Lakewood High School - Cinema Yearbook (Lakewood, OH)

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' gi ' ' ., DV Lakewood in those days was an unimportant suburb of Rockport, or Rocky River, as it is now known. Its name on the maps, if it appeared at all, was East Rockport. It was called this because it was always believed that the development would center about Rocky River township, rather than reach out from the small city of Cleveland. In 1888, three years after the graduation of Mary Hutchins, a new superintendent came to take charge of the school now belonging to Lakewood hamlet. The new superintendent, Mr. Charles J. Weeks, shortly after arriving in the hamlet, wooed and won Mary Hutchins, the first graduate of the school. From this time on the school increased steadily in size until agitation for a new school building was started. Despite much opposition, the bond issue was voted and bidding for the building was opened. This culminated in the board accepting a bid of 571,993.11 and work was started on the new school, which was to be an imposing edifice of yellow brick. , A new high school opened up a new era of prosperity and expansion for Lake4 wood hamlet, so that the more rustic 'fhamletu was dropped and the town was known as Lakewood. However, citizens will never become wholly inured to change, and so could not conceive of anything so stupendous as the new school building for their village. Mr. Kennedy was the new principal and so , .,, became the recipient of many an indignant letter from K MWA ,L f l citizens who denounced in no uncertain terms the ,UI I ' M-Im MH Lu spending of so large a sum on anything so monumentally M smm ,Mm ll foolish as the mammoth new school building. l yv ' ' People riding by the building in their rigs on Sun- ' ll I 1, 'lu llll day would pause and point the finger of scorn at the 1 I ' stately pile rising on the east side, of Warren road, and If 'ff I exclaim: Such nonsense! What will we ever do with such a big building? So they would exclaim, never considering that Lakewood would possibly grow to be a city of ninety thousand people. C What will we do with the building? Discard it in ten years and build one four times as large, costing fourteen times as much ll VVith the opening of the new building in 1905 came many new faces among the faculty, all familiar to us now: lVIr. Champion, Miss O'Neil, lVIr. Gates, and Mr. Collier. In the fall of 1906 it was Coach Collier who issued the call for football candidates. Football previous to lVIr. Collier's debut as coach had been rather a sporadic sport. There had been no coach, and the players had scheduled their own games, coached themselves, and played faithfully each Saturday. That fall the enrollment of the whole school was but two hundred and fifty pupils. Still, out of this small array the coach turned out a team that in 1907 was the champion of Cleveland. So this year's mastodons were not the first to wear the crown of championship. In those days Lakewood was a member of the Senate, and our worst foe was the East Tech team, which we defeated in the race for the city championship of 1907. Among the members of that great team were: Edgar Dahl, now a professor at Ohio State: Werner Smith, now a manufacturer of a famous core-oil which he orig- inated: Gordon Dixon, Roscoe Leach, C. Newcomb, and Earl English. lVIr. Collier continued in his dual role of coach and teacher until the arrival of Harry Clark, in the fall of 1909, who took over the coaching duties. Perhaps it is ,1 'lwurm WUIL mm-l' if Q - um, -Mfg 13 C 5 Q60 ' ll Q ,n M 2

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fig t 1,9112 mi: gflfz Dfidlx f, rl Z9 gig , is J! fi l N X J 'S Lakewood High , . 1 l School I will Q, it W l V10 , QQ? QSM , 'K QQ, ,yi A HISTORY ITH stately step and downcast eyes, the graduating class moved down the aisle to the small platform from which East Rockport's High School class of 1885 was to receive its diploma. Dr. Sook, a man prominent in all civic affairs, headed the procession, followed by other notables come to grace the auspicious eventg among these were Dr. Howe, president of Case University, and Will Lippert, high school professor, superintendent and general factotum at that early date. In all the glory of her eighteen years, charming in her creamy dress with its long, tight sleeve and high neck, the 'fgraduating class moved forward to deliver her oration and receive her coveted diploma. Thus did hlary Hutchins, sole member of the class of '85, pass on into the ranks of that great majority-the alumni. CAnd now we think nothing of a class numbering two hundred students graduating in an auditorium that would have put the old Opry House to shame. So time passes, and men forget .... D In 1882 lVIary Hutchins entered the local school to enroll as a student in the new three-year high school course that was being offered as an experiment. The f'Little Red School House that housed the one high school room, the primary room, the meeting room, is peaceful and ivy covered now. It rests content with its S dreams and memories. Stu- 3 dents know it now only as ,E E j the building that holds the 2 X 5. executive department of the -'ti 5 ,,,7,, -V 'X Lakewood schools. i , -I Y ,V i 'fl E' Heating in those days was l l E r m ,67'5's. not a problem of so many W A . mlgilm 5 I boilers and so many pounds 1 I N , f of steam, but of securing the XQX 'A K seat closest to the stove. X Zi' The lucky one who sat in that envied position slowly H. ' roasted, while the ones who were farther removed suffered all the rigours of an Arctic winter. He who carried in the morning supply of coal was considered to be the apple of the teacher's eyeg consequently, the position of janitor was much sought after. 12 -l'- 1 -ClNEMA- 25 -1'

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fi? x x 1883 Cx K g fff -earn? well to pause here and pay our respects to this same Harry Clark, who was struck and killed by a street car in 1913. No coach was ever more admired or loved by his proteges than coach Clark, at all times a gentleman and a lover of clean sport. He was greatly mourned by the whole student body. His unfortunate demise cut short a life that was full of promise. All honor to a sportsman and a gentleman. hir. Segrist entered as coach in the fall of 1914 and remained until the advent of lllr. Corneal as coach in 1917. During the time lltlr. Segrist was coaching Lakewood teams many men were turned out. Among the best remembered perhaps is Dickyl' Thomas, diminutive 120-pound quarterback, who remains to this day one of the best field generals ever seen on a Lakewood Held. By 1917, despite what the wiseacres had said, it was necessary to again build a new high school, and so another milestone in the annals of Lakewood schools was passed. The school year 117-'18 ended with plans for the opening of the new high school in the fall of 318 being matured by lN'Ir. Short, the principal who was to take charge of the new building. Perhaps a few sidelights on those eventful days will interest the readers of these pages: The flu epidemic came in full force, and everyone was released from school for four blissful weeks, only to be forced to attend on Saturdays to make up for lost time. In those days lunch was served either in the base- fw ment of the lVIain Building, or the lVIen's Building. J, Long, ricketty, wooden tables were used, which consisted - XTX of two boards mounted on f'horses,'l accompanied by small stools, on which one squatted to eat his meals. mm .. At that time the dread punishment inflicted for mis- m 1 ' demeanor was not tenth-hour, but digging in the garden, mu I-My cutting eyes from potatoes, or some other such menial mm LITE tasks. Nofdefinite time was given for the punishment. One had only to do the work assigned and the punish- nm ffm' ll - m m' ment was finished. Lg -.,, W Permits were granted by home-room teachers, who, 1l,. being totally untrained in the art of rapid-fire cross- examination, as are our attendance officers of today, had the 'fwool pulled over their eyes time and again by the ingenuity of pupils. The Men's Building had one less story than it bears today, and the Women's Building was still in the course of construction. The football team had a trot of three blocks before they arrived at the old field on Warren road where the games were played. The new field was dedicated by the Lakewood football team's victory over the far-famed Waite High team of Toledo, in 1920. lliany will remember that game- f'Billy', Gribben's pass to Len Reeves from the now famous 66 formation in the first few minutes that went for a touchdown, George Greene's wide swinging end runsg Harry Su1livan's dives over the line. What a day-what a game! There are three Lakewood quarterbacks of recent years who stand pre-eminent: Hap,' Davis, of the wily mind and educated toe, Bill', Gribben, with his cat-like runs through broken fields, and Bill Bolton, the boy with the Ol' Fight. The year 1920 marked the beginning of the regime of lVIr. Briggs as principal, and during the time he has been with us the school has advanced steadily to the fore in Ohio in scholarship and athletics. 14