Walt Whitman Junior High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 90 text:

YQ5CxNx'f5xx ,X .fqi ' -it 1- -.. i l ,,,.pu- .- -qib 1 .......-L.,, :-:- l a I , 'xx q , SX J L..,.... Q ea ,g5g??ife N A I .kgrsgldlxy , - -.-.J-v .. , ' -4 AT WALT WHITMAN j,H.SL VN A SUCCESSFUL BASKETBALL SEASON 1 The Walt Whitman Basketball Team under the excellent coaching of Mr. Cassuto beat Ditmas for the division championship and Shellbank for the section championship with a fourteen and five record. They entered the Brooklyn Championship playoff, which is a great accomplishment in itself. They ran a thirteen game winning streak during which they hit 521 of their foul shots and averaged 52 points a game while they held their opponents to an average of 39 points a game. Coak Cannon's height and fine shooting ability made him the team's ace rebounder as well as its leading Scorer with a total of 325 points for a 17.1 average. Coak scored the record number of points in one game, when he scored thirty points in a game against Shellbank. Carlton Screen sparked the team with a fine shooting record of 284 points for a 14.9 average. Ronnie Tiskevich, the only seventh grader to ever start on the Walt Whitman team, was third with 118 points for a 6.2 average. The leading foul shooters were Ronnie Tiskevich,scoring 32 out of 48 for a 66 percentage,and Carlton Screen shooting 52 out of S8 for a 59 percentage. In the past season, the games which we lost were by a slim margin. For example,we lost to Lefferts by one point in the last seven seconds 88 of the game. The following week at our gym, we handed Lefferts a defeat by beating them forty-six to forty- four. Our team had a rather tough schedule as in the game against Decatur whose team members were much taller than ours. Because of excellent team la in however we tied the score until the last twenty seconds of play when Decatur scored two foul shots. Next year Coak Cannon, Ronald Tiskevich, James Enz, and Valentine Rodriguez will be the nucleus of the new varsity team. Robert Mila- tano, Nathan Friedman, and Mark Hershkowitz are to be congratulated as team managers. Two factors greatly contributing to a well-played season were the determination and effort of Mr. Cassuto whose supervision and train- ing was an asset to the team. All the boys on the team deserve credit for a very successful season. The players on the Walt Whitman team included Co-Captains Coak Can- non and Carlton Screen, Ronald Tiskevich, James Enz, James Dorsey, Neil Berman, Valentine Rodriguez Shelly Ash, and Kenneth Goldman, Melvin Bernstein Steven Lustbader

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-BOY'S HEALTH EDUCATIQN PROGRAM This year's health education program had been one of the best in the history of Walt Whitman Junior High School. Under the superior supervision of Mr. Cassuto, Mr. Barber, Mr. Altshuler, and Mr. Goldberg, our boys receive the very best train- ing in physical fitness, sports, and the art of sportsmanship. The boys follow the P.S.A.L. program and the new physical fitness plan sponsored by Pre- sident Kennedy. Under the P.S.A.L program, the boys receive HAH and HBH awards according to their excellence in certain gymnastic fields. The boys are taught basketball, stunts, tumbling, volleyball, track and field. Football is re- served for the ninth grade boys exclusively while the eighth t grade boys receive instruction in soccer. If any boy wishes to join a school athletic team, there is a choice of varsity basketball and varsity baseball. Walt Whitman plays various other schools in these two sports. In May there is a track and field day in which many of our boys participate. This year Mayor Wagner sponsored an invi- tational meet. After-three-o'clock-school- activities are still a vital part of sports at Walt Whitman Junior High. Boys can play and practice under the expert supervision of a competent supervisor who is always on hand especially for interclass events. It is easy to see the male half of our school is taught physical fitness and athletics quite well. Girls! Look around. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you see! Sandi Miller f! 87

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MY FIRST AND LAST BASKETBALL ElMr ' Boy! was I humiliated! I was the only girl on the basketball team, and because of me the team lost. You see, I was good at most athletics, and since I was tall, I decided to join the team. The boys looked rather doubtful, but I promised them I would be a Ngreatn player. I was even taller than some of the boys! CI was 5' Qinj. They finally let me on their team Cthough some of the boys looked as though they were going to cryD. I practiced as hard as I could, but on Saturday, when we were against West High, I just knew something was going to go wrong. I had just gotten hold of the the the ball when something hit me in head. I knew it could not be ball because I was holding it. Or was I? I looked down and saw a bas- ketball, only it had the name Tommy on it It was a little kid's bas- . C ketball. Tommy later explained that he brought it because he was afraid we would lose oursib. I quickly turned around and saw our team was winning 6 to S. One more goof like that and we could lose. The ball came toward me again Cthis time it was the right onej but just then someone shouted my name. It was one of the boys from my school. He was laughing like a maniac because I was the only girl on the team. I started to stick my tongue out at him. My schoolmates groaned. My teammates almost tram- pled me. As I slowly got up and looked around, the score was 8 to 6. West High had won the game. No question! I had lost the game by my foolishness. It took awhile before the boys would ever talk to me again. But they said they would forgive me if I promised never to join the basketball team again. Roberta Duke MY FIRST FOOTBALL QAME I was the one who had to carry the ball through the line. Hike! The ball was handed off to me. I took a few steps, then boom! It hit me like lightning! I was smear- ed by three of their men. I did, however, make three yards. When we got back to the huddle, I asked what had happened to my blockers. They told me they went around the ends instead of up the middle. We then started a drive which wasn't stopped until their thirty yard line. The end of the first half came and the score was still nothing to nothing. The next quarter was as bad as the first. They were a tough team and lived up to their reputation as champs. Ten minutes were left in the last quarter. I knew something drastic had to be done. We were on our twen ty yard line and it was the last down. I signaled for a screen pass. This was a risky play. The quarter- back received the ball, the men rushed ing the quarterback and I went all the way for the touchdown. There was no scoring after that and we won six to nothing. We were now the new twelve year-old champs. Robert Brownstein 89