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

Page 39 text:

Sportsman of tfje Hear Nine times in the history of St. Francis the Alvernian has saluted a Sportsman of the Year. On nine occasions one member of the Senior Class has been chosen as the man best exemplifying the ideals of sportsmanship. Nine men have been awarded the trophy proclaiming them as outstanding athletes. All these men were great athletes. None has been greater than this year's awardee. All these men were exemplary in their sportsmanship. None has excelled the 1959 Sportsman. All these men were gentlemen. None was more a gentleman than this year's winner. In his four years at St. Francis this athlete, this sports- man, this gentleman, has compiled an enviable record in his sports, scholastic, and extracurricular careers. In his freshman year he participated in Bee Basket- ball and Baseball, piling up a creditable record in both sports. During his second year on the hill he was again a member of Bee Basketball squad, where he was a top scorer, and of the Varsity Baseball Team. In his Junior year he was again a guard on the Varsity Bas- ketball Team and a shortstop on the Varsity Baseball squad. His Senior year saw him again participating on the Varsity Basketball and Baseball Teams. This participation in sports at St. Francis has not been the sole service he has rendered to his school. He was class president as a Sophomore, Student Body Secre- tary in his Junior year, and President of the Circle K as a Senior. Nine Sportsmen in nine years have preceded this one, the tenth choice of the Athletic Director. Nine athletes, sportsmen, gentlemen have been officially recognized by the Alvernian. None of these nine can possibly excell the 1959 SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR, JOHN BALAK. 35

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Honor tubent To soy that the Saint Francis HONOR STUDENT of 1959 excels in studies is, to put it mildly, an understate- ment. And that is for this simple reason—that this boy is above and before all else a student in the strictest sense of the word. Studies are his primary concern as college is his first objective. His career in Saint Francis has been marked by scholastic triumph in each of his four years. He has been consistently a grade A student, an achievement that has placed him continuously in the Saint Francis chapter of the California Scholarship Federation and which has won for him the high honor of life member- ship in this distinguished and select organization. An even greater distinction was his in his senior year when his undisputed scholastic ability won him a place among the Nation's top 10,000 finalists in the National 34 Merit Scholarship Tests, ranking him among one per cent of the country’s best high school students. Another testimony to his tremendous academic ability was given when his fellow-members of the Saint Francis Chapter of the CSF elected him to the Chapter's Vice- Presidency. This boy's devotion to studies has not in any way de- tracted from the service he has rendered the school in other ways, notably as the AIVERNIAN'S Assistant Edi- tor of 1958, Editor of 1959, and a member of the school’s Service Club, the Circle K. In addition, he has loyally supported all school activities, spiritual, athletic and social. In all of his career at Saint Francis he has been co- operative and courteous, obliging and respectful,'zeal- ous and helpful. For all of these things, he has won the respect of his fellow-students, the admiration of the Faculty, and the supreme accolade of the school, the HONOR STU- DENT OF 1959. As such, the AIVERNIAN salutes its own Editor, DAVID COYLE.

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Study, therefore. Apply yourself to your studies with the expenditure of every effort and do not pass over any- thing that your teachers and your cur- ricula offer you. — Pope Pius XII ■ ■