Northwest High School - Vanguard Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

Page 59 text:

5 Q 1 ful by providing an activity for students. However, the number of dances sponsored declined each year as dis- turbances with students from other schools increased. Two well-attended events, the Homecoming football game in the fall and the Little 500 in May, marked spe- cial occasions for Northwest students. Weeks in ad- vance, the Student Council built up interest through posters and homeroom announcements done by the School Spirit Committee. The Future Teachers of Amer- ica club sponsored a contest between homerooms for Homecoming which involved displays outside of each homerom to promote school spirit. Ribbons were awarded to the best displays from each class. During the week preceeding Homecoming and Little 500, stu- dents nominated candidates for queen. The senior class chose six senior girls as Homecoming queen candidates, for Little 500, each class selected the nominees from their own classes. Both queens were voted on the day of the event, during halftime at Homecoming and between races at Little 500, the winner was announced and toured the cinder track in front of the stadium. The T971 Little 500 queen Mary Huber, '71, and her court Alison Kemery, senior, Amelia Potenza and Terry Swit- zer, iuniors, and Pam Dalton and Gail Hinderliter, soph- omores, rode in official Indianapolis 500 pace cars do- nated for the occasion by local car dealers. Corvettes loaned by the Indianapolis Corvette Club carried 1971 Homecoming queen Sue Pearson and the other candi- dates-Sandra Conner, Lauretta Cork, Pat Scudder, Sandy Smith, and Debbie Waldron. icontinuedl .B In wil?-' o 5-Ki, at Q Y I lal Sophomore Wanda Johnson leads her enthu- siastic friends in vocally spurring on the Northwest basketball team against Manual. lbl Her face beaming with excitement, Little 500 queen Mary Huber, '77, accepts a bouquet of roses with T970 queen Debbie Hopton, '70, Gail Hinderli- ter, sophomore, and Terry Swizer, junior. lcl Anxiously anticipating the announcement of the winner, Homecoming queen candidate, and eventually queen, senior Sue Pearson and her escort Dick Beuke, senior, walk to the infield platform for the halftime Homecoming ceremonies. 55

Page 58 text:

iff. Sports s ectacles are relaxing... The Northwest school calender was dotted with dates on which large numbers of students congregated in the stadium or the gym for an athletic event. Aside from the game itself, other aspects of these activities were impor- tant to the high school community. As a part of the so- cial life, they provided students with a chance to escape the pressures of school. Two of the occasions, Home- coming and Little 500, featured the selection of a queen and a court, a custom in high school for many decades. The school also benefited by retaining the gate receipts. How important football or basketball games were so- cially depended a great deal on attendence, which, some felt depended on how well the teams were doing. 54 In recent years, attendence at football games was fain to poor, during the T971 season, in which the tearr gained a 2-8 record, many of the stadium benches were empty. Basketball, however, was a different story. Witl winning seasons and back-to-back sectional titles, the basketball team attracted near-capacity crowds for al. home games. Evidence of the varsity squad's drawingj power was seen at the Attucks game, when the stand. were filled and spectators stood at courtside to watcl the action, and the Ritter game, which was changed from the Ritter gym to the Northwest gym to accom odate the crowd. t After certain games, the school sponsored dances il the cafeteria for Northwest students. Admission varied according to whether there was live or recorded music as did the attendence. The first indoor dance of l97l was after the basketball game with Manual, with live. music by Stonewall, a Northwest band, the dance though it did not reap overshelming profits, was success

Page 60 text:

nu-uni qauuw Looking at these events from a business angle, the profits from home football and basketball games made the school's role worthwhile. According to George Gale, vice-principal in charge of building and finances, the cost of these games was as low as 57.00, which paid for the printing of tickets, done in the printing classes. At 75 cents for advance tickets and 51.25 for gate admission, the school was apt to make a great deal, though attendance was again a factor. The con- cession stands at the south end of the gym and the new stadium concession stand were manged by the North- west Parent-Teachers Association, with all profits going to their proiects. Game programs for football and bas- ketball games were produced by the Northwest Booster Club and sold for 15 cents. Besides including team pic- tures, the programs had advertisements from local busi- nesses which helped pay for printing costs. Little 500 was also a money-making proiect. Mr. Gale attributed good weather as the reason for high at- tendance and the activity's success. Ticket sales plus an entrance fee from bicycle and tricycle teams helped overcome the cost. Approximately S700 to S800 was spent in preparation for the Little 500. Renting tricycles, smoothing the track, building a scoring table, buying shirts for the teams, and buying flowers and gifts for the queen candidates had to be considered, but despite the high overhead, the school came out ahead. Homecoming was probably the only school-sponsored event ending up in the red. The main problem concerned the traditional Homecomong mums which were pur- chased by the school for resale to students. Too much was invested in mums to be recovered from the football crowd according Mr. Gale. The loss, however, was not so great to warrent discounting the festivities.