St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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SECRETARIAL DEPARTMENT Miss Kenney, Miss Meuse await the annual onslaught of College Applications. marked the last of Mul's dazzling performances on the glassy surface for St. Sebastian's and it was with deep regret that we saw Mr, Hockey terminate the most brilliant individual career in the Catholic League. john Ellard, as usual, was a tower of strength on defense and gave our class important representation on the sextet. To celebrate the accomplishments of our Winter sports teams, a Hockey- Basketball banquet, attended by the parents and friends of our heroes, was held in the School refectory on March l8th. Walter Brown of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation was the principal speaker, while the court and ice stars recounted the highlights of outstanding contests. After the Hockey team had received jackets emblazoned with the St. Sebastian insignia and the Basketball quintet had been honored with letters, individual Red-Blue game plaques were hung in position by Jack Mulhern, Lane McCarthy and Jack Cremmen. An outstanding success from every point of view, this testimonial affair provided a welcome opportunity for friends of St. Sebastian's to spend a social evening at the School. Another pleasant feature of the Winter of our Junior year was an expedition of the Alpine Club to North Conway under the supervision of Fr. Keating. Tak- ing advantage of the Washington's Birthday vacation, a group of eighteen ski-ing enthusiasts spent a week in the North country and returned with many legendary tales that testified to the good time enjoyed by all. On january 19th, John R. Kirk of '47 represented the School on the junior Town Meeting of the Air Program which was broadcast over Station WBZ. The subject under discussion was Are Comic Books an Educational Menace? and scholarly representatives of various schools presented their views in panel form. In competent fashion, jack pointed out the menace involved and was most direct in his replies to questioners. Early in April, the School gained added prestige when the St. Sebastian Choristers made their debut at the Hotel Vendome under the auspices of the Mount Alvernia Mothers' Club. Their rendition of sacred numbers, under the direction of Mr. Leonard Whalen, was warmly appreciated and, to reward the songbirds, the Headmaster made them his guests at the annual concert of the New England Preparatory Schools' Glee Clubs. In literary circles The Walrus continued to be highly entertaining and re- vealing. Under the caption of Smoke Gets In Their Eyes, the November issue

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men from each division. The Presidency was bestowed upon Bob Bullock, and the Vice-Presidency fell to the lot of john Kirk. John Boles was designated Secre- tary and the Treasury was entrusted to Dick McCarron. It was primarily to the sponsoring of a successful Junior Prom that these lads bent their efforts and the gala affair took place on December 27, 1945. Under the deft artistry of commit- tee members John Boles, Bob Bullock, jack Cremmen, Bob Fichtner, Bill Heavey, jack Kirk, Dick McCarron, Bob McGarty, Bill O'Leary and Bob O'Shea, the refec- tory was converted into a gayly- festooned ballroom made lively by the strains of Ken Reeves' orchestra. At intermission time, attractive compacts were distributed as favors to the feminine guests and we took warranted pride in the most success- ful social sponsored under the School's auspices up to that time. As juniors we made major contributions to all the School's athletic teams. While we felt that we had passed the j.V. stage, many '47 members gave their all to the Varsity eleven that went through such a successful season. Captained by our johnny Ellard, the team made iron-man use of the services of Billy Harwood at center and jim Caulfield at guard. In addition, its depth was increased by re- serves like joe Ford, Dick McCarron, Ed Quirk and George Shannon. Highlights of the season were a 7-7 tie with Tabor, a 6-0 scalping in Providence and a Par- ents' and Friends' Day win over Portsmouth Priory, 26-0. On the last named oc- casion we really impressed our guests by using a public address system to give a play-by-play description of the contest. At the conclusion of the campaign we rejoiced over the selection of Bill Harwood and jim Caulfield as co-Captains for the following year, and we felt that justice asserted itself in john Boles' designa- tion as Manager. On the Basketball court, we followed Jack Cremmen's effortless grace with enthusiasm as he proved himself one of the finest hoopsters that ever wore the Red and Black. In his grand defensive play, he had the zealous assistance of Class- mate Bill Harwood and together they formed the best defensive combination pos- sible. On attack, Bob McNabb bore our standard and, with an unsuspected eagle- eye, paced our cagers to the extent that he emerged as leading scorer of the year. Bill O'Leary also saw limited service and we could safely say that our class pro- vided the backbone of the St. Sebastian quintet. At the beginning of the season, Fr. Redding held the coaching reins but soon was forced to relinquish them as a result of increased parochial duties. Mr. Murphy then stepped into the breach and guided the School five through its most arduous schedule. Twenty games were played and we were thrilled with nine wins that resulted. Beyond all ques- tion, the season's highlights were jack Cremmen's swish shot that defeated Ca- thedral in the closing seconds of play and the establishment of a new cage record in the 52-15 defeat of Browne and Nichols. The unanimous choice of Cremmen to lead the basketeers for the following year was another feather in the cap of '47, For the third consecutive season, we alternated between exultation and despair at the ice contests on Saturday night at the Skating Club. Pointed for by every team in the Catholic League, our gliders gave a magnificent account of themselves in every contest save the one in which Malden laced us 5-1. Even that disaster was revenged, however, when we turned the tables on our predominant ice foe, 2-1, later in the year. Interest in the race for the title was sustained right up to the final buzzer of the last game which found us only equalizing St. Clement's, 1-1, whereas we needed a win to tie for the second-half championship. This game also

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HOCKEY. BASKETBALL BANQUET March 16, 1947 chronicled the details of a fire which broke out in the basement at 3 o'clock on the morning of November 6th and caused the four resident priests to leave the build- ing. The January edition gave the particulars of the Annual Retreat conducted by Fr. Lawrence P. Sullivan, C.S.C., while the May number recorded the School's consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary as a fitting conclusion to the May devotions of the year. From time to time it also acquainted its avid readers with the progress of The Arrown which, due to the labors of Bob Higgins' staff, add- ed new features to be even more enthusiastically received than its 1945 prede- cessor. We turned into the home stretch of the year when Baseball made its appear- ance in the Spring and proved that Bob McNabb's hurling feats of the year before were not a mere flash in the pan. Pitted against premier competition, The Thin Man enjoyed another remarkable season that brought him eulogies in the Bos- ton press. Fifteen times the Red and Black nine took the field and only twice did they leave it defeated. The outstanding athletic memory of the year will always be the 5-4 defeat inflicted on mighty Phillips Exeter, although triumphs over Groton, Middlesex, Thayer, Malden Catholic and Cranwell were also important. To the undefeated j.V.'s, Dick Griffin, joe Ford and Dick Watson made stellar contributions, Griff earning the right to toe the slab in a Varsity contest against Sacred Heart which he won handily. In recognition of his role in our successful year, Bob McNabb, just recuperating from the effects of a fall over a concrete playground bench during a game at Newton Centre, was honored with the cap- taincy of the '47 team. An injury, that also will long be remembered, claimed as its victim our Frank O'Donoghue who suffered a slow-healing broken leg the day before he was scheduled to break into the starting line-up. Incapacitated for many weeks, Frank took consolation in the success of the team and the individual work of classmates Ed Quirk, john Ellard and jack Cremmen. Almost before we knew it, another Graduation Week was upon us and we followed the activities of the Seniors with interest, knowing that our turn was to come next. A Senior Prom, which many of us attended, prefaced the Fathers' and Sons' Day game with St. Columbkille's and the Class Outing at Swampscott's