach, Paul DeHart, Jesse Conner and Walt Ravel. All these men with that characteristic 1913 spirit, worked hard

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, LITERARY 25 Chick Hawk, who was captaln, and Polly Leinbach, who played guard. There is an old Dutch proverb which runs something like this: He who lives with cripples, learns to limp , and this I think, must have been the case with our class basket-ball team. We had been su- preme so often in athletics, that being constantly surrounded by a bunch of in- ferior athletes, causes us to limp ex- ceedingly much. To make a long story short, our team played so punk, that every game was lost, and the honors of cellar championship were ours. Out of consideration for those on the team, I will not mention any names. We made up somewhat for this punky showing, how- ever, by winning the steeple-chase, the ilrst of its kind in the school. This event diillers from the cross-country run, in that one must surmount certain obstacles, such as fences, streams, etc. The first man to finish was Boomer Hendricks, the Pot-Pie Kid. You might ask, whence the name, and, so, risking Boomer'si' wrath, I shall give you the story, and you may judge for yourselves whether or not he is properly named. One day when I was busily engaged in studying QU, Boomer came up to me and says, Bill, you're going in the Steeple- Chase, ain't you? Sure, says I. Well then, let me put you next to some good dope, says Boomer, if you want to make a good showing in the race, take my ad- vice. This is somethingl do in every race. Don't eat anything for a. whole week before the race but pot-pie, and on the day you run, go home for dinner, tdon't eat in schoolj, and eat pot-pie until you can't surround any more. Of course, I didn't follow this advice, but I see now that Boomer was right. He has since informed me that he intends publishing a book entitled The Advantages of a Pot- Pie Diet in Running. There are few, if any classes that can boast of three celebrities as great as those we shall now take up, We havein our number, one, who besides being editor of the school paper, is already a newspaper man on Reading's latest and best paper. This one is Joe McKenna. We have an- other, Rev. Edwin Raymond Haag, our punky valedictorian, who has never taken an examination since he entered High School, which is certainly a fine record. The third, Speck Spohn we no longer have with us, this gentleman hav- ing fallen a victim to the wiles of Cupid. Readers of history may remember the days when mail-clad knights opposed each other in their tournaments and fought savagely to overcome one another, often with serious or fatal results. Today, in Reading High School we also have tour- naments, although not quite so dangerous as those first mentioned. I have refer- ence to the Checker Tournament, in which our team, composed of Savidge, Reuter and Nagle, came off second best. The interclass debate this year was not quite so interesting, due to the fact that our opponents were rather inexperienced in debating, and consequently the team of 1913, consisting of Leinbach, Masters and Schnapps 'De1let, had an easy time de- feating the Juniors on the affirmative of Resolved, That the present system of protective tariff be gradually reduced to a free trade basis. In April the school debating team, up- holding the same side of the question, and consisting of two 1913 men and one post graduate, Leinbach, Howden and Harper respectively, opposed the Lebanon High School, and came off with a two to one victory. We come now to the inter-class meets, in which our team, by winning every meet, became track champions of the school. We strengthened our claim to this title later, by winning the big handicap meet with a lead of 20 points over our nearest opponents, the Sophs. On April 26, the school relay team with three of our men, McKenna, Matz and Noll on it, and one 1914 man, Charlton, journeyed to Philadelphia, and took sec- ond place in the one mile relay. This team made the best time that was ever made by any Reading High School team, doing the mile in 3.3935 being beaten by 33 second. Had it not been for a little hard luck, they would have captured first place, as our team was certainly superior to Johnstown team on whom Dame For- tune' sm-iled very graciously that day. This is not merely a line of bombast, for I think if you ask Ski Henry, he'll tell you the same. Eight of our men, Maso- nek, Matz, McKenna, Noll, Dunkelberger, gilbert, Brossman and Albert were Q11