Wake Forest University - Howler Yearbook (Winston Salem, NC)

Page 21 text:

The apartments were not furnished for the students and their wives; however, coal-burning space heaters were provided, and a central plant was set up to heat water. And with a shoe string, a chest full of hopes, and a pair of brave hearts, some of the couples moved into their new college homes and began the novel process of mixing education with domesticity. So, the battle of the housing situation was just another challenge to be met and overcome by the determined Wake Forest student body. September brought gridiron glory for the Deacons in their first game of the year as they treked North to win over the Boston College Eagles. It was sweet revenge for the Deacons, who had fallen before the Bostonians in 1941 and 1942. Since the Eagles were regarded as one of the strongest teams that Wake Forest met last fall, the victory overjoyed all of the Baptists ' fans. Red Cockran played his best game of the year that night. The team as a whole played superior early-season ball; the line in particular, about which there had been much speculative doubt, surprised everyone with its stellar performance. No honest Deacon would say that it wasn ' t a surprise — this victory over the powerful Boston College team — well, a sort of a surprise, anyway. But most Deacon students couldn ' t restrain the little glow of I sorta thought it would happen attitude that sparkled in their eyes as they met down at the Soda Shop and up at the bell and over Shorty ' s counter after the final results of the game came in over the radio from Boston. The town was happy in the middle of the night, and the bell was rung until the early hours of the morning. Wake Forest 12, Boston College 6; one down, nine to go. The abrupt termination of these eventful Sep- tember days surprised us into the realization that we had only been here a few short weeks, though we felt that much of our year was already behind us. Many of us were relieved to find that time yet remained to improve a bad beginning, or to make another determined effort toward our Phi Beta Kappa goal. At any rate, the close of the month found everyone digging in with new vigor and ambition. In October, the Pan-Hellenic Council was faced once again with the problem of a rushing season. But rules appropriate to the situation were set up and complied with, and a large number of pledges improved and added new spirit to the ten active fraternities on the campus. Those among our number who like to dance were full of anticipation as the plans for the Cam- pus Social Club ball — or dance, in certain circles — began to take shape around the middle of the first week in October. The dance was set for the night of the Clemson game — and it came off then, successfully, too — under the sponsorship of the four loveliest girls in the freshman class. Lib Hellen, Rushie Marlin, Sue Norton, and Jewell Adams. It was a gala occasion, for Wake Forest ' s own Charlie Morris led his smooth and hot, sweet and low-down twelve-piece band through three and one-half hours of melody for the tapping Wake Forest toes. It was a big crowd — that first Wednesday after- noon in October — a big crowd of seventeen pro- spective debaters and other speakers who turned out for the first meeting of the forensic group in the Alumni Building, under the direction of Pro- fessor A. L. Aycock. Much interest was displayed in the projected activities of the group for the coming year, and the new participants, which included several co- eds, were expected to add strength to last year ' s organization. And if the full truth were known. 17

Page 20 text:

tion and understanding and sympathy and patience that is found only in a -family circle. We put his advice into practice, and it worked. And the old Wake Forest spirit continued to live in a world of postwar confusion and ultra- materialism. Little did the northern truck drivers realize how much their strike of last fall would affect the textbook situation. Wake Forest, like other colleges and universities all over the nation, opened her doors in September with the handicap of an acute book shortage hanging over her head. Every department in the college experienced the shortage in varying degrees, the language and law departments receiving the slightest blow from the handicap. Many students did a great deal of their work out of lecture notebooks, taking notes on each hour lecture and depending on those to get them through. Books weren ' t the only necessities lacking in the lives of Deacon students last fall. There was a shortage of the old-fashioned kind cf eating place into which one can go and choose his meal without having to stand in impossibly long lines. But conscientious souls went to work to alleviate the problem. Shorty Joyner ' s hamburger shop was remodeled and turned into a more modern eating place with short orders in breakfast and lunch foods as a specialty, and the College Soda Shop promised the opening of a new grill which would feature grill style short orders. A few of the fraternities solved the food prob- lem by opening their own dining rooms. Among these were the Delta Sigma Phi, the SPE, and the AKPi and PiKA frats, the last two patronizing the Delta Sig dining hall. In order to provide necessary additional class- room space, the Alumni Building was taken over by the English and Physics Departments for the first time since December of 1942. It was a sort of coming home party for the two departments, for they had lived there for many years before the war. Their homecoming meant new and needed space for the Modern Language Depart- ment and the Chemistry Department. Everyone was looking everywhere for space, and more space. And in that hunt for space came again the hous- ing situation, which was acute. Boys were crammed three to a room in Simmons Dormitory fraternity sections, and the attics were cleaned out and made livable. The new chapel and Hunter Dormitory and Bostwick Hall were no less crowded. Nearly a hundred men bunked in the basement of the new chapel with the other Gophers. And the attic of Hunter and the basement of Bostwick were made more colorful and a bit more feminine by the presence of Wake Forest co-eds. The village homes were just as crowded, and many students were forced to commute from Youngsville and Raleigh. But they all managed to get to class each day, and every new day was one more milestone on their road to an advanced education. And that was and is what they ' re after. For the married students there were trailers and prefab houses and the forty-six apartments erected on the quadrangle surrounding the tennis courts. This project, begun during the middle of August, was to last well into spring — the delay being due to the shortage of material and labor. Former CCC barracks from Camp Butner were obtained for the project through the efforts of col- lege officials aided by Fred Williams, a local attorney. The buildings were one-story, prefabricated structures that were erected by the vets them- selves and assigned on a priority basis, with those who had put in the most number of hours of work getting the first choice.

Page 22 text:

they were expected to add a little color and a little charm and even a light sprinkle of high- heeled sophistication to the 1946-47 organization. The old battered Alumni Building — of pipe smoke and cigar ashes and cigarette butts — suddenly smelled of perfume and swayed with the oratorical voices of co-ed speakers and debaters tuning up for the big opening. In this first meeting of the Wake Forest forensic group, activities were planned with special reference to participation in the N. C. Student Legislative Assembly, to the possibility of local tournaments, and to the Pi Kappa Delta National that took place in April. Our speaking and debating reputation was also boosted by the return of several former members from the service: Bobby Smith and Bynum Shaw, J. D. Davis and Larry Williams, all of whom had had plenty of previous experience in college oratory. And that experience proved to be a big factor in our wins and losses of the year. The first Wednesday in October also saw William G. Smith replacing Ben N. Cole as commander of the Deacon Post No. 312 at a meet- ing of the campus American Legion post. Every veteran on the Wake Forest campus was declared eligible for membership and invited to join the campus post. Thus with new leadership the new Wake Forest Deacon Post of the American Legion got under way in its second semester of existence. During the first week of last October, President Harry S. Truman was made an honorary member of the Philomathesian Literary Society. The pres- ident ' s name was entered on the society rolls along with those of such other dignitaries as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, James Buchanan, and Wash- ington Irving, all of whom were so affiliated with the society in past years. The letter of acceptance was placed in the archives of the college along with personal letters from the distinguished gentlemen named above. This collection of let- ters is a highly prized possession of the society and the college. The Phi Society didn ' t stop with President Truman — that is, didn ' t stop in their attempts to build their list of honorary members — for it voted to send letters of invitation to such persons of contemporary prominence as Clare Booth Luce, Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost, Winston Churchill, Walter Lippman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Wright, George A. Buttrick, and Mrs. J. A. Webb. And so. Phi stock soared, or at least it looked impressive. While the President of the United States was being given this singular honor, a significant com- mittee was meeting in the Sky Club of the Smith- Reynolds air terminal in Winston-Salem. It was the committee in charge of planning the new cam- pus for the Wake Forest plant in the Twin City. It was revealed that the architect ' s comprehensive plan for the campus would be presented within the year, and we were told that the move to Winston-Salem would be made within five years. And so the plans for another great Christian educational plant were actively under way. The Wake Forest College literary magazine, The Student, appeared in the P. O. boxes and on the library shelves for the first time in over three years on the Homecoming week-end of the State game. The first issue featured a history of the thirty- four-year-old football rivalry between N. C. State and Wake Forest. Written by Old Gold and Black sports editor, Charlie Giles, the article presented the highlights of games in which a world ' s record kick was made, and police and firemen were called to quell a near riot. Another article featured a distinguished faculty member who was given to the weakness of paint- lii