East High School - Exodus Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

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fgaedet gall In the cold January of '49, a group of 10B boys eagerly answered a notice posted by T. I. Corbo for new jay Vee basketball players. Of the group that tried out, six of our boys showed enough ability to be kept on the squad. Wally Alps, our 6 foot 5 inch center, was immediately placed on the first string and soon showed that he deserved the honor. Tony Fischer, lim Pae, Walt Guzik, lim Unick and Ed Kilbane were other members of our class on the court. All told, the boys played in only five games, but the experience and spirit gained was worth a full season's practice. These same boys came out for the Jay Vee team again as l0A's. Alps had dropped out of school to join the Navy, so Jim Pae and Walt Guzik alternated in the center spot, while Kilbane, Unick and Fischer made commendable guards. Ed Kilbane was named captain of the team and, as the season progressed, proved to be high point man of the quintet. The following year the schedule looked rougher than ever. Our old faithfuls tried out again and Big jim and Tony succeeded in landing berths on the varsity squad. 1 The Blue Bombers of the hardwood opened the season with a heartbreaking loss to Bedford's Bearcats 61-62 but bounced back a week later with a 44-32 victory over the Green Waves from Holy Name. Tony and Jim, pgged big helps in these and other games throughout the season. With another year of experience and more competition under their belts, the boys put away their tennies and began to look forward to next November and another chance to shoot two for old East High. I Quit . I I I b 1: I nl, 5:- 'i ' Eneix, Coso, Elloitt, Yesolowsky, Petroff J-'P' Kovacic, Bly, Richlak Coach Krakowiak, Rocco, Drabovic, Stoyko, Okulovich, Kane, Mgr. Hendrix. n

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47 as 45 aa as is 4,3 Qi24fQ ! E-ffV3fQ,yQA,.,,7 an Seem .2 'V si? '23 '19 0' Q33 -'Fqg ' . I Coach Corbo, Okulovich, French, Simakis, Tsantilas, Pae, Constantine, Sobel, Zerblni, Piunno Petroff, Coach Ocker, Strong, Fitros, Prelock, Mcllvaine, Kilbane, Unick, Richiak, Kerman, Mgr. ram, h, Czyzynski C rra,o, Kane, Klucari? bile, Fatica, Plavcan. M 66? M e.wa5'iwffLVfAffY?T... 2 4 ,baud 6 4-KW' jj-A 0 My 347 we ' aff GWWM QQJQRZYHWQM W M famffwf The slap of leather, the clang of the blocking machine, pains of calisthenics and the sore bruises of scrimmages were first felt by Ed Kilbane, Tony Fatica and M Pae three years ago. These three tenth graders braved that su1nmer's blistering practice sessions. For their first year, they understudied the big juniors and seniors. Of the three, Red Kilbane showed the most promise, earning a first-string defensive line backer spot. Tony was doing a fine job as an up and coming guard while jim spent most of his time at the tackle spot. After a season of exciting thrills the boys hung up their pads and cleats until the following fall when more practice sessions marked the beginning of a new football season. Big Iim, Tony and Red repeated again. This year Ed was shifted to left tackle and Big lim went to the back- field. The best news came with the announcement that Tony Fatica was to pilot the team for the '50 season. Under the leadership of Tony, the Bombers opened the season with a 19-19 tie with the Shaw Cardinals and gave us a thriller at Mansfield. Ken Mcllvaine worked with the Jay Vees for a few weeks in 1950 to get into shape, and then he became the fourth member of our class to make the varsity and strengthen the backfield. When the final game came to an end, our three stand-by's had earned letters, Mac just missing by a few quarters. Now came our big senior year. Red Kilbane now was a full time end, Tony still played guard and Mac was the full-time left half. Jim Unick, another member of our class, made it five from the 12A class to earn a football letter. Jim played line backer on defense and alternated at offensive fullback with Jim Pae. Ed Kilbane was elected co-captain of the squad and proved worthy of the honor. However, in the Collinwood game, Ed suffered a broken wrist and had to drop off the team for the rest of the season. In his absence, Tony was re-elected and carried on in true East High fashion. Our last year was now complete, and the football records showed four wins and four losses for the Blue Bombers. 28

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A-91 L Sf , ,f f 5 AS, 'JS' I-Sr asf QASQ VAS? usf tr-Sf 08: Q V 2 f me X , di r . rf nf Mancini, Costabile, Dietz, Fann, Danials,-Mgr. Klucarik Kotnik, Rocco,Willey, Aurelius, Strong, Rallis, Coach Dales Korkan, Smerritt, Scruggs, Mcllvaine, Kilbane, Littleton, Pae, Lubina, Robinson, Arnold. 744456 No sooner was basketball season over than the school began to talk about track and baseball, and our class was no exception. When George G: Dales, coach of the thin clads, put up the notice for trackmen, several of our cinder-minded boys turned out to answer his call.Lll. Wally Alps, Ed Kilbane and lim Pae made the grade in the first year and were seen as the backbone of the future track squads. Mr. Dales was pleased with the performance of his new sopho- mores and learned from the beginning that he could depend on them. . When our second track season rolled around, Mr. Dales looked forward to a better year in track. Most of his boys had gained experience in competition the year before. Ed Kilbane had al- ready shown promise as a distance man, while lim Pae had rounded out as the top quarter miler on the team. However, it was a big blow to the team to learn that Wally Alps had dropped out of school to join the Navy. That year, Morris Ramsey and 'Curtis Golston joined the members of our class on the squad. Both showed promise as sprint men. East became the spoilers of the Senate that year, taking points in events that observers never thought we could get. Boys from our class had played a big part in the team's success. During the off season, the cinder squad welcomed the news that Dick Korkan, a distance man from East Tech, was to join the team the next season. With this news Mr.Dales decided to make a few changes. Red Kilbane was shifted to the hurdles and Big Jim was slated to run the half. The new addition, Nuts Korkan, was to run the mile, and Golston earned a berth on the light-weight relay team. Now we were ready for that big year, In preseason meets all our boys lived up to what was expected of them. Kilbane became the team work horse running the maximum number of events per man in every meet. Korkan brought his mile time down to 4:4, and Big lim breezed through his half in 2:02. These boys also made up two parts of the two-mile relay team which rated third in the Senate. When the meet of all meets - the District Finals - came around, the pressure was really on. Any boy placing first, second or third in his event was eligible for the State Meet at Columbus. Again we showed our colors out in front. Big Ilm scored six points with a first in the half-mile and Nuts took four more by coming in second in the mile. At Columbus, running against the best track men in the state, jim placed third in his event for East's only points. That concluded the season and three years of track in which our class played a vital part in the success of East High's Sports picture. 30