Mater Dei High School - Hi Lights Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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A couple of years ago, pet rocks were the big thing. One reason was they were easy to care for. How hard could it be to take care of a rock? Sophomore Melis- sa Long had this idea in mind, but instead of pet rocks , she cluttered her room with those small furry animals more commonly known as mice. Not live mice, but stuffed animal mice, mice statues, and mice posters. I used to have live mice, but they died. You don ' t have to worry about that with stuffed ones. Her collection, displayed on shelves and bureau tops in her room, has grown to a number not even Melissa herself knew since she began it around four years ago. Whenever she went to majo- rette contests she raided curio and gift shops in hopes of finding new additions for her extraordinary collection. The uniqueness of collections, however, was equaled only by the wide variety of ways these collec- tions started. For my first birthday my mom bought me a huge Raggedy Ann doll, and ever since then, my col- lection has grown, explained ju- nior Julie Rexing. Shelves in her room contain 20 dolls from all over the world, many brought back from trips taken by relatives. Julie ' s most expensive doll was a china one costing $80, but her favorite was one from Guatamala, which her sister gave her. While some collections were rel- atively small, some were so large it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack ... at least that ' s how sophomore Jerry Naas must have felt when he had to find one certain stamp out of his collection of 20,000. He kept his collection, including a 112-year-old stamp. neatly organized in a drawer in his room. My dad used to collect, he admitted, and that ' s what got me started. Although he did have a fairly good start, Jerry, who had been collecting stamps for four years, bought most of his stamps him- self. Money seemed to be a necessity for most collections, but a few cost little or nothing for the collectee, I just picked them up at differ- ent places as souvenirs and got so many I decided to start a collec- tion, commented freshman Geoff Coates. His collection of around 500 matchbooks contained ones from restaurants and hotels all over the world — Japan, Mexico, Germany, and Ireland, to name a few. — Kris Coates CRITTER SITTERS: Junior Toni Weinzaphfel has collected stuffed animals, especially the hugging type, since she was in the eight grade. She now has 25 of the furry fellows. (Photo by Greg Bourdeau) THE STAMP OF APPROVAL: Sophomore Jerry Naas finds stamp collecting to be an enjoyable pasttime. He is shown here with some of his favorites including one which is 112 years old. (Photo by Greg Bourdeau) CO Q Z5 ' Q 3 85 c

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' PAC MAN ' MAN: Geoff Cooles is just one of the many Mater Dei students that spent their time and quarters playing the new game called Pac Man. (Photo by Greg Bourdeau) MUNCHIN ' MANIA: The screen of the ' pac man ' game is covered with little dots and tiny munchkins with eyeballs. The pac man, shown on the bottom, runs along the screen eating the dots on the way towards eating the other men. (Photo by Greg Bour- deau) 84 s Q m He stands there, palms dripping with sweat, waiting for the onslaught of enemy ships. He sees them coming and tries to escape, but it ' s too late! His ship is de- stroyed; what is he to do? Probably put another quarter in the slot and play again! This is a scene that could be found in just about any of the thousands of arcades in this coun- try, including the several which sprung up around Mater Dei. Re- cent advances in technology have brought about a sudden boom in the electronic games in- dustry. An industry formerly consist- ing of only pinball machines was being dominated by video games. Bob Pfingston, owner of the new Wild West Arcade on Sonntag Avenue, felt the games were pop- ular because of the challenge and it ' s just plain fun. I think the electronic game craze will be strong for a long while; it ' s just getting started, said Pfingston. By far, the most popular video game had to be Pac-Man. In just one year, it brought in over 800 million quarters in arcades and bars across the country. The Atari munchkin popped up everywhere from T-shirts and instruction manu- als to even a hit song. The goal of Pac-Man was to make your way through an intri- cate maze and eat up 240 col- ored dots, while avoiding four ghosts along the way. Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia got caught up in the big ' Pac ' attack and composed the song Pac-Man Fever, which sold over one million copies and hit number 14 on the national charts. MD stu- dents indentified with the lyrics, I got Pac-Man fever, it ' s drivin ' me crazy, I ' m goin ' out of my mind! Because of its growing populari- ty, the Atari company, which con- trols about 80% of the five billion a year video market, came out with a Pac-Man cassette to be used with the Atari home video game sets. A single cassette, which cost anywhere between $20-$30 went with the $150 base unit. Many teenagers, who spent large amounts of money playing Pac-Man bought the home cas- sette, hoping to eventually save some big bucks. Lisa Hall, senior, remarked, I think Pac-Man is so popular be- cause it is exciting and people need some excitement in their lives. It ' s a fun way to pass time. Lisa admitted that she spends between four and five dollars a night playing different video games. I always want to do better than I did in the game before! v she said. In some towns, there were laws forbidding people under 18 to go into arcades during school hours. This legislation was due to con- cerned parents who felt the arcades were a corruptive influ- ence upon teenagers because they spent all their time and money playing the video games. Pfingston disagreed, comment- ing, I would rather see my children challenging a video game than walking the streets with nothing to do. Senior Cathy Roe added, I like them (video games). They give you something to do when your weekends are as boring as mine are! — Brian Johns — Mary Ellert

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It isn ' t everyday that you get a chance to get back at a teacher who gave you a bad grade, but the seniors who participated in the senior faculty game were given that chance. The game started out quickly, with the faculty outscoring the seniors in the first period 28-19. Biol- ogy teacher Mr. Carl Vogel had several lay-ups on faculty fast breaks to keep the old guys on top. The second quarter went pretty much the same, but at one point, the faculty opened a big lead. Sen- ior Coach Brock Nicholson countered with a unique (and illegal) six-man offense, in order to make a comeback. Mr. Todd Rud- nick sparked the faculty team with a behind-the-back pass to a teammate for two points and a 48- 40 halftime lead. The third quarter was when the seniors made their comeback, leading by three points for several minutes. When the period ended, however, the faculty was ahead again 68-65. The fourth quarter was by far the closest, with the lead changin hands many times. The game went right down to the wire; and with 12 seconds left, the score was 92-91 in favor of the faculty, with Dean Mr. Herb Neighbors at the line shooting a pressure two free throws. Apparently the partisan student crowd rattled Neighbors as he missed both shots, giving the ball to the seniors with 12 seconds left. The seniors brought the ball down, but failed to get a shot off when a senior pass was picked off, and the faculty went on to win by a single point, 92-91. — Brian Johns AWESOME AUDIENCE: Faculty coaches, Mr. Frank Will and Miss Darla Edwards, along with player Mr. John Stratman, are on the edge of their seats and overcome with awe during the close and suspenseful game that was played between the senior boys and the faculty. The game is a Mater Dei tradition and the seniors were de- feated 92-91. (Photo by Alan Burdette) FAITHFUL FANS: Seniors Jerry Grannan and Sara Rexing and approximately 150 other students joined together in the Wildcat Arena to cheer on their favored senior team. (Photo by Alan Burdette) VICTORIOUS VOEGEL: Mr. Carl Voegel, makes a dashing drive for a sucessful two of his fourteen points during the Student Faculty game. (Photo by Alan Burdette)