Topeka High School
Topeka High was a good school and had a pretty good size enrollment. There were about 500 senior students in our graduating class. The school building itself was of classic style architecture basically in the form of an “X” with the wings having three floors. At the center there was a tall gothic looking tower which was the main entrance.
When I entered THS as a sophomore I started down the athletic path and went out for football. I had played well enough in Jr. High to have a bit of a reputation, but at the high school level I didn’t weigh enough nor was I fast enough to play the position of fullback well. Midway through the season a change of path was made for me. One day during practice I was running a kickoff back up the field when I was tackled with enough force and the right place to tear a cartilage in my left knee. What got to me was it was practice and I didn’t get the glory of being helped off the field with the fans applauding. In fact there wasn’t much sympathy at all. That injury had me on crutches for the start of the basketball season so I was late trying out for that and didn’t have the skills to make the team. Undaunted, I went out for swimming and BF Gary Rowles was trying out too. I remember once in the early part of the season at practice I was racing another swimmer in the backstroke and giving it my all. I really did give it my all. On getting out of the pool I went in to the locker room and vomited. And to top it off, the other swimmer beat me badly. So much for my Mark Phelps career! Over the summer I worked in a frozen eggs & poultry processing factory in the cold storage area and one of the other workers accidentally ran a hand truck of frozen turkeys upon the heel of my foot. So much for football that fall. So, I decided to focus on student government and drama.
In my sophomore year another one of my good friends, Carter Umbarger and I combined our campaign efforts in running for Sophomore Representatives. Carter won one of the representative positions, but I didn’t make it. So, I became the Student Council’s Parliamentarian. I had to make sure everything went by the by-laws.
The three plays I remember doing at THS were “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” the story of the English poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. I played one of Elizabeth’s brothers complete with jacket with tails. I played an elderly border Mr. Hide in “I Remember Mama”, and the taxi cab driver in “Harvey” about a loveable man who’s constant companion is an imaginary six foot rabbit named Harvey.
I was an organizer in high school. I was involved with putting on musical reviews and a principle designer and coordinator of our Jr.-Sr. Prom which we held in the school cafeteria which we had fixed up like a night club. We called it Club 55 because that was the year we graduated high school – 1955.
Speaking of the school cafeteria during my sophomore and junior years I worked in the cafeteria at lunch time to earn my lunch. I would work for half the lunch period and have the other half to eat. We had pretty good hot meals like roast beef, mashed potatoes, a vegetable and a hot roll. Also, on the working subject both Gary and I caddied at the local golf course on weekends. We could make $3.50 for carrying double plus tips. We also mowed lawns to make some spending money. (this was pre-high school days) It doesn’t sound like much but remember it only cost 35 cents for the adult ticket at the Coed. Kids today can’t make spending money like that because adults are doing those jobs. I guess that’s enough for this chapter. In the next chapter Adagio & Apache.
No comments:
Post a Comment