Kelly High School 1965

In the last 16 years, I have had a lot of time to reflect on what might or could of have been. What ifs, ands, and buts were made for folks just like me who have a lot of free time on their hands. It is hard for me to believe that I have been retired for more than 15 years (since January 31, 2004). I have lived a fulfilling life of 71 years and have no major complaints. At this stage of my life, the old memories are so precious and reminiscing is one of my favorite pastimes. I have not been back to Kelly High School (KHS) in over 50 years. I am certain that many things have changed, but I suspect that the old school spirit and enthusiasm have not diminished. Although I have attended class reunions in 1976, 2001, and 2015, I still have a longing to visit the old school building and gym itself (Is it still there?).

February of 1964 was a very trying time for me. I had just learned that I would be unable to complete my senior year at Charleston High School (CHS) as it was no longer an option for Bertrand kids (school board referendum issue). Thankfully, that initial fretting was short-lived and for naught!  My senior year at Kelly High School exceeded my expectations and could not have been much better. I am going to share a few random tidbits from one of the best years of my life that may be interesting to some of my KHS facebook friends. One will note that I had some very dear friends that went out of their way to take care of me while at Kelly High. Sadly, some of them are no longer with us.

With no CHS basketball game on my schedule that Friday night and having concluded that I was going to attend Kelly High School later that fall, I elected to attend a KHS basketball game in February of 1964 at St. Henry’s High School in Charleston. At that game, I ran into some old acquaintances from my elementary school (years 1-6) at Diehlstadt, including Ronnie Wyatt, Forrest Guiling, Johnny Merrick (all to be future teammates), and others. Immediately, I was greatly impressed by the enthusiasm of the student body and, particularly, the cheerleading squad. Oh! Those cheerleaders!  Not only were they a very poised and polished squad, this red-blooded 16 year-old guy noticed that they were all lovely young ladies. Mary, Janie, Elaine, Diana, Jeannie, Pam, and Linda were great (Actually, these girls comprised the 64-65 squad so not all of the aforementioned ladies would have been on the floor that night in February of 1964).

Ronnie Wyatt: I can remember telling my old friend, Ronnie, how cute all the cheerleaders were and that one, in particular, had caught my fancy. He informed me that that young lady may be “available”. I asked him what her name was. He replied with her name and, “let me introduce you to her”. Being the terribly shy fellow that I was at that time, I said “no thanks, no, please don’t, not now”! He responded with something to the effect that he would definitely make sure we were properly introduced when I got to Kelly in the fall. Not making too much of it, I just said “whatever”. To make a long story “short”, on the first day of school Ronnie says to me something like, “have you introduced yourself to that special

cheerleader yet”? Then, he winked. Not knowing for certain what he was alluding to, I shrugged it off with a “huh”? Later that morning, we received our locker assignments. Charlie Naile and I were assigned to share locker number 207. Who was assigned to locker 206? You guessed it. It was none other than ‘that’ cheerleader. That is still a mystery to me. Did Ronnie have that much clout or was it a sheer coincidence? Up to that time, I did not believe in sheer coincidences. Martha (Wyatt) Whitaker, can you shed any light on Ronnie’s connections? As an aside, I think I may have finally had a conversation with that young lady a month or so after that day. (OK, I was, and still am, extremely shy and was very deliberate!) Ronnie Wyatt was a special friend that just wanted to ensure that his old friend was comfortable at his new school and was well aware that his friend needed all the help he could get. R.I.P., Ronnie.

Johnny Merrick: I had known John for many years and a few things that I knew about Johnny Merrick included that he was a very good athlete, very quiet (lol), and a very popular guy! He sure liked to tease me and watch me blush. On my first day at Kelly High, we were in the commons area. In front of God and everyone else in earshot, he blurts out in a loud voice, “Elaine, this is Glen and I think he would like to go out with you!” Wow! I wanted to magically disappear. This shy guy’s face got hot and turned several shades of red. I cannot remember what my response was, if any. I do know that I was extremely embarrassed by this unexpected formal introduction. As I said earlier, John was quiet – I lied! 

Johnny thought that his prank, at my expense, was the funniest joke in the whole world. Obviously, I did not share in his delight. I never was able to get even with my good – but after this episode, former friend (lol). Seriously, he was a great, fun-loving and very popular guy who “just wanted to help a very shy friend out”.  I must say that Elaine (I will not divulge her last name) was a good sport. John and I experienced many victories on numerous baseball and basketball teams from 1960-1967. R.I.P., Johnny! You were one of the ”good” guys!

Tom “Passer” Nebel: In late summer of 1964, my late friend, Forrest Guiling, invited me to “open gym” at the high school. We divided into teams of shirts and skins. After a while, I concluded that one of the guys on my team either did not like me or was just testing my mettle. Who is this guy? Twice during our competition, he bloodied my nose with no-look bullet passes. 

As I had previously never played with one who had such great peripheral vision, his hard precision passes caught me by surprise. As I later learned, Tom Nebel was a gifted passer and I would need to stay alert and develop better hands if I were going to play with him. Over the course of the 64 – 65 basketball season, he and I developed great rapport on the court. I was now able to anticipate and catch his hard, no-look passes. We also bonded and became very good friends. Ever since I told my wife about this episode, she has called Tommy – “passer”. I recall at our 50^th reunion her asking me if that was “passer” that I had just introduced to her.

Academics: I generally took academics very seriously (even more seriously in college after returning home from Vietnam.) At Kelly High, I realized that I needed to take a couple of electives to graduate. Thus, I chose art and drafting (anything to avoid taking speech). I knew that I would not do well in either of these courses. My other three courses were physics, trigonometry, and government. Well, I made A’s in Ben Adams’ physics class, Paul Guard’s trigonometry class, and Wallace Alden’s government class. Unfortunately, I made the only two C’s of my 4-year high school career in art and drafting. I am certain that Mrs. Wendt snickered under her breath every time that I turned in an art project as my artwork was of first grade or possibly second grade quality. To her credit, she never actually laughed out loud! Drafting, on the other hand, was just something that I just could not master or like. Whatever it was, I simply had a mental block. Although Mr. Ohr was a very nice guy and a good teacher, the light never came on! I don’t think that I would have ever got through his class without the assistance of Mike Duke, Charlie Naile, and Ben Groves.

Wallace Alden: I have never connected with a teacher like I did with Mr. Alden. Not only was he my government teacher, he was our third hour study hall monitor. Mike Duke, Charlie Naile, and I really gave him a hard 

time. And he loved it. We ribbed him continually about his Boston accent. We also exhibited other immature behaviors just to irritate him.  (I guess I am admitting that I was not always an angel!) He actually tried to recruit me for basketball and baseball to his alma mater at Arkansas Southern in Magnolia, Arkansas. I really liked and respected that man. I was so troubled to hear about his unfortunate death.

The 1964-65 Basketball Team: Ten guys bought-in to Coach Bob Barker’s basketball system. Of course, being the new guy on the block, I was very nervous at the start of practice in October of ‘64. After a few practices, I knew I that I would fit in and could make a contribution. We melded together as a team and became quite successful – ranking in the top 10 teams in the area. We were the Conference champions and won 19 or 20 games. That team consisted of Tom Nebel, Tommy Simmons, John Merrick, Ronnie Wyatt, Ronnie Dodson, Omer Clark, Lowell Bryant, Forrest Guiling, Paul Thomas, and me. It is sad that Coach Bob Barker, Tommy Simmons, John Merrick. Ronnie Wyatt, and Forrest Guiling are all now deceased. R.I.P, guys!

The 1964-65 Cheerleading Squad: I would put those seven ladies against any squad at any level that I have watched over the years. I know that I am biased, but they were great. They also had the best pep squad to work with. Kelly High School games were loud and boisterous and the gym was always full and rocking. Mary Nebel, Janie Caldwell, Elaine Graff,  Diana Boston, Jeannie Lynn, Pam Lambert, and Linda Collier were great (Ladies, I apologize for using your maiden names)!  R.I.P,  Mary and Jeannie!

The Overall Student Body: I could not have received any better acceptance or more support than what I got with the student body of Kelly High. I made many friends and hopefully no enemies while there. The sports programs, the administration, the teachers, and the facilities were all top notch. The homecoming, prom, and senior party are all memories that I will always cherish.  It was a very memorable senior year.