St Francis High School - Alvernian Yearbook (La Canada Flintridge, CA)

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Hall of Fame His name was synonymous with sports, and no doubt a more facile sports pen than ours would call him Mr. Sportsman! But we are not sports-writers. Our task is simply to record our admiration of a great athlete and a won- derful guy. You can say that again—that he was a great athlete. Look at his record: the only player in the Catholic Conference to be rendered All - Conference honors in all three major sports. Add to this the fact that he was also voted the most valuable player in Basket- ball, and you get an idea of why we think that while many of his team-mates played as well none played as good; that while some starred some of the time, and others starred most of the time, he starred all of the time. Sure, he had his off-days — what athlete has not — but he was never a quitter. It is of such stuff as he that athletes are made, though we privately think that he was born one. It was for such achievements, plus a winning personality and a keen sense of good sportsmanship, that the Athletic Staff selected, and the Alvernian recog- nizes, as Sportsman of the Year . . . Mike Flaaten. He was the quiet kind — you know, the one who didn't say much or brag much. You rnigh , pass him over very easily in a crowd; you might not even give him a second thought. But, if you spoke with him for a while, you couldn't help noticing a seriousness to him and an earnest- ness about him that reminded you of the old saying about still waters running deep. And they really ran deep in his case — ran deep in the field of studies and in the worthy ambition to make his studies the most important thing in his high school life. That was the goal he set himself as a Freshman, and that was the goal he had achieved as a Senior. His academic record is impressive — one to admire greatly and to emulate strongly. We believe he is proud of his record — as he should be. But we also believe that his pride is based on the recogni- tion that his talents were given to him by Almighty God to be used for His greater Honor and Glory. We could say more about him, but we think we have said enough to convince you that no one among us was more deserving of the title, and no one more entitled to the Alver- nian accolade of salute, as . . . Honor Student Leo J. Gerckens. HONOR STUDENT SPORTSMAN

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Fr. Cyril is on a page which is a “first in the Alvernian. For never before has the Senior Home Room Teacher been pictured. We feel that after a hectic 1953 Fr. Cyril deserves a little recog- nition. We wish to thank him for the extra classes he has taught this year, and also thank him for the spark of originality which his regular classes never fail to produce. We Seniors will remember Father too, for his patrol duties during noon time, we should be the most mathematical minded rubbish collectors in the city. Here in this room all of us have written a chap- ter in our lives. For some the chapter might be from an adventure story, for others from a text- book, and for the rest from a gag book. But when thrown all together we have a pretty good story of goodwill, swell times, and knowledge which comes from books, and a lot that does not.

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