We arrived in junior high the day after Labor Day, 1954. Many of us knew some kids from across town from sports, band, Scouts or church, but now for the first time we were in daily contact with over 100 kids our own age and 300 altogether. The building seemed immense with its three floors and U-shaped layout. We had lockers, PA announcements, electives, gym, home ec, shop, official school sports and cheerleaders, marching band, newspaper, class changes, clubs, a school library and male teachers to get used to. Homework increased significantly and each teacher felt his or her subject was the only thing in the world that mattered. Clothes, music and social status were all of a sudden important. The school week and year revolved around Events : games, dances, field trips, etc. The photo at right is a boys' health class. We had all boys classes in health, gym and shop. The girls were by themselves in health, gym and home ec. We lost many great friends and classmates as we moved to junior high. Dale, Sarah, Phillip, Diane, Ritchie, Sleepy, Donnie, Wayne, and Pat either moved away or transferred to private schools. Bonnie, Kenny and Ann J left us at midyear. They had already been elected to positions, joined extracurricular activities and made good grades. Their losses really diminished our class.

We had lost many valued classmates as we left grade school, but we gained some, too. Pete moved in from McKees Rocks. He would become a role player in football and baseball and our senior year would be the sixth man on the basketball team, with many longtime basketball conneisseurs firmly believing he should have started with his long arms and quick hands. Pete would go on to Michigan State, move back to Kennedy Township and spend a career as an engineer. Janet (shown, right, in eighth grade) moved in from Mooncrest. She would be a key participant in gymnastics, volleyball, basketball, softball, and cheerleading and be an honor student and member of various clubs and activities. She would become a forensic psychologist and an outstanding photographer. Many of the photos on these pages are from her files. DavidH transferred from the Pittsburgh Blind School and gave us all an education into how to overcome adversity. He swam with us at the YMCA, shot baskets with us on the driveway courts, and taught us how to analyze car engines by their sounds.

Some kids just moved across town. DavidT moved from Devonshire down to Ridge Avenue. Bobby moved from Thorn Run to 5th Avenue below the high school. Sharon moved from Vine Street down to 5th Avenue across from the Presby- terian Church.

Our junior high had one of the state's most advanced vocational training programs. Classes were not electives. We spent one semester each year in what we called "mechanical drawing" but today are called drafting classes (Ross, Frank and Tom, at right). Mr. Caledonio taught us about blueprints and plans. We started out fairly simple but by ninth grade were working in three dimensions. Some of us would later use these skills on the job. Others would find them valuable in high school and college physics and engineering and later in science careers.

The YMCA was only two blocks from the junior high and we used it heavily. It had better facilities in every way, but it especially had better dressing rooms and showers. We went to the Y to swim, lift weights, play pool and ping pong, bowl, play tennis, and play basketball during the off season on rainy days. The Y had one bizarre policy which we grew up with and took for granted, but still seemed wierd. It required guys to all swim naked. Signs mounted in the locker rooms claimed this was to prevent disease but the Y pool had more chlorine than Dravo or Windwood and we suspected any germ caught in that water wouldn't last 60 seconds.

In the photo at right, notice the white high top Converse All Star shoes. When we played basketball for the school, they issued us shoes, and they were always Converse high tops. Usually they were black but a few years they were white. Compared to the sophisticated modern basketball shoes, they were pretty primitive. It's a wonder we didn't all limp around with fallen arches or knee injuries.

We continued to sledride during our junior high years. It became more of a social activity, with guys inviting girls to spend an evening or afternoon on the streets or slopes. All three Christmas Vacations of our junior high time were cold and snowy. At left Paul tows his sled back up the hill at Coraopolis Park. The park was offroad and had a nice long run and a long level stretch at the bottom for slowing down, but it had a wicked sharp right turn that sent a lot of sledders off into the woods.

We put on anything we owned that would keep us warm : old newsboy hats, stocking caps, hand me down Navy pea coats, scarves, long underwear. Some of us didn't really have much warm clothing and we were cold a lot, but it didn't keep us from going sledriding. We just kept moving. We must have been a tough bunch, because despite all those hours sledriding without gloves or hats, we still didn't get sick much.

This was our sled of choice if we could afford one or if we got lucky enough to get one for Christmas or a birthday. This is the Flexible Flyer Junior, a fast, quick and durable sled made in Philadelphia. A guy who got one of these in grade school would still have been using it in junior high, but would probably move up to a full length Flexible Flyer in high school. Girls could usually keep their junior model all the way through. Each day before use we would lightly sand the runners with emery paper, then ice them with snowballs or an icecicle. Those are oak slats and steering bar and stainless steel runners and frame. A lot of these sleds are still in use as we have handed them down to our own children and then to their grandchildren. Properly cared for, a Flexible Flyer is practically indestructible. Sixty years after we got ours, this is the only sled still made in North America. Most people in Coraopolis bought theirs at the Coraopolis Hardware, which had the local franchise. They carried a lifetime guarantee and our fathers were careful to place that guarantee in our names. Today, 60 years later, Flexible Flyer still stands behind those guarantees, although they rarely have to. A fad today is to smuggle a Flexible Flyer onto a major ski slope and ride it down some of the trails. The ski patrol is opposed to this practice and will throw sled and owner off the property, but the few rides are fun while they last. The Flexible Flyer usually beats all the skiing competition down the slopes.

Today, Coraopolis no longer block off streets for sledriding, and with the school on top of the hill the park is no longer suitable. But Omlors Hill is still heavily used. Danny doesn't live there year round any more, but Coraopolis kids still hike up there and ride down through the woods. Danny's cousin, who is the year round resident, has instructions to allow sledriding on the hill as long as no vandalism occurs.

One, Two, Three O'Clock Four O'Clock Rock. Five, Six Seven 0'Clock Eight 0'Clock Rock. Nine Ten Leven 0'Clock 12 0'Clock Rock.

We're Gonna Rock Around The Clock Tonight.

We continued to head for the woods on good weather weekends, but in junior high such a trip became a sort of date. Lots of times, after walking a girl home from a Friday night dance, a guy would invite her to come hiking the next day. There was something pretty romantic about a crisp Fall day with the leaves in full color or a Spring day with woods full of wildflowers. The high overlooks were almost always the destinations. Lots of pretty deep conversations occurred sitting up there just looking at the scenery and basking in the sun. Wildcat Rock, for instance, had enough different places along the quarter mile cliff that even if a dozen couples were up there at the same time, they could each find a private ledge.

Junior high was really a pretty hectic place, with classes, clubs, sports and activities, and many of us invested additional time in babysitting, lawnmowing, paper routes or other pre-16 part time jobs. There was precious little time for long drawn out conversations. In addition to the exercise, fresh air and sunshine, these days in the woods were a chance for those conversations.

On the way home, neighborhood stores on Montour or School Streets were convenient places to stop for a soft drink or Klondike. Kids heading back through downtown could even stop at Isaly's for ice cream.

Some girls dropped out of Girl Scouts entering Junior High, but many stayed. With that great lodge in the woods, they had a perfect springboard to explore the hollow and out into Moon Township. By seventh grade, neither the boys nor the girls were much into wearing Scout uniforms, so they just hiked in "civilian" clothes. Long before it was the fad to bring bookbags to school, the girls used them out in the woods. Parents usually insisted the girls go in groups of at least three and often a Dad would go along. Unlike the boys, few girls had a burning desire to earn the highest rank possible, so by seventh or eighth grade they had acquired all the ranks and awards they needed. They could just relax and enjoy the out doors without collecting or studying anything. At the time, we took these days in the woods for granted. Two years ago psychologist Richard Louv published a major research study documenting how valuable such times were. He sees today's kids as suffering from Nature Deficit Disorder which manifests itself in various negative ways. Once again, we were lucky in ways we didn't even know

Once the missiles reached the surface, they would be raised to vertical position, ready for firing. A countdown began. But only being a drill, after a minute, the countdown would be halted and everything would happen in reverse until missiles and rails were back below and once again it looked like a bare parking lot. 12 missiles at a time could be brought to the launching pad, but there were 120 in all. Each "silo" held 10 stacked one below the other. The warheads were stacked separately, to be loaded just before the missile was rolled onto the elevator and sent to the surface. If Russia attacked either with missiles or planes, we could launch these missiles from this and 100 other sites and take the incoming threat out of the sky. These missiles carried nuclear warheads, so one could take out an entire incoming wave. The Coraopolis Nike Base was for defense of the steel mills. Looking back on it, we had to be out of our minds. We could have been arrested, 12 - 14 years old or not. We would have been in trouble, not with local police, but with the U. S. Air Force. And possession of photographs would certainly have violated national defense laws. Once the base closed, such photos were declassified, but we still checked before putting them on here.

Some of the highlights of our junior high days were the field trips we took. Our first big one was the all seventh grade trip to Pitt. We toured the Cathedral of Learning (right), visiting each of the Nationality Rooms with a guide who explained the architecture and decorations, being amazed as the Physics prof on the top floor showed us how the the building would sway 12 inches in high winds, and gazing in awe at the medieval looking first and second floors with their gothic architecture. We stopped at the Heinz Chapel and the WQED studio, where we watched Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood being filmed. After lunch at the Pitt Student Center, we spent the afternoon at the Carnegie Museum. The girls loved the whole floor of Fashions Through History, but the boys preferred Dinosaur Hall, with an array of dinosaur skeletons second only to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.

Other trips would take us to the Buhl Planetarium, Duquesne Incline, Pittsburgh Zoo, Rockwell Steel, Montour Railroad, Coraopolis Record, Duquesne Light, Conway Yard, Dravo Corporation and the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. Dr. Rogers took those of us who were interested on a special Friday night trip to Allegheny Observatory, where we were able to look through the world class telescopes at the planets.

Specific classes would also take trips to local machine shops, Hendel's Photographic Studio (for the darkrooms), the Coraopolis Water Company, and fashion merchandising sites. The boys particularly enjoyed going aboard the tugboat with Mr. Jewart.

Mr. Snell's philosophy was that education cannot be confined to a classroom or a building. He wanted us "out there" in the real world. None of these field trips cost us a dime except for the lunch we were asked to bring.

It was the overnight trips we took that really excited us. Most of those were taken by individual classes, but one we all remember is the Ninth Grade Trip to Eastern Pennsylvania. This was taken in the Spring as part of the year long course in Pennsylvania History. There were 120 of us, and we took two 60 passenger Greyhound Buses. We left at 7:30 a.m. and headed to Uniontown, where we took route 40 to Ligonier and Fort Necessity. The trip was a big deal. We had several meetings and took home handouts on what was needed. We were to bring a larger suitcase to stow under the bus and a small carry on bag to hold a camera, lunch, soft drink, book or magazine.

Notice how these 14 year old girls are dressed. Today, girls would be in t shirts, blue jeans and Ughs. No wonder our grandsons look at old pics, drop their jaws and say, "All the girls were so gorgeous! How come our girls today aren't this attractive?" A lot of work went into this look. Back in 1960, girls considered their appearance a top priority, and it showed.

Fort Necessity was a major battle during the French & Indian War. This 1750s war had begun in Pennsylvania and been fought mostly here and in New York, so our class had spent almost a month studying it. Fort Necessity had been built by Washington and his Virginia Company as headquarters while they built The National Road (now route 40) to connect Virginia to the Ohio Country. The French had attacked this fort and forced him to surrender, although he and his men were allowed to retreat back to Virginia. A year later, General Braddock with Washington as his second in command returned with a much larger force. Braddock was killed but the Virginians won, and would eventually drive the French out of Pennsylvania.

We spent three hours at Fort Necessity and ate lunch at the picnic grounds there. These dangerous looking characters pose on one of the cannons still in place.

One of the big issues on the trip was who would ride which bus. Kids tried to trade back and forth so they could sit with their friends. The adults resisted this. They allowed some trading to go on but not a lot. The same was true with roommates at the hotel. There had been considerable pretrip negotiation about who would room with whom, and once on the way, adults were reluctant to permit much trading back and forth.

Janet (left) and Lucy pause for a photo before reboarding the bus. Who would have thought the lovable looking girl on the right would have spent so much time picking on poor defenseless Nick, Danny and Bill? Notice the white gloves, matching hat and purse, and tailored suit. We might have grown up in a gritty steel town, but our women knew how to dress. No green hair, rings in their noses or tattos for our girls.

Out of our class of 103, 79 went on this field trip. Only four chaperones, two per bus, went. They were Frank Letteri, Joe Jewart, Jean Schultz and Mrs. Holsinger. And the worst issues we had were a few people staying up in their rooms after curfew and one guy throwing a pickle out a bus window.

Dave and Jean strike a pose before one of the statues at Gettysburg.

Check out that fine straw hat of Jeannie's. After East Stroudsburg State College she would become a career flight attendant for United Airlines and move to Seattle, Washington. She flew for 37 years and retired as of New Years Day 2002.

Dave went on to Notre Dame and pursued a business career.

On the morning of the second day we toured the State Capital Building and other important sites in Harrisburg. We ate our box lunches on the bus on the way to Hershey. The first part of the afternoon we toured the Hershey Chocolate Plant. Then we had two hours at Hershey Amusement Park. George lost his wallet in the park and we had to spend time looking for it. We finally found it at the Cuddle Up ride and headed for Gettysburg. We spent the evening touring the battlefields, getting out at a few of the more important monuments.

By the time we got back to Harrisburg and the hotel and ate dinner, most of the students were exhausted and very few bothered with the towel trick the second night.

The third day we drove out into Amish country and saw the horsedrawn buggies and men working the fields with 18th Century equipment. We headed home on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stopped at Midway, famous halfway plaza with Howard Johnson Hot Shoppes. The hotel box lunch on this third day came with fried chicken and a pickle. One of the guys did not like pickles so he wound down his window and threw it out, where it smashed across the windshield of a passing motorist, who got the bus license plate and called state police, who pulled the bus over and hauled the culprit outside for chastising. Several of the girls invented a kissing game for dark turnpike tunnels, but there were also a few loud slaps heard.

Bill surprises Carol with a photo in the dark as we drive home through a ferocious thunderstorm on the turnpike. That's George sound asleep on her shoulder. Notice the string of pearls around her neck. Have fun, embrace new experiences and learn everything possible, but always, always, always remember Elegance, Class and Dignity.

We finally got home a little after midnight and had to unload our suitcases from the under bus compartment in the rain.

This is a powerful picture. It was only a random group of 14 year olds on a three day field trip, but from these nine girls would come the editors of the high school yearbook and newspaper, the national president of the Future Homemakers of America, three star athletes, two cheerleaders, two beauty pageant winners, seven National Honor Society members, and, beyond that, seven college graduates, three teachers, two coaches, a psychologist and a cancer specialist.

Looking back with hindsight, if Harry Houtz and Herbert Snell spent all their time hand crafting a school system grades K-9 to produce mature young people who would contribute in a significant way to their society, they certainly succeeded.

As a former high school and college basketball player and championship coach at the high school, Herbert Snell understood very well the need to develop a strong junior high program, especially since the grade schools lacked their own gyms and could not run comprehensive teams in grades 4-6. Mark Holpfer's junior high program kept 24 boys a year, 12 on the A team, dominated by 9th graders, and 12 on the B team, dominated by 8th graders. To develop 7th graders, Snell hired Joe Jewart, who had played in college, to create and coach a 13 and under AAU team, with its own schedule, practices and budget. Then he worked with the YMCA to create an intramural program with eight teams of seven boys each. So a boy could try out for the junior high team, but if Holpfer cut him, he could try out for the AAU team, which held tryouts after the JH cuts. If the boy did not make the AAU team, he could sign up for the intramural league, which played two games a week. Thus, we had 92 boys playing basketball in a junior high of 300 students, a very high proportion. Boys could polish their skills in the intramural league, move up to the AAU team, and keep trying out for the junior high team. The two junior high teams played two games a week before what crowds could fit into the junior high gym. The AAU team played its games in weekend tournaments in Pittsburgh and outlying areas. A team in the intramural league had two games a week. Where a boy ended up depended heavily on whether he grew early or late, since Holpfer preferred tall bulky players. Those who got their height early, like Ange, left, in a game at Moon, could prosper in Holpfer's system. Those who did not but had skills could prosper in Jewart's AAU program, where, truth is, they got better coaching and played more games. Those who loved the game but were still working on skills had the YMCA League. Snell did not allow any boy to play on both the school and the AAU team. This build a very broad talent base. It meant that at the high school some very good athletes would not make the varsity. Snell also did not allow the Y/AAU team to ever scrimmage the JH team, to avoid rivalry issues within the school.

Three things fascinated us : amusement park rides, remote control vehicles, and robots. We especially loved robots. We somehow sensed that, at 13 or 14, we were on the cutting edge when we were working on robots. They were challenging but they were also frustrating. It's quite likely many of us learned to cuss just so we could vent our rage at something which for the 20th time refused to work like we wanted. There were so many variables : the wiring, gearing, sensors, weight distribution, etc. We were like a doctor trying to diagnose a patient : when something was wrong, the problem could be any one of two dozen causes.

One thing we learned early on was that a real world robot did not look like a human being like they did in Hollywood movies. We loved Robby the Robot in This Island Earth but ours looked like they had been built with a kid's Erector Set on steroids, which, in fact, they had.

It never really occurred to us that we were learning more science at home in our basements than in our science classes at school. Only when we got to college did we realize that all this "play" would pay long term dividends. When we were in seventh and eighth grade, we had to put up with our mothers referring to what we did as "down there messing around in the basement."

Often, we maintained projects over long time periods. We'd build it as well as we could, and when we hit a wall, let it sit for several months. Then we'd come across an idea in a magazine or book which was the breakthrough, and we'd go back to work until the next dead end. We kept tinkering with some of our gadgets on into high school. Some of them still sit in attics and basements as souvenirs of our youth.