Rock Hill High School - Bearcat Yearbook (Rock Hill, SC)

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A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO THE FATHER OF THE BEARCATS Dr. J GAB MAULDIN LESESNE When Dr. J. M. Lesesne tshown rightj, now President Emeritus of Erskine College, was teaching history at Rock Hill High School from 1921 to 1930, he also coached football. During this period he came to the conclusion that the football team A and the teams for the other sports, too - needed' an appropriate, descriptive sobriquet. Accord- ingly, he came up with the name BEAR-CATS. It was his idea to coin a term that would recall the ponderous strength of the bear and the agility of the cat. Doctor Lesesnels suggestion was adopted by the school adminis- tration and thus the athletic teams and the graduates - and even the yearbook - were named for all time to come. We salute Doctor Lesesne as 'SThe Father of the Bear- catsf, When he left Rock Hill, Professor Lesesne went to Greenville to teach history C1930-19401. From 1940 to 1954 he was head of the History Department at Erskine College, and from 1954 to 1966 he served as the eighth president of South Carolina's oldest four-year denomina- tional college. His wife is the former Henrietta Fennell C'Totsyl'D of Rock Hill. The Lesesnes have made their home in Due West since his retirement. A Tradition Continues . . . A career begun by Doctor J. M. Lesesne at Rock Hill High School sixty-two years ago has been expanded into two addition- al careers in liberal arts training through the lives of the Lesesnes' two sons. Dr. Joab M. Lesesne, Jr. tshown lefty, is now the president of Wofford College this father's Alma Materjg and William Wal- lace Fennell Lesesne fshown rightj, fnamed for his distin- guished grandfather of Rock Hilll is the dean of students of Erskine College. Rock Hill High School takes pride in its connec- tion with a proud South Carolina tradition.

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A HEARTY SALUTE TO MRS. MARY THOMSON SPENCER, THE OLDEST LIVING BEARCAT,' The oldest known, living graduate of Rock Hill public schools is Mary Thomson CMrs. Samuel Reidj Spencer, a resident of Columbia, South Carolina. Mrs. Spencer was born in Abbeville, South Carolina, on October ll, 1886, the daughter of Dr. James William Thomson and Sarah Perrin Thomson. Her father, Doctor Thomson, was the second superintendent of the Rock Hill Graded School Cforerunner of the Rock Hill High Schoolj and later was a venerated professor of Education and Bible at Winthrop College. He was known as Tommy to gen- erations of Winthrop graduates. Thomson Hall on the Winthrop campus is named for him. Mrs. Spencer was the first-honor graduate of the Class of 1902 of the Rock Hill Graded School. She entered Winthrop before her sixteenth birthday, finishing there in 1906. Later, she returned to teach at the Rock Hill Graded School, where she met her future husband, Samuel Reid Spencer, also a faculty member there. They were married in 1915. Two children were ultimately born to this union: Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr., now president of Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, and Mrs. Sarah Spencer Gramling. There are now seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Thus we see that three generations of this family have served the cause of education well and long. Rock Hill High School, the lineal descendant of the Rock Hill Graded School, proudly claims its connection with these distinguished friends and educators. We wish Mrs. Spencer well as she approaches her ninety-seventh birthday! Mary Thomson Spencer Samuel Reid Spencer, Jr., Ph.D. CMrs. Samuel Reid SpencerD President of Davidson College 13