Stoneham High School - Wildlife Yearbook (Stoneham, MA)

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THE STONEHAM HIGH SCHOOL AUTHENTIC alumni, in their demands have com- pletely forgotten that “the object of the faculty’s sanction of athletics is the greatest physical development of all. Devoting ones time and attention whol- ly to inter-collegiate teams is, however, hardly less justifiable than devoting at- tention exclusively to scholarship,” This has been the government’s aim in both Annapolis and West Point. They have introduced sport for sport’s sake for the whole student body with wonderful results. Let us picture Annapolis on a fall afternoon, after the classes and drills of the day are over. On Farragut Field the football teams are practising; squads A and B, the plebe team, and the teams of the eight companies that make up the regiment. On another field two hundred more midshipmen are en- grossed in the mysteries of soccer. On the Severn are the crews ; varsity, plebe, C ' lass, and company eights. Pound and round the track goes the cross country team, and on the courts the tennis play- ers are limbering up. In the gym the basketball squad is having early prac- tice and the pool is alive with human dolphins. The rifle and lacrosse teams come in to store away their paraphenal- ia, the hand’oall court is busAq and the wrestling and boxing rooms are crowd- ed wfith contestants. This is not an exceptional day; it is a regular occur- rence. Where else, except possibly at West Point do we find such a high av- erage in sport for sport’s sake and in the “greatest phj ' sical development of all?” To keep athletics and inter-collegiate rivalry in the university they must be reformed. The best colleges have recognized this in several ways. The Western ' Conference, that league of great universities, has shortened their schedules; nearly every day new agree- ments are being made to stop organized scouting; almost every college has placed scholastic requireiiients on its athletics. There are still certain col- leges which are more than shj ' in this respect, but they are getting to be known, and it is only a question of time before they change or find themselves dropped from most of the better sched- ules. The limiting of the season to four or five games would have a far- reaching effect. It would lessen the furor of excitement over the game ; it Avould decrease the attendance mak- ing possible a smaller stadium; it would lessen the coach’s importance and j of necessitj ' ' , his salary. If men were allowed to play only two years there would not be such a great incentive for hiring players, and there would be more time for study. The baseball fans want ' a reform of their own ; that the game be played between the teams and not betAveen the coaches. A radical reform, proposed recently by President Hopkins of Dartmouth, contained three main features; limiting of playing to Juniors and Sophomores; Senior coaches; two games played sim- ultaneously, one on each college field. The purpose of these was first, to give Seniors more time for study, and at the same time to give more players a chance; secondly, to reduce the expense of coaching systems ; thirdly, to have no “big” game, no Amrsity, and as a re- suit, less excitement. ! The “Dartmouth” replied in an edi- 1 torial that there was some doubt if the plan would be realized in its entirety, l)ut that some change is sure and that President Hopkins deserves praise for taking the lead. The consensus of opinion of the Big Three AA ' as that great benefit would be deriA’ed from such a plan, but that it AA ' as too radical to gain immediate suc- cess. By the first proposition a larger num- ber would be able to play. The second article received general criticism due to the fact that the student coaches Avere thought to be mediocre. The third Avould stop Saturday emigration of the student body, and AA’ould lessen the im- portance of the winning side. It was hoped that this proposal would arouse interest in the subject and Avould call forth an expression of opinion. Some such reform AAmuld end football as a S5unl)ol to the alumni; it Avould substi- I tute the game as a game for relaxation, in short, the English situation. At any [ rate, the American attitude must be made less serious and more sportive. I In a word, the extension of inter-col- legiate athletics brings out se ’eral i questions hitherto conceded to be self 1 evident. Does a college environmient I stimulate youth to labor ? Or do ath- letics urge them on through college? Do they fulfill scholastic requirements for the sake of football, or do they play football to better fulfill these require- ments? Is the game extensive because it educates or because it entertains? Is the stadium the center of university [ 14 ]

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GRADUATION NUMBER cept victory or defeat, as may be, with the satisfying consciousness that he has given his best efforts. These ideals applied in scientific pur- suits professional callings, or in the or- dinary routine employments will carry us on to the ultimate personal achieve- ment — to make the world a better place 111 which to live, “Let us, then, be up and doing. With heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing. Learn to labor and to wait.” Raymond J. Dodge College sports were started as volun- tary games by those who enjoyed them. Attracting more and more attention first among the students and later among the sport lovers of the world, they became more and more expensive. ' They outgrew the capacity of the stu- j dents to manage them. They became ' great spectacles, attracted vast audien- ■ ces, returned large gate receipts, and re- | quired elaborate coaching systems. Some few years after it began, foot- ball was abolished, because of its bru- tality, from many of the colleges of | this country. Popular demand was, | however, so pressing that the rules were modified, and elements were introduced to produce thrills and to regain for I football its immense popularity. It is | these thrills, brought about mainly by the forward pass, that have retained this popularity until at present with the occasional exception of basketball, ! football is the only paying college si3ort. Almost simultaneously with the be- ginning of intercollegiate rivalry arose a blast of pedagogic disapproval. This feeling has centered itself on football as the game most needing reform. The faculty’s disapprobation is not against the game itself but against the evils arising from and supposedly connected with the game. The evils with which athletics are charged are many and varied. The fundamental ones are over-organization, super-coaching systems, luxurious equip- ment, and chief of them all, the fact that comparativelj ' ’ few men receive the benefits fo the exercise. From these other evils arise: Organized scouting, hiring of players, distracting of atten- tion of team and students alike, stress and strain on the players, preposterous financial outlay, and the adulation of men simply for physical prowess. The blame for most of these faults may easily be traced to the interest of the alumni in their Alma Mater and not in any way to the students. When a man graduates, he takes it upon himself to personally look out for the welfare of the college. He feels that, in order to succeed, a college must have success- ful teams, and he will spare no time, money, nor effort to make them suc- cessful. For this reason some of the college alumni have considered inter-collegiate sports as a big business or commercial enterprise. To them, athletic teams are an excellent means by which to gain “new business ” and to this end they have overlooked these evils as merely part of the price of something desir- able. They maintain, in their own de- fense, that the salary grievance is uni- versal, and, moreover, that a coach, who brings in more “new business” than the gentleman who makes a first-class translation of Pindar, should, of right, receive more remuneration. And Pin- dar (whom most of you have probably never heard of) was an ancient Greek poet who gained much of his fame by his skill in celebrating the athletic tri- umphs of his contemporaries. It is on- ly fair to say that the professor, after years of preparation, receives a salary that is a mere pittance compared with that of a successful coach, who, until the last few years, required no special training. Gradually, however, the so- called thug coach is disappearing and it is now imperative for the mentor to take one of the many courses in coach- ing. Besides the several summer schools the University of Michigan has added a course in coaching to its curriculum. If the alu mni have made inter-colleg- iate teams a business proposition, the players certainly have not. There are few ill any sport who have a finer ama- teur spirit than the average college ath- lete. There are, of course, exceptions, but I am referring to the majority. And organized scouting, or hiring of players does not fit in any too well with the true spirit of the game. Most of the college presidents do not want sports abolished, but they do want to remedy the chief fault of present day sports, the fact that comparatively few are benefited by the exercise. The [ 13 ]

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GRADUATION NUMBER life or the adjuncts Which the cart, which the horse? dlass istorg Esther Trainor On a sunshiny day in the early fall of 1923 there stood on the steps of the Stoneham High School, a group of about seventy shy and timid freshmen, all starched and shining. They were wait ing to be admitted for the first time to those lofty and magnificent portals for their next four years together as a class. When the doors were thrown open, this quiet group of boys and girls tiptoed into the corridors. The busi- ness division was assigned to Miss Gar- land in Room 7. Miss Garland, it is remembered, was very strict about whispering; no one could misbehave with her. The classical and technical divisions had Room 4 for their home W ' ith Miss Bessey as their home room teacher. There was much confusion evi- dent among these freshmen for some time and they were subject to a great deal of ridicule and sport from the no- ble and stately seniors. At the first meeting of the class, the following members were given the hon- or of managing the class affairs for one year: Plorace Ford, President; James McPartland, Vice President; Clifford Phoenix, Secretary; and Marj Logan, Treasurer. On October 9 the class had its first social and a large attendance was pres- ent, considering that it was held by a freshman class. At this social we be- come acquainted with the most promi- nent seniors in school. Of course the financial condition of the class was not very sound as yet, but we hoped to soon have an enormous tre asury. A number of our members w ' ent out for places on the various athletic teams. Clifford, we wonder if you remember that time in English when we were ask- ed if the Lady of the Lake was an ap- propriate name for that book, and you promptly replied, “No, iPs too dry.” And how well John Kelly always re- membered what the lesson was, particu- larly when the assignment was the “Diet of Worms.” It is really inconceivable that our class should have been so bright. We enjoyed our new school life im- mensely but the summer vacation was welcomed and we left school on the last day thinking how much better we would ! do the next year. When school opened in September, the members of 12-’27 entered with more assurance than before. They were, at least, no longer in the humble classi- fication of freshmen. The home rooms remained the same because, with the ad- dition of the new Junior High School building, conditions were somewhat al- tered. The studies were more difficult this 3 ear and the sophomores were rare- ly seen going home without an armful of books. At the first business meeting of the year, Horace Ford was re-elected Presi- dent, Steve Haseltine was chosen Vice President, George Young was our Secre- tary and Janet Learned, Treasurer. The funds of the class were still low as only one social had been held. During the Sophomore year our class was well represented on the athletic teams. Alice Riley and Gladys Camer- on played a good game on the field hockey team with scarcely a goal going by Al, w ' ho was in the net. Bud McCall, Hoiace Chase and Fordie were given prominent places on the baseball squad, doing good work all the season. This class was very witty and proved a great source of irritation to Mr. Gowan, our youthful typewriting teach- er. On one occasion he asked for the two kinds of banks and was informed that there were National and Sand Banks. A club was being formed in one of the class rooms and on being told that it must be conducted with parlia- n .entary rules. Miss Smith made the query, “Don’t you mean the Democratic Convention?” V e were very proud to be represented in the Edison Home Lighting Contest l)y Miss Buzzell who won the first local prize and the second prize in Greater Boston. School closed in June with many re- grets but in September the members of 12-’27 would be upper classmen, never to be looked down upon again. Oh ! what an important atmosphere was evident on that lovely autumn day in 1925 when we entered school again, this time as Juniors. Some of our mem- bers were seated in Miss Ryan’s room. Others were in Miss Fowler’s room, where the atmosphere was very serious i but businesslike and where an “A” is i seldom given out unless it is a deserv- ing one. Still others of our group were [ 15 ]