WHEN DID EAST CENTRAL OPEN?

I think East Central must have opened in the fall of 1952. It was a new school, and I have a program from the football game when we played them on the SHHS field that fall. As I recall, 2 cheerleaders and 2 football players (I was one of the cheerleaders, the others three students shall remain nameless) went to the new school one night in November 1953 and with permanent green oil-based paint, painted the Sam Houston High School name on their beautiful new exterior. The four of us then went to "Marvin's" to celebrate our ability as artists, and were spotted by "someone". It caused

quite a stir around SHHS and EC, and finally "someone" told Mr. Shafer who the culprits were. For punishment the four of us had to return to the EC campus during school hours and remove the paint with wire brushes. It never did completely come off. The students of EC were let out of class to jeer the four of us with much passion and absolutely no compassion. It was not one of my finer moments, but certainly a memorable one!

When we played East Central a week or so later in the fall of 1953 on their field, the two cheerleader "painters" were presented with a large banner from the EC cheerleaders saying "CHEROKEE PAINTERS". We took that as a sign of forgiveness.

One-half of the banner (the other cheerleader has the other half) still remains in my high school memory scrapbook, a reminder of 1953 style graffiti and what fun I had in high school.

And that is how Margee Wenger'54 Gayle remembers it happening.

Thanks Margee for sharing this with us. OH! OH! You other three can send your contributions to her any time now. Don't wait too long.