A Continuation of Items On Our Emmet Belknap Junior High Page
They were good sports. When a student at Emmet Belknap Junior High asked them to pose for a picture, a fair number of faculty obliged. Peter Buckholtz dug this one out of his family's scrapbook. How many of these teachers can you recognize? Are any out there in Cyber Land? We have been able to place identification names on just a few (shown below). Can you help us identify a few more? We're especially interested in who that good-looker in the middle is who Principal Arnie Austin has his arm around!
The man to to the right of the tall guy sure looks like Dick Shea the math teacher without his dark rim glasses. I went to Belknap twice. Once for elementary before Roy B Kelley opened and then from '63 to '66 . Is the tall guy Mr Crosslet?? Who was high school basketball coach and assistant track coach at LSHS ? I remember Mrs Burns and Mr Nerbas, Mr. Volbreck Mr Nowak and also Ms Burke and Ms White Mr. Incardone and Mr. Beck
Bruce Patterson Belknap class of 66 LSHS class of 69
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I believe that the man to the right of the tall guy is Jack
Saxton. To left of "tall guy(Crossett?) might be Dick Milano
Between Martin and "younger lady" next to Austin might be Fern Blackburn
and Gertrude Sullivan
---Dick McIntyre
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In the Spring of 1960 I was looking forward to finishing the seventh grade
at Belknap, having started there in the third grade. In your picture, thedark haired
fellow squinting in the back row to Mr. Austin's right (i.e.just to the left of the
tallest man) was the 9th grade math teacher andboy's basketball coach. I think his
name was Jackson, but I can't be sure.I remember him as a person of quiet strength, in
personality, speech and physique.
When I was a member of his class, we were once given an assignment of preparing a
presentation to the class on how some aspect of our daily lives used mathematics on a
regular basis. Just as so many young males of that time (and since), I had a keen
interest in hot rods, drag racing, and anything else that exhibited raw power and speed.
My presentation, therefore, consisted of a hand-drawn diagram of a V-8 engine
with explanations of air-fuel mixtures, compression ratios, cylinder displacement, etc.
I must have impressed him, because he gave me an A for the project. I think
it was the only one I got from him.
During the 1961-62 school year, being much more a sports enthusiast than a participant, I
was thrilled to be selected to the position of manager for the Belknap basketball team.
The real athletes included the likes of Chip Case, Butch Cheatham, Dick
Brown, Gene O'Byrne and (I think) Mike Brown. The team went undefeated that year and
everyone was looking forward to when they would meld with the best from North Park and
form the best team that LSHS had ever seen.
Other faculty members I recall from that era were Ms. Hazen, the art teacher, Mr. Alden
Bowser, who taught Social Studies, Miss Ethel White, the librarian, and the tall woman
with a somewhat regal bearing who taught Latin, Ms. Burke.
Strange as it seems, I still have an occasional dream that includes the hallways and
classrooms of Emmett Belknap. I've thought once or twice about just driving up and
asking if I could walk around for a few minutes, but never took the opportunity. I'm
sure everything would seem much smaller than I remember it.
Doug Wells
Richmond, VA
dwells@pen.k12.va.us
3-2-00
Your inclusion of this famous Lockport landmark reminded me of an incident when I attended EB. It happened a year or so after the building had been expanded from a grade school to a grade & junior high. I was in 4th or 5th grade.
We came in the entrance on the right hand side of the building as you faced it. We always gathered by the door & waited for a janitor who let us in about 15 minutes before school started. While we waited, I started to climb up the corner using the indentations at the corner stones as my ladder, I was about half way up when someone noticed & everyone started to cheer me on.
When I reached the first reveal strip. a block which projected out a bit I had some difficulty getting past it, but no big deal. When I reached the top, there was a ledger block which stuck out a bit further & the outer edge was routed in a concave shape. It was very hard to get a firm grip. Compounding the problem was the fact it stuck out so far I had to give up my foot perch on the joints between the corner blocks. I knew once I gave this up I would not be able to regain this footing & I had no idea whether I could reach across the top block to the other edge to pull myself up over the top. I wanted to climb back down, I was scared, but there were all the kids below, cheering, I was even more afraid as being branded a chicken, so I let go, pulled myself up with one hand & reached across with the other, knowing if my arms weren't long enough all I could do was hang on the edge until I weakened, lost my grip & fell. I think its about 2 1/2 stories.
Fortunately, I just made it, pulled myself over the parapet, ran to the
tower & then learned doors from roofs always open inward to avoid people being trapped
on roofs, ran down the stairs & let all the other kids into the school. When the
janitor came & asked us how we got in, everyone claimed the door was open.
To give you an idea how long ago that was: there were pollywog ponds behind EB, & I
'll be 71 in April. As I recall Bud Dobbins, Monroe Ramage, Bob Costello, Matt Marvin,
Louis Batiste (the only black member of our class) and many others I cannot remember were
there. Would love to hear from them or there descendants.
Yale Shea
YaleRShea@aol.com
2-22-00
Our first contribution for the Emmet Belknap Page comes from alumnus, Peter Buckholtz. Although never on the editorial staff of the Belknap Beacon, Peter still went on to make The Big Time. Today he is a Lockport Pager, and Curator of our Lockport Cyber Museum of Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils.
Here is a picture of a little tradition that went on the last day of
school at Emmet Belknap. If I remember correctly, the 9th grade students were the
ones around the middle out there and were saluted by the under classes as they left school
for the last time to go on to High School. Perhaps our readers can tell us when this
little tradition passed into history. ---Peter Buckholtz