From Pages Past

These articles appeared in the Pantagraph:

5/27/1911:  The Bloomington High School Aegis has come out for a first time as a yearbook instead of a small literary periodical.  This first edition has attractive covers of purple and gold.  It is dedicated to school board president Horatio G. Bent.

3/2006:  The National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, OK, will honor four Pantagraph area men with its Lifetime Service Award.  They are Bloomington's Mike Manahan and Bill Marquardt, Normal's Robert Koehler and Lincoln's Floyd Bee.

6/1986:  Rusty and Jeff Wells walked away with the title in the 18-hole Father-Son portion of the Parent-Child Golf Tournament with a 68 at Lakeside Country Club and 73 at the ISU Golf Course for 141.  Phil and Karen Weber won the 18-hole Father-Daughter division.

3/1986:  Because he knew CPR, Bloomington fireman Jeff Carnahan saved a life.  The patient, Deb Curtis, had suffered heart failure after an accident.  Carnahan, off duty but at the right place at the right time, revived her.  Police officer Tom Sanders assisted.

12/26/2012:  Roger Gielow is home from Dallas to spend the holidays.  Roger, a former Bloomington High School swimmer, is now in his second year on the team at Southern Methodist University.

03/14/1965:  Former BHS athlete, Fred Prillaman recently became the 10th varsity athlete in Trinity College (Conn.) history to receive a Blanket Award for earning eight varsity letters.  Prillaman has won three letters in football, two in track and three in swimming. 

12/03/1964:  Fred Prillaman was awarded a gold football for earning 3 varsity letters at Trinity College.

05/31/1963:  Rusty Wells, former Bloomington High School athlete, has been named golf captain at Illinois State Normal University for next season.  The 1964 season will mark the first use of the new university golf course.

11/1962:  Jack Secord and Marty Faggetti of Bloomington are among the six lettermen who will form the nucleus for Northern Illiinois' 20-man swimming squad.  Fagetti is a sprinter and Secord will swim in the breaststroke. 

8/1962:  Rusty Wells, the voluble redhead, shot a 30 on Highland Park's front nine to break the course record.  Wells had six birdies, five coming on putts of eight feet or less.

8/1962:  Rusty Wells, a voluble red-head who spends his summer washing windows and playing golf, tied the Highland Park golf course record with a 63, seven under par.

4/1962:  Bloomington High School Graduates Marty Faggetti and Jack Secord were freshman standouts on the Northern Illinois University swimming team this past season.  Secord also won a junior varsity letter in football last fall.

1/1962:  Two Bloomington High School graduates, Bill Marquardt and Jim Rohler, are members of the Eastern Illinois University wrestling squad this year.

11/1961:  Illinois State named senior halfback Ron Schieber of Danvers as its most valuable football player.  Schieber and Bert Popejoy of Bloomington each averaged better than four yards per carry to lead the Redbirds in rushing.

11/1961:  Southern Illinois wrapped up another IIAC football title after getting a big assist from Western Illinois, which came from behind to defeat Illinois State 12-7 by scoring with 1:49 left to play.  Bert Popejoy ran 52 yards to set up his 5-yard TD run for Illinois State's lone TD.

11/1961:  Bloomington High School graduate Bert Popejoy has been Illinois State's No. 1 left halfback all fall and has performed brilliantly at times, as has Ron Schieber of Danvers, who had not even played football before entering college.

10/1961:  Bloomington's devastating ground game, with fullback Bryan Olofson "runnin' over 'em" and halfbacks Ron Bess, Ron Peterson and Mike Neal "runnin' around 'em" controlled the ball as the Purple Raiders clubbed Decatur, 27-0.

10/1961:  Bloomington rolled to a 38-0 intercity football victory over University High.  Ron Bess, who must be the most outstanding sophomore back in this area, scored Bloomington's first two touchdowns and had another 48-yard scoring run called back because of a penalty.

9/1961:  Normal Community expects to have a record attendance for its opening football game with Bloomington after renting extra bleachers from Illinois State to increase seating capacity to more than 5,000 at Truman Keys Field.

9/1961:  Bert Popejoy, who in July signed a grant in aid at Memphis State, is now a member of the Illinois State football squad.  Great legs, a great heart, there is no limit to the potential of this lad if he gets down to business and brass tacks.

8/1961:  Bloomington High School will get its first foreign exchange student this fall.  Masahide Matsuoka is from Sasaguro, Japan.  He will live with Dr. R.A. Chrisman and family at 1414 E. Grove St.  "Mat" has already studied English for five years.

7/1961:  Bert Popejoy allowed one hit, one walk and one run in a stellar pitching performance as Bloomington's Louis E. Davis Post beat Mattoon 4-1 on opening day of the Fourth Division American Legion Baseball Tournament.

7/1961:  One in five students at BHS quits school before graduation, according to an ISNU graduate student's survey.  Home environment seems to be a greater cause than lack of ability.  The survey covered the school years 1958-1961.

6/1961:  A screaming triple by Bert Popejoy in the sixth inning with the bases loaded broke up a tight baseball game and eventually netted the Intercity High School All-Stars a 6-2 decision over their friends from the Pantagraph Area.

5/1961:  Chicago White Sox pitcher Russ Kemmerer, a Bloomington resident, gave BHS hurler Bert Popejoy lessons on how to throw a slider and Popejoy used the tips to good advantage with a two-hit, 14-strikeout performance and a 6-1 win over Armington for the Bloomington Regional title.

4/1961:  Bert Popejoy, who has already won all-intercity honors in football and basketball since transferring from Lexington to Bloomington High School, made a big hit as a BHS baseball player by clubbing two home runs and a double to drive in eight runs in a 14-2 win over University High.

5/1961:  The Bloomington School Board expelled a BHS student for wearing a Mitzi emblem on her sweater at a school baseball game.  The Mitzis are a secret society, banned by state law.  They were founded during World War I to knit afghans for soldiers.

5/1961:  Bloomington golfers posted a 311, five strokes better than runnerup Decatur MacArthur, to win the Decatur District championship.  MacArthur's Charles Kohr was medalist with a one-under par 70 and Rusty Wells of BHS won a playoff for second place.

4/22/1961:  A 16 year-old BHS student admitted to tossing a lighted cherry bomb into a boys' room toilet bowl.  The explosion shattered the toilet and blew it off the wall.  Police say the boy's parents will pay for the damage.  School officials say he was suspended.

3/1961:  Jack Barton of Normal Community, Bob Spahn of Bloomington and Jim Wochner of Trinity were unanimous choices for the Intercity all-star basketball team.  Bert Popejoy of BHS and Bill Sweeney of Trinity rounded out the first team.

2/1961:  The Merwin Cup is awarded to BHS junior R. Clay Haney for the best short story in this year's competition.  Other young authors winning recognition were Virginia Jo Schneider and Marilyn Epple.  All are members of the BHS Short Story Club.

2/1961:  Bloomington swimmers set five records en route to their third straight Big 12 Conference title at Huff Pool in Champaign.  Fred Prillaman, Roger Gielow, Jack Secord, Tom Chambers and the 200-yard freestyle relay team were the record busters.

2/1961:  Bert Popejoy's free throw with five seconds remaining lifted Bloomington High School to a 57-56 Big 12 Conference victory over Mattoon at the BHS Gymnasium.

2/1961:  Bloomington's Tom Chambers was first in two events as BHS won the first-ever IHSA district swim meet.  Dick Kikendall of Normal Community (133 pounds), Dan Ferguson of Bloomington (138) and Warren Howard of Tremont (145) won sectional wrestling titles.

2/1961:  Bloomington parlayed the rebounding and shooting of Bert Popejoy into a 74-63 victory over Normal Community.  Popejoy, a transfer from Lexington, had 23 points in the first half, finished with 31 and garnered 12 rebounds.

1/1961:  Bloomington remained unbeaten on its home court with a 49-47 upset of Champaign.  Bert Popejoy, whose 13 points were high for BHS, was magnificent under the boards and on defense.

1/1961:  Roger Schultz and Rosie Turpin, bowling without handicaps, won the annual Junior-Adult Doubles Tournament at Savidge Brothers.  Schultz, under age 18, had a 538 series and Turpin 519 for a total of 1,057.

12/1960:  Junior fullback Byran Olofson was named most valuable player for Bloomington High School's football team.  Senior guard Jim Chestney was cited as the lineman showing the most progress.

11/1960:  Amateur actors and directors at BHS are rehearsing for The Matchmaker this coming weekend.  Yvonne Johannes and Amy Snodgrass are the student directors.  Mary Lou Dollins plays the title role.

11/1960:  Bloomington drove 88 yards in the final five minutes to gain a 6-0 football victory over Lincoln and produce the school's finest Big 12 Conference record (4-1) since 1944.  Tom Jackson scored the winning touchdown from the 3-yard line with 50 seconds remaining.

10/1960:  Bloomington displayed an explosive attack in a 20-13 homecoming victory over Danville.  Jack Secord scored the first BHS touchdown on an 82-yard punt return, his second return of over 80 yards this season.

10/1960:  Bert Popejoy's seven-yard touchdown run lifted Bloomington over Urbana, 6-0, in a Big 12 Conference football game.  A 35-yard pass play from Ed Lukes to Mike Evans set up the game's only score.

9/1960:  Bloomington High School's injury-riddled football team received another severe jolt when tackle Fred Prillaman underwent season-ending knee surgery.  The Raiders already had lost end Ken Epple, who suffered a broken collar bone in a 19-0 victory over University High.