By Don Lynch
From the Argus-Observer of Dec. 8, 1952
This community stepped into an advanced class this week in terms of the school facilities it enjoys.
Friday night sport fans watched basketball played for the first time in Ontario’s splendid new gymnasium.
Thursday night we shall see a class play in the new auditorium, which is comparable in size, comfort and appearance to any movie house in the region.
So we have moved from the extreme of inadequate facilities to the best of modern school facilities to be found in a community of this size.
Basketball was a good show even in the old gym and it is a colorful, magnificent performance in the new gymnasium which is as good as any in the region. Wonderfully lighted, well heated and generous in space, it provides the setting for Ontario to enjoy gymnasium recreation as good as any school has. … In a good gym, such as the new one, the crowd can see every detail of play, the cheering section has an opportunity to put on a sparkling performance and the band music lends a stirring atmosphere. The whole thing amounts to an exciting extravaganza produced by our own community and enjoyed by our own community. It’s lots of fun to watch. …
But heavy attendance created one drawback that marred the opening night of play in the new gymnasium. Some 1,400 persons turned out and only 1,200 seats were available.
Some fans evidenced sharp disappointment in their comment as they came in and found they had to stand to see the game. Their remarks indicated taxpayer surprise that a $700,00 high school with an elaborate gym failed to include enough seats for basketball spectators.
Their disappointment is understandable. However school authorities have had a difficult job in attempting to anticipate they need. They planned what they thought would be adequate seating. Construction funds are spent now, and the current budget is too tight to provide several educational facilities more urgently needed than gymnasium seats.
Superintendent Arthur Kiesz said, “I don’t think the Friday night game was any criteria of future crowds.” He surmises that a good many people came because it was the first night of play in the new gym and that crowds at future games will be smaller.
They certainly will be smaller soon if people have to stand. Hundreds of us who like basketball stayed away from the old gym because it was hard to see the play from some of the seats. It seems to me that the present season offers a unique opportunity to acquire a large new crowd of paying customers for basketball, customers who may be lost if there is no place to sit.
The patrons of school dramatics will surely fare better Tuesday night. There certainly are enough seats in the auditorium to accommodate the largest crowd that might attend a school play.
Let’s turn out in good numbers to see “Mother was a Freshman” presented by the senior class. We may find that our school actors have surprising talents when they work on a real stage in a real auditorium with good acoustics.
(Editor’s note: Ontario won that first game in the new gym, 57 to 54, over Vale. The Argus-Observer of Dec. 12, 1952, called play “typical for an early season game” with “clumsy ball handling” and a huge number of fouls – 61. The Tigers squeaked out the win in the final seconds on a free throw by Burke Nicholson and, when he missed the second free throw, a tip-in by Dave Burton.)
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
State Police break up a beer bust, arrest four teen-agers
Editor’s Note: This is a story that is going to have legs, as we say in the news business. Don’t miss next week’s installment.
State police said they broke up a Friday night beer party in a parked car and arrested two of the four juvenile participants at a location two miles south of Ontario when nearby neighbors complained of hearing a woman scream.
The Argus-Observer reported the incident in its Dec. 1, 1952 edition.
Officer William Bones said that investigating the scream he found two boys 16 and 17 and two girls 13 and 16 drinking beer in a parked car.
The boys were from Payette. The girls were from Ontario. They denied being the source of the screams.
The girls were released to their parents Friday night. The boys spend the night in the county jail in Vale before they were released to their parents.
District Attorney Charles Swan said he had yet to file formal charges against the four and before he acted he wanted to check their school records “and truant records if any.”
State police said they broke up a Friday night beer party in a parked car and arrested two of the four juvenile participants at a location two miles south of Ontario when nearby neighbors complained of hearing a woman scream.
The Argus-Observer reported the incident in its Dec. 1, 1952 edition.
Officer William Bones said that investigating the scream he found two boys 16 and 17 and two girls 13 and 16 drinking beer in a parked car.
The boys were from Payette. The girls were from Ontario. They denied being the source of the screams.
The girls were released to their parents Friday night. The boys spend the night in the county jail in Vale before they were released to their parents.
District Attorney Charles Swan said he had yet to file formal charges against the four and before he acted he wanted to check their school records “and truant records if any.”
Monday, December 3, 2007
The Argus Observes --- Remembering Bob Morford
By Don Lynch
From The Argus-Observer, Dec. 11, 1952
Bob Morford turned out to be just as good as we thought he’d be. The College of Idaho athlete has just been named to the backfield of the little all-coast football team. For the third consecutive year he was named to the all-star football team of the Pacific Northwest conference.
I can remember as if it were yesterday the magnificent body of that 15 year old boy when he stretched out on a dressing-room bench for us to rub the charley horses out of his legs. I remember the vigor with which he played. He glorified in rooting dirt on every tackle. He ran with complete abandon. How that kid played football!
He was a sophomore in Roswell high school when I was principal of the little 50-student school, the only year I ever taught in public schools.
We had a lousy football team with a clean record, all defeats. But it wasn’t Bob’s fault.
We knew he was terrific with promise of a great future ahead. We used to speculate on how good he was because we had no standard for comparison. All we knew was that he was the most promising 15-year-old any of us had ever seen.
We sometimes dreamed that some miracle of good fortune would permit him to go to one of the great football-playing universities and that he would become a nationally known player. Now I’m sure that the little group of students and teachers who were Morford fans in those days are abundantly pleased with what he did accomplish.
He’s a great football player. Any little all-coast back is just a shade removed from All-American caliber. At the right school, running behind the right interference, with the right coaching he might have made the Big Eleven.
Morford merited his honors. The coach of San Francisco State labeled him the best small college player he had seen this year.
Old high school friends of Bob’s know that the way hasn’t been easy.
It has been difficult for him to stay in school because he came from a farm home in modest circumstances. Even in high school days he had to work too many days that he should have been in school. Studies were hard as a result and he got discouraged. It took considerable persuasion to keep him in school.
Of course, it must have become more difficult to keep attending classes as the years moved along. After high school he married and assumed family responsibilities. That he was able to stay in college at all is a tribute to his perseverance.
For these reasons I count Bob Morford high on the list of successful men I have known. It takes real ability and character for any man to earn such athletic honors. For Bob it must have been doubly hard.
He had unique qualities of perseverance as a lad. I had him in one class. As a student he was methodical rather than bright. If limited in time he would drop below average on a test. But when given a long time, often twice as long as some other students, he consistently came up with good grades. He had a peculiar knack of being able to recall much detailed information after prolonged concentration. I’ll bet today he remembers the material in that course better than I do.
Success comes early in life to outstanding athletes. Then they often are lost in the shuffle during the difficult adjustment to normal occupations of life. Bob may get lost for a time, but I feel confident that the sturdy qualities of character which carried him to the top on the gridiron will stand him in good stead in other walks of life.
Editor’s Note: Morford was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in 1953 but does not appear in any later years on football records available on the Internet. If anyone remembers what became of him, we’d like to pass that information along.
From The Argus-Observer, Dec. 11, 1952
Bob Morford turned out to be just as good as we thought he’d be. The College of Idaho athlete has just been named to the backfield of the little all-coast football team. For the third consecutive year he was named to the all-star football team of the Pacific Northwest conference.
I can remember as if it were yesterday the magnificent body of that 15 year old boy when he stretched out on a dressing-room bench for us to rub the charley horses out of his legs. I remember the vigor with which he played. He glorified in rooting dirt on every tackle. He ran with complete abandon. How that kid played football!
He was a sophomore in Roswell high school when I was principal of the little 50-student school, the only year I ever taught in public schools.
We had a lousy football team with a clean record, all defeats. But it wasn’t Bob’s fault.
We knew he was terrific with promise of a great future ahead. We used to speculate on how good he was because we had no standard for comparison. All we knew was that he was the most promising 15-year-old any of us had ever seen.
We sometimes dreamed that some miracle of good fortune would permit him to go to one of the great football-playing universities and that he would become a nationally known player. Now I’m sure that the little group of students and teachers who were Morford fans in those days are abundantly pleased with what he did accomplish.
He’s a great football player. Any little all-coast back is just a shade removed from All-American caliber. At the right school, running behind the right interference, with the right coaching he might have made the Big Eleven.
Morford merited his honors. The coach of San Francisco State labeled him the best small college player he had seen this year.
Old high school friends of Bob’s know that the way hasn’t been easy.
It has been difficult for him to stay in school because he came from a farm home in modest circumstances. Even in high school days he had to work too many days that he should have been in school. Studies were hard as a result and he got discouraged. It took considerable persuasion to keep him in school.
Of course, it must have become more difficult to keep attending classes as the years moved along. After high school he married and assumed family responsibilities. That he was able to stay in college at all is a tribute to his perseverance.
For these reasons I count Bob Morford high on the list of successful men I have known. It takes real ability and character for any man to earn such athletic honors. For Bob it must have been doubly hard.
He had unique qualities of perseverance as a lad. I had him in one class. As a student he was methodical rather than bright. If limited in time he would drop below average on a test. But when given a long time, often twice as long as some other students, he consistently came up with good grades. He had a peculiar knack of being able to recall much detailed information after prolonged concentration. I’ll bet today he remembers the material in that course better than I do.
Success comes early in life to outstanding athletes. Then they often are lost in the shuffle during the difficult adjustment to normal occupations of life. Bob may get lost for a time, but I feel confident that the sturdy qualities of character which carried him to the top on the gridiron will stand him in good stead in other walks of life.
Editor’s Note: Morford was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in 1953 but does not appear in any later years on football records available on the Internet. If anyone remembers what became of him, we’d like to pass that information along.
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