Do you have some
BHS trivia
you'd like to share?
September 16, 2011
Pantagraph "How Time Flies: 50 years ago, Sept. 16, 1961"
"NCHS beat Bloomington 13-9 last night in the season opener for both football teams. Unit 5 rented extra bleachers from ISNU so the crowd capacity was raised to 5,000. Normal's victory and six others were later forfeited due to an ineligible player."
My own observation: As it turned out, the ineligible player was the one who scored the winning touchdown against BHS.
Jim Bennett
July 30, 2011
Here's a nice piece from this morning's Pantagraph, in the "From Pages Past" section, compiled by Roger Cushman:
"Bloomington High School graduate Tom Stock, now acknowledged as the world's finest backstroke swimmer, bettered his own world's record in the men's 200 meter event with a time of 2:14 flat in the Japan swim championships at Tokyo." This was Summer 1961
Classmates may not know that Tom was inducted into the BHS Hall of Fame last fall.
peace
Jim Bennett
July 12, 2010
Hi Rose, here's a tidbit for the website from yesterday's Pantagraph, "From Pages Past" compiled by Roger Cushman: "Tom Stock, a June graduate of BHS, bettered the world record for the 200-meter backstroke in the Indiana State Swim Meet at Evansville. Stock, a summer school student at Indiana University, was timed at 2:16.9. The listed record is 2:17.8 by Frank McKinney Jr."
Jim Bennett
July 10, 2010
Memories sent in by Barb Buttry Dorris:
I liked the item about the 4 co-valedictorians. I was number 5 (got a B in chemistry).
I remember my old car that I drove to school. It was a 1952 chrysler hydramatic that you did not have to shift once you got in drive. Just to switch to reverse or neutral. I drove the whole neighborhood to school. Two went to the Jr. high school on Washington and the other four of us to the new high school.
I also remember senior year having a "cotton-ball" golf course before they put in the new lawn at the high school. We practiced driving and putting there.
On wash day I remember my mom stringing lots of clothesline from hooks on the back of the house, the garage, the shed and a tree. We had forked poles to push the wash up higher after it was all hung. We four daughters had a lot of work to do bringing in the dry wash, or bringing it in wet if it started raining. That was always on Mondays.
I also remember that I got a 10-cent allowance in grade and junior high schools, and it got upped to a quarter in high school. Good thing I got a job working at Mennonite hospital in the kitchen.
June 8, 2010
Hi Rose, this comes from today's Pantagraph in the "How Time Flies" section. After all the athletic kudos we have noted, it's nice to have some classroom champions. This daily section is compiled by Jack Keefe.
"June 8, 1960: BHS will graduate four seniors who made it all the way through high school with straight A's. The four will share the title of co-valedictorian. They are Martha Griffin, Barbara Stumm, Kurt Gummerman and Barbara Washburn."
How about that?
Jim Bennett
June 1, 2010
Hi Rose, here's an interesting tidbit from today's Pantagraph. It's in the "From Pages Past" section, by Roger Cushman: June 1, 1060
"50 years ago (1960): Seven athletes were awarded letters in three sports at Bloomington High School's all-sports banquet. They are Ron Fluty, Dan Ferguson, Bryan Olofson, Jeff Maurer, John Travers, Fred Prillaman and Jack Secord."
A few juniors mixed in there with our classmates.
peace
Jim Bennett
John Travers had quite a day for himself May 19, 1960.
Here's the dope from the Pantagraph, "From Pages Past," by Roger Cushman:
"Bloomington won its third straight track and field title. John Travers, the husky BHS
football fullback, set a discuss record of 148 feet, seven inches, tied 100-yard dash
record of 10.1 seconds, won the 220 in 23 seconds, and ran anchor for the 880 relay
team."
Well done, John
Submitted by Jim Bennett
April 19, 2010
Hi Rose, just thought I'd pass along this baseball tidbit from April of '60, in the Pantagraph. Compiled by Roger Cushman: "Larry Woosley clubbed a grand slam homer and Ron Fluty clubbed a two-run blast to highlight Bloomington's 16-3 win over Lincoln."
P.S. I remember this game and think it's one I actually got to play in. Most of the time I just warmed the bench.
Submitted by Jim Bennett
Pantagraph, 1/6/2010
From Pages Past
by Roger Cushman
"50 Years Ago (1960): Normal Community made Jack Barton's driving basket and free throw stand up through over two minutes of pressurized basketball for a come-from-behind 50-49 victory over Bloomington. Ron Fluty of BHS led in scoring with 17 points."
Rest in peace, Fluty.
peace
Jim Bennett
Pantagraph, Dec. 31, 2009
From Pages Past
by Roger Cushman
"Mike Manahan provided Bloomington with its only championship in the University High School Open Wrestling Tournament by posting a 1-0 decision over Al Pickrel of Springfield Lanphier in the 120-pound title bout."
submitted by Jim B.
December 28, 2009
Hi Rose, thought I'd share this tidbit from today's Pantagraph:
"From Pages Past" compiled by Roger Cushman, Dec. 28, 2009
From 1959 -
"Tom Stock and John Rodgers Jr. are spending the holidays in Florida getting in a little action in the water. Both are mainstays of this year's Bloomington High School swim team."
I wish I could hear more about that trip; no doubt there would be a few colorful stories.
Jim Bennett
December 2, 2009
Hi Rose, here's a tidbit from today's Pantagraph our classmates might enjoy remembering.
There's some peculiar language in it and I doubt their figures relative to our old gym's capacity, but what the heck....the crowd was probably larger than 1,200 and the gym's capacity maybe 3,000 max.
Pantagraph, Dec. 2, 2009, "From Pages Past" compiled by Roger Cushman.
"Larry Woosley, Bloomington's hatchet man in the Purple Raiders' attempt to lure a capacity crowd to their new gymnasium, hit a 15-foot jump shot with one second to play to life BHS to a 47-45 victory over Clinton before 1,200 fans. The BHS gymnasium will seat 3,400.
Jim B
Tom Stock
Again, Eagle Eye" Jim Bennett spots reference to a classmate in a recent issue of the Pantagraph:
"50 years ago (1959) Tom Stock of Bloomington won the 100-yard backstroke in the Illinois High School Association swimming championships at Winnetka. Stock, unbeaten in backstroke events this season, had a winning time of 59.4 seconds."
Of course Tom won so many championships he shows up in this "From Pages Past" column quite often.
FlickFact (Bill Flick) from the Pantagraph
One of the oldest secondary schools, BLOOMINGTON HIGH also has had the official school colors of purple and gold for nearly 120 years. How did the school get the colors?
It is a tribute to a popular BHS student who drowned back in 1890 and loved bringing purple and gold pansies to school.
submitted by Rose
Jim Bennett shared with me a flyer on his writing career:
James W. Bennett's uncompromising, challenging books for teens have earned him recognition as one of the nation's leading (and most provocative) novelists for young adults. His fiction has been used as a curriculum choice at the Jr. Hight, Sr. High and community college levels.
His 1996 novel, The Squared Circle, was named the year's finest by the English Journal and other publications. It was also chosen as one of the 25 best YAs during the past quarter century.
Bennet has served as guest author at Miami Book Fair International, featured speaker at ALAN and NCTE, and as Writer in Residence (a program he established) for secondary schools in Illinois. He has also been director for the Blooming Grove Writers' Conference.
A graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Bennett also does freelance articles and stories for magazines across the country.
His uncommon ability to connect with teens has led him to guest author appearances and workshops in secondary schools across the nation. He has always been enthused about school visits, so his fees for such events are lower than comparable YA authors. He is open, flexible and willing to travel.
If you would like to schedule Mr. Bennett for an author appearance or school visits, contact him directly at:
E-Mail: jwbnnt@aol.com - Website: www.jameswbennett.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Books that Jim has authored:
How the Bible Was Built - Co-Authored by Charles Merrill Smith - 2005
Faith Wish - 2003
Old Hoss - Co-Authored by Don Raycraft - 2002
Plunking Reggie Jackson - 2001
Blue Star Rapture - 1998
The Flex of the Thumb - 1996
The Squared Circle - 1995
The Dakota Dream - 1994
I Can Hear the Mourning Dove - 1990
Harvey Porter Does Dallas
---------------------------------------
Here's one from my great Uncle Howard. He graduated in the first class from the "old" BHS building downtown on Washington Street. Pretty cool that his great niece, ME, was in first graduating class from the new BHS on Locust. I even have his BHS diploma around here somewhere.
submitted by Rose
Baseball
Found in July 2nd, 2008's Pantagraph:
"50 years ago (July,1958) Bloomington's Louis E. Davis Post backed John Hoppe with an eight-hit assault to gain an 11-5 victory over Clinton's Junior Legion team in a game called after 4 plus innings because of darkness. Larry Woosley [BHS class of '60] homered for Bloomington."
Classmates will remember Larry as a shortstop extraordinaire who worked part time for Read's Sporting Goods.
submitted by Jim Bennett
BHS Football
It occurs to me many of our classmates who have been far away from town may not know that Bloomington High School football has been one of the state's premier programs over the past generation. It was Terry McCombs who coached the team to its first successes in the late '70s.
Since 1982, the Raiders have won 19 Big 12 championships. The Raiders have also advanced to the state's postseason playoffs every year since 1987, often winning two or three or even more rounds. There's still no state title in the trophy case, but on four occasions (three this decade) the "Purplemen" (we actually called the team by that nickname in the Aegis in '59), the team advanced clear to the championship game. Did not win those games, but any team that advances to the state title game in its division is truly elite.
Over the past 25 years, many BHS football players have gone on to play for major college teams.
submitted by Jim Bennett
BHS Swimmers
Here's several of those Pantagraph "From pages past" nuggets.
"July, 1958: Tom Stock and Pam Sheets of Bloomington bettered three national records in the Chicago Open AAU swimming championships at Chicago's California Park.....Stock broke the 100 backstroke record for boys 16 and under."
BHS '60 classmates will remember Tom as one of the best swimmers in the state of Illinois throughout his high school years, and a guy who made a serious run at olympic qualifying.
peace
jb
submitted by Jim Bennett
MEMORIES from a friend:
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.
Older Than Dirt Quiz:
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about .
Ratings at the bottom.
1 Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6 . Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (OLive-6933)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S&H greenstamps
16 Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19 Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are the best part of my life.
Don't forget to pass this along!!
Especially to all your really OLD friends...
submitted by Andrea Brown Cox
July 20, also from Pantagraph:
"JULY, 1958: National AAU record holder Tom Stock and six other swimmers captured double victories in the Jaycees' Intercity Swimming Championships at the Normal public pool. Stock splashed to victories in his favorite events, the 40-yard backstroke in 23.5 seconds and the 40 butterfly in 22.2"
Our '60 classmate was having himself an eventful summer in '58.
submitted by Jim Bennett
Here's another from the Pantagraph:
"50 YEARS AGO, AUG. 5, 1958: Tom Stock of Bloomington smashed the national AAU record for the 100-meter backstroke in the Long Course Junior Olympics at Chicago.
Stock, a member of the Bloomington-Normal Swim Club, churned the distance in 1:08.8."
Our 1960 classmate continued to make his mark during the summer of '58. He was a beast.
peace
jb
submitted by Jim Bennett
OLDER THAN DIRT - This isn't specifically BHS but trivia....
Someone asked the other day, "What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?"
"We didn't have fast food when I was growing up", I informed him. "All the food was slow."
"C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?"
"'It was a place called 'at home','' I explained. "Grandma cooked every day and when Grandpa got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it".
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears AND Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was 11, but my grandparents had one before that. It was, of course, black and white, but they bought a piece of colored plastic to cover the screen. The top third was blue, like the sky, and the bottom third was green, like grass. The middle third was red. It was perfect for programs that had scenes of fire trucks riding across someone's lawn on a sunny day Some people had a lens taped to the front of the TV to make the picture look larger.
I was 13 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.
We didn't have a car until I was 15. Before that, the only car in our family was my grandfather's Ford. He called it a 'machine.'
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.
Al newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers I delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which I got to keep 2 cents. I had to get up at 4 AM every morning. On Saturday, I had to collect the 42 cents from my customers. My favorite customers were the ones who gave me 50 cents and told me to keep the change. My least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. Touching someone else's tongue with yours was called French kissing and they didn't do that in movies. I don't know what they did in French movies. French movies were dirty and we weren't allowed to see them
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?