Galileo High School - Telescope Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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A Here is Galileo's first faculty. In the front are Major Overton, Miss Metz- ner and Mr. Nourse. You Hgure out the rest of them Thirteen Years A-Grovvin' By RICHARD CUsHiNG, D64 ACK in 1917, when most of us weren't very tall, a group of Red Cross shacks were built as emer- gency medical auxiliaries for soldiers wounded in the war. These shacks stood in the blocks between Fulton, McAllister, Hyde and Leavenworth streets, one side facing the main artery to the city hall. At that time, as now, the school system was overcrowded. The five public high schools in San Francisco-Lowell, Poly, Mission, Commerce and Girls' High-were so crowded that classes of 50 and 60 stu- dents crowded into the little rooms built for 50. Something had to be done in a hurry, so the city fathers put their heads ,1 Jie f'Yi. i 1 ,MM a 'f., 1 together and decided to build a new high school 'way out there in North Beach. The site was chosen, and after an im- pressive ceremony, the work was begun on the new high school, named after Gal- ileo Galilei, famous Italian scientist. The late Governor James A. Rolph, Jr., at that time Mayor of San Francisco, drove the steamshovel that broke the first ground. But it would take a couple of years to build a high school, and the need to re- lieve the overcrowded classes was acute. While the Galileo High School is being built, the Red Cross shacks could be used to house some students, thought the Board of Education, and within the month r wqmw f f W f ff f f f - I 21 When they'd build bleachers for a pa- rade, you couldn't even see the school. The cross marks Galileo

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, K in ff c 41, 1 ,- fkx f f The outer court, where a goodly percentage of students meet after school for bull sessions E203

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,I sf R .. Some of the boys line up for a snap- shot at lunch time classes were being held in the shacks, with Mr. Joseph P. Nourse, lifted from his position as teacher of Greek at Lowell, as principal of the new school. A faculty of 23 was chosen, and school was held there for two years. In June of 1922 Galileo had its first commencement exercises. Three girls, Aileen Corridan, Ruth Miller, Rowena Rossi, comprised the first graduating class. All three took an active part in the program, Rossi giving the salutatory address, Corrigan reciting the class his- tory, and Miller speaking the valedictory. These students were transfers from other schools, for the first freshman class en- tered in 1921. Commanding the R.O.T.C. at the first, was Major White. Then the most colorful commander in the city, Sgt. M. Weiss- berg, took over the Galileo battalion. His most famous stunt was to make all the cadets sing war songs while marching. The drill, as well as all athletic practice, was held in the square bounded by Lar- kin, Hyde, Fulton and Grove streets. The first football team f1921j had only 11 men on the whole roster. Gal- ileo being a very small, young school there was no abundance of football ma- terial, and consequently it was hardly pos- sible, that year, to find more than a few huskies who knew the game and could spare the time. The first season under the San Francisco Athletic League saw Galileo take a complete beating all around. The 11 men lost to Commerce, 14 to 3, but had a moral victory in the field goal, Galileo's first score in history. Then came the Cogswell game in which AQAWWIH9 ,,,,,y.ss' ,f .R . . . and here are some of the girls rm