SAM HOUSTON RANGER FROM THE 50'S

Friends,

I received this e-mail last night and thought you would like to read it. I was really amazed at how many 70's teachers had been around in the late 50's. Leave your comments or questions if you have any. Ben, I'm sure would be happy to respond. Jake

I stumbled upon your site for people who attended or worked at Sam Houston Junior High from 1970-79. The mere discovery of the site almost sent me into convulsions because I realized that in three short months (March 2008), it will be 50 years since I enrolled in Sam Houston.
We arrived in Amarillo from Arkansas on March 1, 1958. I was in the second semester of the seventh grade. We got to Amarillo on a Saturday. I remember a snowstorm either Saturday night or Sunday morning, and by Monday I was ill with a flu-like virus. It was not until the end of that week, or the next Monday that I enrolled.
I must say that I feel really old when I consider that most, if not all, of the students who attended Sam Houston from 1970-79 were not even born when I enrolled there in 1958. UGH!!!!
Some of the teachers I remember are: J.E. Ferguson, the principal, and J.P. Dial, the assistant principal. A year or two later, Mr. Ferguson went to one of the high schools, and Mr. Dial was named principal. The new assistant principal was a Mr. Douglas, who, I believe, also taught math.
The art teacher was Mr. Clements. There were two shop teachers -- Mr. Thompson and Mr. Latham. For "gym class" we had Coach Busteed and Coach Joy. I think Coach Teal was the Ranger football coach. It seems that Coach Busteed and Coach Joy also taught history and/or health, and that Coach Teal taught health and, I want to say either math or science. After his retirement, Coach Teal and his wife had the franchise for the Orange Julius stand in Western Plaza.
I remember Mrs. McNew, but I can't remember what she taught. I want to say it was seventh-grade English. There was Mrs. Hamm who taught English, and my favorite English teacher in ninth grade, Mrs. Beryl Eads. There was Mr. Craddock who taught Latin, Mr. Johnson who taught speech, and Mr. Harris who taught ninth-grade science. Oh, and Ed Wilmeth, who taught math.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that I was neither a model student, nor an upstanding citizen during my time at Sam Houston. Coach Joy, Mr. Latham, Mr. Dial, Mr. Clements and probably one or two more laid the "board of education" to my bottom more times than I can remember.
Did I learn anything from those swats? Consider this incident from Coach Joy's eighth-grade physical education class in the Spring of 1959.
Each class was to start with us running two laps around the football field. If Coach was a bit late getting outside, we were to start the laps. On this particular day, he was late and we were goofing off. He made us run two extra laps. Now, I was a little skinny kid and not in real good physical shape in terms of conditioning. At the conclusion of the fourth lap, I dropped to the ground, panting, and muttered a single word: "Damn!"
Coach Joy heard that. He walked over to me, reached down, pulled me up by an ear (I think it was my left ear), and said, "Get to the gym and into my office now." I walked toward the gym, and he walked about 10 paces behind me. I turned once to look at him, he pointed toward the gym and said, "Now!"
When we got to his office, he took a paddle off a shelf, told me to turn around, put my hands on the desk and lean forward.
"What's this for?" I asked. "What did I do?"
"You cursed," Coach Joy said.
I protested. I named at least half a dozen guys and told Coach they were always saying worse things than what I had said.
"There's a difference," Coach said.
"What's the difference?" I asked.
"You," said Coach Meade K. Joy, "know better."
And he gave me three very hard swats.
Well, anyway, it was nice to stumble accross your site. Brought back some memories.
Oh, yes, and some off-campus memories, too. In those days we could, from seventh grade on, leave campus for lunch. At Sam Houston, we had three very good choices for lunch if we didn't want to eat in the cafeteria. Half-block to the east, facing Line Avenue, was The Tumbleweed. We could get hotdogs and Cokes and candy and ice cream.
I don't recall the name of the street that runs north-to-south along the east side of the Sam Houston campus, but on that street, up at Sixth, were two drive-in hamburger places. Stanley's (the original one, I think) was on the west side, and Smitty's was on the east side. At both places, we could get one of those Soft-Serve ice cream cones for 10 cents. Smitty's had bigger cones, but both were about three times the size of those dinky things you get for a dollar in McDonald's today.
Thanks for letting me ramble. Now I'm getting all choked up -- not sure if it's because of the nostalgia, or if it's because IT'S BEEN FIFTY -- F-I-F-T-Y -- YEARS!
Ben Keck
Van Buren, Arkansas
e-mail: benjaminrodney@cox.net