2 December 2009
I will try to remember “the good old days” at Jesuit. I am afraid that my reputation was not as shining as most of my colleagues. I will try to keep my memoirs as “printable” as I can.
The first thing I must tell you is that in the first year Jesuit started the parents of most of the boys thought that Jesuit could straighten their sons out. So Jesuit had an enrollment of many “bad boys”. I am afraid that I fell in this category.
We had “Penance Hall” which is my first memory. Case in point…One afternoon I had Penance hall and the good Father had written a long division on the board consisting of about 20 numbers divided by about 30 numbers. I asked the Father why we were not doing something useful. He said, “Herndon, that’s a very good idea.” He asked us to follow him. We all thought nothing could be worse than working the long division. I was a Hero for about 10 minutes until we reached the tool shed. We each got a lawn mower; not a power mower but a push type. We were instructed to cut the school grounds. I was no longer a hero.
The student body had to wear ties. We did but we wore the same ties all year long. We used then for handkerchiefs, to clean our pens, and anything else we could think of.
Another fond memory. There was a Brother by the name of Mr. Burgan, a great guy. He had a reputation for throwing an eraser or chalk 50 feet and hitting you up the side of your head. He never missed.
We had a great football team. We could never find anyone to play. We were not in a conference, so we would play anyone. Our coach was Mr. Maher. A great guy. His father owned the Ford dealership. I tell my children that I played football in the Cotton Bowl, which is true as Jesuit had no other place to play.
I left Jesuit my senior year and joined the Navy. I flunked math and Father Mulhern could not see it in his heart to give me a diploma, but I still love Jesuit and I have lots of fond memories of the old days.
I thank you for this brief stroll down memory lane.
[Retyped from a letter sent to Sheryl Row]
