Villanova Preparatory School - Villanovan Yearbook (Ojai, CA)

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Our return to the Hwarsl' the Fall of ,45 was really something special. We had found ourselves and we were going to show the world, especially that small corner of it found at Villanova. In our minds we were the undisputed leaders of the School and we were determined to act out the part. In a matter not mentioned thus far but more important in the record of the Class of '47 than any other achievement we had set a pace that gave us something substantial to point to with pride: the fact that for its whole period of years at Villanova the class led in the number of high grades gained in the various classes. With such real students as Bridgehouse, Jacobs, Collins, and Harris We could set a pace for any group scholastically, while at the same time showing our heels to many another group in the field of sport. The elections this year were very spirited. Jim Tarpey, Andy Collins, and Steve Laubacher were chosen president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer respectively. The men who had come along from the beginnings of the Class had shown their staying powers, and new blood was recognized for its worth. The sports programme again served to bring out the predominance of the Class. The Varsity squad in football numbered among its regulars and near-regulars Hamilton, Specht, Crahan, Tarpey, Dorward, Laubacher, Backe, Friel, Chapek, and Copley. In basketball there was even greater representation. Collins, Laubacher, Crahan, and Specht made the Varsity, while the UB team, one of the best for that year, numbered among its members Justo Arosemena, Jacobs, Friel, and C. Arosemena. Ferreira, Biane, and Parsons were outstanding on the CM team. ln tennis again it was Collins, Tarpey, Jacobs, and Arosemena who did the honors for the Juniors. Collins brought added lustre to the record by being awarded the accolade for being the best player in the School for the year. Baseball came round in its turn and Barnard, C. Arosemena, Biane, Sims, Chapek, Laubacher and Backe all took a part and played it to the hilt. During the Junior year an event of supreme importance to the School and Student Body took place: the Student Council came into existence. On its first list of members were found the names of Tarpey, Collins, Hamilton, and Jacobs, and it is no exaggeration to say that much of the success that has attended the efforts of this organization to pro- mote the well-being of the Student Body may be attributed largely to the work of these men. Someone somewhere has said that the Junior Year is the most important year in the life of the high school or college student. If the social as well as scholastic and sports successes of the Class of ,47 may be taken as a criterion we can heartily agree with this statement. The Halloween Dance, Farewell Dance to the Class of '46, and above all the Junior Prom, held at Montecito Country Club in Santa Barbara, attest to the great im-

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to take their place, and we seemed none the worse for our losses. We now numbered twenty-six. The first thing we did was to elect officers. The results of the balloting came out something like this: Jim Tarpey became president, Mike Noonan was chosen vice- president, while Neil Dorward and Don Jacobs were elected secretary and treasurer respectively. About the first month back the class undertook something that first showed their organizing ability. Football rallies had been for the most part whimsical and wild displays of enthusiasm previously, but now they became planned and well organized affairs. For a lot of inexperienced greenies the sophomores did all right. This display of group effort has been a characteristic of the Class ever since. The football team of '45 on its record turned out to be the greatest in the history of the School, and it had on its roster no less than six sophomores: Tarpey, Crahan, Ibarra, Noonan, Hamilton, and Ludwig. And these men occupying regular berths were only too happy to acknowledge that their ability to stay in there and give of their best was possible only because they had with them such stalwarts as Dorward, Specht, Chapek, Jacobs, and Taix eager and willing to take over and keep up the pressure. And did this bring us together! In basketball, much to our joy, we placed Chapek, Tarpey, and Specht on the B team. George Ludwig was picked on the All-Tournament team in Los Angeles. Andy Collins paced the C team from the start. In tennis Tarpey and Jacobs made the School team. We felt now that we were not doing too badly. When baseball came up Marcus Crahan got a place on the Varsity and the Junior Varsity boasted of such sophomores as C. Arosemena, Chapek, Specht, and Sims. There are other auxiliary activities or sports besides the main branches that bring the School before the public. The Lariat Club did not lack sophomore representation. In addition to these sports sidelines, there were a number of organizations that have been traditional at the Prep, and they, too, felt the impact of the enthusiasm of those sopho- mores who were numbered among their members. The Annual Staff, the Prep Times Staff, the Eucharistic League, and the Lettermen's Club, all benefited as a result. ln all the foregoing list there have been members of the Class of ,47 in responsible positions from the start. As might be expected our social life took on greater proportions as sophomores. The Christmas Ball sponsored by the Sophomore Class for this year was admittedly one of the highlights of the school year. This served to do something for the Class, because from the close of this our second year at Villanova we looked always forward. We now knew that no form of scholastic activity was beyond our capacity, whether it be something pertain- ing to the classroom or something distinctively on the extracurricular side. E153

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provement in every way that had been made by the class. We had really lived up to expectations. With the coming to a close of our third year we naturally determined to make our final year one to be remembered. It was to be our crowning glory. To begin with the men chosen to lead the destinies of the class were Marcus Crahan, Don jacobs, and Don Bridgehouse, as president, vice-president, and secretary-treasurer respectively. As usual the sports played here at Villanova gave an opportunity for the class to shine. Football came in with a rush, but the record achieved did not quite measure up to that of former years. However, the Class of ,47 was well represented in the person of Tarpey, Hamilton, Crahan, Jacobs, C. Arosemena, Backe, Dorward, Laubacher, Copley, Friel, Chapck, and Bianc. Basketball likewise found Collins, Laubacher, Friel, Backe, and Jacobs in the A group. C. Arosemena, Biane, Parsons, Ferreira, in the HB group, helped put one of the best MBU teams in the history of the school on the court, and their wonderful record is there to prove it. ln the line of tennis once again Collins, Tarpey, and Crahan found room for themselves on the squad and did all right for the School. Baseball gave its customary opportunities for the class and with Biane, Chapek, Crahan, C. Arosemena, Barnard, Sims, and Ferreira on the squad we felt that we were helping out considerably. We should feel very much amiss were we not to note here the wonderful contribu- tions made by Adrian Lynch in his assistance with the coaching and participation in games here and there where eligibility rules permitted. Ade was one of our great stars in football, basketball, and baseball before the war caught him up and he found it necessary to suspend his scholastic endeavors for a while. He came beck to us in September and showed the same old prowess in the same old way. His speed and form were improved, if anything, and there was the headwork that only experience can bring. Under the stimulus of a greater sense of responsibility the work of the class repre- sentatives on the Student Council has been a real contribution to the promotion of School morale and sense of discipline. A record has been set that promises well for those which will come in other times and places. During this last year the social calendar has been increasingly full and there has been a style and character to each activity as it came along that shows that the class has profited from its experience. To take the Senior Prom, held this year in the Beverly Hills Hotel, as an example, we find in this event the crowning touch to all those of a similar kind that preceded it. The history made by the Class of '47 is coming to a finale, but it is only the close of a chapter. There will be many more. VVhat they will hold, or what pattern they will follow we cannot anticipate, but we can feel justly proud of the first chapter and hope that those to follow may bring added glory to Villanova even as they bring success to us. if E173