St Sebastians School - Arrow Yearbook (Newton, MA)

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During the Fall we followed the Red and Black gridders loyally as they faced stern opposition from schools of the caliber of St. john's Prep, Cambridge High and Latin, Lawrence Central Catholic and Lawrence Academy. Our Senior class was well represented in moleskins by Co-Captains Harwood and Caulfield, john Ellard, Ed Quirk, Jack Cremmen, joe Ford, Dick Watson and George Shannon. While the one point victory over Cambridge High and Latin was a thriller, and the tie with Lawrence Central brought us satisfaction, the apex of St. Sebastian's Football prestige was reached when we tied a powerful St. john's Prep eleven, 7-7. With 1100 spectators present in observance of Parents' and Friends' Day, the Ar- rows battled heroically to limit the invaders to a single hard-won touchdown and then nullified it by scoring on a spectacular Boyle to Collupy pass. After the con- test, 750 guests availed themselves of the invitation to attend the Coffee Hour in the refectory and replay the epic struggle over the refreshments. Defeat came 6- nally toward the end of the season when Lawrence Academy forced us to bow on All Saints Day and St. Clement's of Somerville took us into camp in a Sunday con- test that found us weakened considerably by the scholastic ineligibility of four regulars. The three wins, two ties and two defeats hardly consituted an impres- sive record, but the schedule provided us with an opportunity of comparing our warriors with seasoned campaigners from older and larger schools and, in our eyes, the Red and Black gave a magnificent account of themselves. In the Red-Blue intersquad battle, john Ellard finally proved his right to a plaque by vanquishing a courageous Red team led by joe Ford. With Fr. Keating once more at the helm, the j.V.'s and J.j.V.'s enjoyed a highly successful season, suffering only one re- verse at the hands of a more-experienced Lawrence Central Catholic team. Dou- ble victories over Thayer and St. Mary's of Brookline together with a triumph over Immaculate Conception of Newburyport were the highlights of a campaign that produced junior stars like Captain Bob Kelly, George McGoldrick, Bill O'Brien, Bill Carey and J.j.V. Captain Dick Mulhern. Another pleasant project was introduced in early Autumn when a School Tennis Tournament was held under the supervision of Fr. Aubut, new Tennis coach. With the prize of a new racquet as an incentive, thirty boys competed vig- orously, the Senior candidates being john Ellard, George Shannon, Bob O'Shea, john McAuliffe. When the preliminary rounds had been completed, jack Nawn faced Frank Pitts in the finals and came through with a straight-sets victory that enthroned him as School Champion. Conscious that our hours as Sebastianites were shortening all too quickly, we entered upon the final hoop and ice seasons. To face another season of top-flight competition, Captain jack Cremmen relied upon Classmates Bill Harwood, Bob McNabb, john Ellard and Dick Watson and, as usual, they did not let him down. Early in the year, the quintet suffered the loss of Bob McNabb, high scorer of the preceding Winter, through illness and the frail lad's sharpshooting was sadly missed. For the first time in School history, our basketeers were invited to play several games on the floor of the Boston Garden and they reacted with highly creditable performances. On the night of the annual Christmas Party, B. C. High visited our cage for the first time and 400 fans applauded the efforts of the Arrows to cope with the depth of the in-towners. Once again, jack Cremmen and Bill Harwood composed a stellar defense, while Hilton Collupy, Bob Kelly and joe Shea were among the leading scorers. In the Red-Blue duel that closed the season,

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Bill Harwood won out over Hilt Collupy and thereby achieved plaque immor- tality. As a fitting climax to their court careers, Cremmen, Harwood and McNabb were awarded the distinctive St. Sebastian jackets at the March 16th banquet. ' Knowing full well that our icemen would suffer in comparison with the Red and Black sextets of other years, we were pleasantly surprised when they achieved the First Half championship, even though they were forced to submit to a defeat by Malden Catholic in the play-off for the League crown. The play of newcomer Bruce Harrigan in the St. Sebastian net was a feature of the weekly con- tests at the Skating Club which saw Bob Murphy inheriting Mul's title of League- leading scorer. With the forward line of Murphy, Deignan and Egan, bolstered by Bill Gibbons' and jack Boyle's protection of Harrigan, our gliders were the equal of any first team in the circuit, although they lacked the depth of their Malden rivals. On March 16th, the Hockey-Basketball banquet took place in the School re- fectory and the members of both squads were honored in a setting that reflected the proximity of St. Patrick's Day. As speakers appropriate to the occasion, Mr. William Mokray, Basketball Director of the Boston Garden, and Mr. Robert Graney, highly successful Hockey coach of Walpole High School, held the atten- tion of the capacity audience. After the droll stories of ponderous jerry Shea had convulsed the crowd, Fr. Keating's piano playing elicited the singing of familiar melodies that were an unrehearsed success. As a complete surprise, sterling silver medals of St. Sebastian were distributed to all the members of both teams and the annual athletic awards in both sports were made by the Headmaster. When the various Red-Blue plaques had been hung by Paul McGrath, John Ellard, Bill Har- wood and Andy McAuliffe, Bob Murphy presented Coach Vin Murphy a Hockey trophy as a memento of the season just closed, and Jack Cochran did similar honor to Fr. Keating on behalf of the j.V. hoopsters. Dr. Gibbons, team physician and father of Bill, was awarded a Hockey letter for his devoted service to the icemen, and Tom Hartnett, Senior, was awarded a St. Sebastian medal for his rescue of our marooned cagers during the Winter's worst blizzard. In the meantime, we had observed the feast day of St. Sebastian on January 20th with a Mass celebrated by the Headmaster, and had become accustomed to assisting at a private Mass, offered by Fr. Flanigan each First Friday in the Sacristy for the Senior class. Our Annual Retreat was given from january 29th through the 31st by Fr. Philip Kelly, C.S.C., and the Lenten season brought appropriate de- votions on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. Marking its third year of existence, The Walrus was under the student di- rection of Dick Griffin, who had Classmates john Boles and Bob O'Shea as repor- torial assistants, and it continued to charm and annoy in each issue. For a second year, john Kirk represented St. Sebastian's on The junior Town Meeting of the Air program to discuss the wisdom of Go West, young man, go West. To add to his laurels, Jack also was a Faneuil Hall finalist in the Boston Herald-Traveler Spelling Bee competition, surviving all the block-busters until he came to mil- lennium. During the Christmas holidays, the Junior Prom was enhanced by the presence of many Seniors, joe Ford contributing most to the dignity of the occa- sion with tails, and Harold Field scoring the only fall of the evening in the course of a polka. As we write these lines, the Alpine Club has returned from a second and even