I sat at a table the other night of people relatively close in age to me. They asked what Marshell and I had been up to lately and I mentioned I had been writing a blog. When I told them that it was about how lucky I felt we were to grow up in the era we did they all agreed. Not only growing up as a baby boomer was lucky but attending Muskogee Central High added to that experience.
When you are in high school there is the normal tendency to know that your school is the best one in the country. School pride or school spirit is normal especially when your high school is the only white high school in town. Muskogee, at that time, was the third largest city in the state behind Oklahoma City and Tulsa with a population of 35,000 residents. My class, the Class of 64, with 500 students was the first year of the baby boom. All three classes, sophomores, juniors and seniors added up to 1800 students. It has taken many years of being involved in a lot of schools all across the country to realize how lucky I was and that Central back then could have surpassed the vast majority of schools today.
Under the guidance of Mr. B.L.Wertz, who became the principal in 1947, an unbelievable amount of classes and activities were added along with almost a total replacement of everything from desks to lights to band uniforms to specialty classrooms. The school paper, The SCOUT, was the top ranked student paper in the state and the only one in the state to be totally done by the students. The staff wrote the articles, the editorials and did the set-up. The print shop students took, developed and printed the pictures along with printing the paper every Friday which sold for five cents.
In Mr. Wertz's sixteen year stay at Central he added driving, drama, speech, radio speech class, advanced homemaking, future teacher's,
radio-electricity, economics, college English for seniors, 3rd year french, swimming, golf, tennis, 2nd year chemistry, 2nd year biology, German, calculus, 4th year Spanish, girl's baseball and journalism. In addition to classes he also added memberships in the Oklahoma Honor Society, Future Homemakers of America, Future Farmers of America, National Forensic League, Little Hollywood Drama Club, Ham Radio Club, Health and Careers Club, Hi-Y, Tri-Hi-Y, Youth for Christ, Chess Club, Library Club and three more girl's Literary Clubs. He set up a diversified educational program where students could take a half day of school and work a half day downtown, there were college and careers days so students could explore future options and let the student council take over monitoring the cafeteria so the teachers did not have to do it. I think a lot of my classmates never realized the amount of effort Mr. Wertz put into giving us everything we needed to become successful, well rounded people. Lucky us.
Naturally he could not do this alone but was supported by a tremendous staff of teachers. Everyone likes to tease or complain about their teachers. Interesting that the teaching staff of eighty was pretty well split between men and women. I do remember that every teacher I had was more than willing to spend time before or after school to help anyone lagging behind. My poor math teacher got to see me in the eleventh grade every morning before classes started. There was something about the new SMSG math I never understood until college. Better late than never.
Hopefully everyone has a teacher who made a real difference in their life. I have actually had three. One was a physics professor in a small community college in New Jersey many years after high school and one was an ice skating show director, set and costume designer and most talented person. The third was the speech teacher at Muskogee Central High School, Jack Gregory.
 |
| Jack Gregory |
I think I was in every play in grade school. My very first part in the second grade was to be a hollyhock in a play. The thrill of standing on the stage looking like a flower set the pattern for a lifetime of "Where do I audition next?". My brother, Kenny, and I used to do the Little Rascal's thing and put on plays in the garage for the neighborhood kids. So it was speech class in junior high and more speech class in senior high. I loved the plays but tried my hand at debate, humorous and dramatic readings, radio speech and extemporaneous speaking.
Of course speech class was an elective and there were those students who signed up for it only to learn that it wasn't an easy A. Mr. Gregory had a unique ability to bring out the best in people and to show them they could do something they thought they couldn't. He had a way of making you want to be the best, never by yelling or putting people down. In the days when teachers wore coats and ties, I remember Jack (he was known as Jack among the students - always Mr. Gregory in class) in slacks and a dress shirt, collar open and sleeves rolled up. There was usually a smile and I only saw him mad once in three years. It is funny that after all these years that I can still remember how he moved his hands when he talked and brush his hair to the side with his hand. Maybe I listened more in his class than any other because I wanted to learn.
Now, just because he was a good teacher doesn't mean that any of the usual ornery stuff didn't happen. You have to remember that Speech class attracted those less than dedicated students plus no one loved to laugh more than Jack Gregory. We worked hard but also had fun. I can't remember anything my class did as far as funny stuff goes so I asked a classmate. Here's the story and if it isn't true you can blame Drew Edmondson.
 |
| The Great Debaters |
Jack Gregory and Clu Gulager were classmates at Central. If you don't know who Clu Gulager is - Google him - he was a Muskogee grad who went on the be in several TV Series, The Tall Man and The Virginian plus The Last Picture Show. Anyway he came to Muskogee for a visit and showed up in Jack's 5th hour class dressed in all his western garb. Mr. Wertz started to give an announcement over the intercom and Clu pulled out his six-shooter and shot the speaker box. It was a blank of course but he was close enough to make a hole in it. Drew said they were all impressed and I can see and hear Jack's laughter.
Every November the Speech Department had a huge tournament in Muskogee called the Little Nationals. The year I was a senior twenty-four schools from Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri came for the sixteenth annual event. It was a big three day event that took lots of work to pull together. The Muskogee students were not eligible to win but it was good practise for future events we travelled to. I don't think there were too many years that Jack Gregory did not have students eligible to go to the Nationals in Washington, D.C. and not come home with trophies.
I have always said that I am basically a shy person around people I don't know but Jack Gregory gave me the ability to stand up anywhere, anytime and rattle off a speech, introduce someone or narrate a show. We all worked hard at being our best for him out of respect that he would work for and provide us with so many opportunities. There was one thing he wanted to do that had never been done at Muskogee Central High School. Somehow he looked at this class of ornery people and decided he would try with us. You have to tune in later for that fantastic project.
No comments:
Post a Comment