Nichols School - Verdian Yearbook (Buffalo, NY)

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GERALD RAY TAYLOR Born: December 2, 1919 -- Entered: October 1939 Football team '39, Basketball team '40. In one year at Nichols, Jerry has, through his remarkable athletic ability and his amiable manner, become exceedingly popular with his class-mates. Throughout the football season, his astounding end-runs and accurate punts, which usually managed to bounce out of bounds in the vicinity of the opponents' three-yard line, saved several games for the Green and White. He has also shown promising ability in various other sports, which include especially basketball and baseball. Certainly Jerry is one of the best and most versatile athletes in the school. As a student, he does not always attain highest honors, but the eighth period often finds him enjoying the tales and comments of Mr. Thornton's class for boys who cannot fathom the intricacies of General Business . Since athletic activities have left him no time to enter into the extrascurricular lields, the various commit- tees and boards have not been able to take advantage of his jovial, yet carefree nature. Jerry's hopes for next year lie in Michigan State. CHARLES FREDERICK THOMPSON Born: April 4, 1922 - Entered: October 1939 Soccer team '39. Much to the disappointment of all who grew to know and like Charlie this year, he, like most of the 1940 Seniors, will no longer frequent the halls of Nichols, but, after his one short year with us, will head for Rutgers University. A man after Mr. Pierce's own heart, Charlie came to us from Kenmore High School, and long before school opened, made his initial appearance on the soccer Held. There he played long and diligently, filling the important position of left half -back in an otherwise weak defensive system. Tommy's talents are too numerous and far-Hung to be enumerated, but we might add that he is a master mathematician, frequently surpassing his awed classmates in penetrating by brilliance and insight into some unfathomed geometric depths. Time passes quickly as the class listens with interest OJ while Charlie tries to explain geometry to Mr. Tuthill. The field of plastics-an almost untouched frontier, according to Tommy -should provide him with an excellent opportunity to exploit his already obvious ability.

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EDWARD BALCOM SMITH Born: October 13, 1920 - Entered: September 1938 Football squad '38, Football team '39, Hockey squad '39, Baseball squad '39. Due to the languid and nonchalant manner in which he conducts himself both' in and out of school, Ed is extremely affable with his schoolmates, despite his being voted one of the laziest in the class. He can usually be seen strolling through our halls in apparently no hurry, while at the same time others around him are generating a melee in an effort to meet their next class promptly. Ed has not taken advantage of the extra-curricular activities of the school, but he has more than made up for this on the athletic field. He was a member of several hockey squads as well as the baseball nine. The foot- ball seasons of two years ago saw him through without injury, but during the most recent season, he sustained a fractured jaw and was unable to rejoin the team for the rest of the season. Not only is he assiduous on land but also in the water, where he has shown outstanding ability during various swimming meets. Already a master of sailing, Ed will spend four years in anticipation of a future in marine architecture. CORNELIUS HENRY SULLIVAN Born: February 9, 1923 - Entered: September 1938 Football squad '38, Football team '39, Track team '39, Basketball squad '40, News Board '40, Verdian Board '40, Honor Roll '39. The old adage which states that a person weighing over two hundred pounds is invariably genial. certainly holds true in Sully's case. Vlfhenever you see him walking down the hall or roaming over the campus, it is only a matter of seconds before such stock epithets as Hi, Sully or Hey there, Big Stoop reach your ears. But even though Neal does tip the scales at over two hundred, a high percentage of this weight is tough bone and sinew, which have served him excellently on the football team for the past two years. He also applies his rugged physique to the track and field team, hurling the shot-put a fabulous distance. His numerous sport proclivities quite naturally entitle Sully to the position of sports editor of the Nichols News, and his excellence in writing warranted his being on the editorial board of the Verdiang both tasks he executed with a considerable degree of success, while at the same time his name appeared on the honors list each month. , Neal looks forward to Yale, but vacillates between the career of a chemical engineer and that of a surgeon.

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SHELDON THOMPSON III Born: October 20, 1921 - Entered: September 1932 Football, Manager, '39, Hockey, Manager, '40. Ten lingers playing up and down your ribsg a poke in the stomachg a push in the back-guess who? It's Shelly Thompson, one of the inevitable roughnecks of this Senior Class, who denies all recognition in con- nection with the poet. Since Shelly's entrance into the school way back in the sixth grade, his sense of humor has developed steadily. The results may be heard daily from Mr. Verrill's first-period English class. For him a day at school is wasted, but days spent on his vivid green auto contain the really important accomplishments of life. How this antiquated, but often renovated, Chev. is kept running, remains a mystery, but at 8:30 every morning, whoever happens to be left over at school from the day before may see him bounding up the driveway in it. Two years ago, Shelly was the assistant manager for both football and hockey, and during this last year he acquired the managership of both of these teams, a decidedly unusual feat at Nichols. Incidentally, we are searching for someone who can remember when Thompson used to be active on a squad. Shelly has not yet decided in which institution to further his education. GEORGE WADSWORTI-I Born: April 1, 1922 -Entered: September 1938 Soccer team '38, '39, Tennis team '39, Dramatic Club '39, Charities Committee '39, '40, News Board '40, Honor Roll '39. Coming to Nichols from Syria two years ago, Waddy immediately entered into the school life. As a member of the Dance Committee, he holds the record of being the most tenacious ticket seller therein, and his motto in the Charities Committee has been one of collect or die. Not content with these positions, George industriously saw to it that each of the alumni received his copy of the News every month. On the athletic field, Waddy has not remained inactive. He was a regular member of Mr. Pierce's varsity soccer team in 1938 and Mr. lkeler's in '39, playing most creditably both years. His swift footwork and quick returns have made him an increasingly valuable member of the championship tennis team. One can well imagine that such a profuseness of extra-curricular activities would literally inundate the average person, but not so in this case. George was an inveterate holder of the honors title and comprises one-third of the intelligensia of Doc Walsh's third period Virgil class. George in his quiet and unobtrusive way intends to foster his inclination for international law at Princeton