The Early 1960s

1959-1960 School Year

• During the first 6 weeks of 59/60 students were forced to attend double session at Rialto Jr. High School while the workmen put the finishing touches on EHS. Eisenhower High School finally opened on November 2, 1959.

• Eisenhower High School also was Eisenhower Jr. High
• Enrollment was only 714. Senior class 114 students, Junior class 278, Sophomore class 322.
• Football took 2nd place in CIF Small Schools the very first year!

• Football's award banquet was "the biggest event of its kind in San Bernardino County history" according to the yearbook. Les Richter of the LA Rams was a guest speaker at the banquet.

• October 24th was the first homecoming, but as it was the first year, the event was named the Football Festival. Shirley Roessler was the first Football Queen

• The first mascots

• Valerie Perrault was the first Basketball Queen
• Basketball didn't have a gymnasium, had to travel for practices and games, started the season without many of the top players as they were involved in football playoffs, no seniors, and still managed to qualify for CIF
• Baseball also had to travel by bus every day for practice and games
• First clubs on campus were:
  • Key Club - an international boy's social service organization sponsored by the Kiwanis (1st official club on campus)
  • Azurettes - girl's social group
  • Sen-tetts - girl's on-campus club
  • Sobobans - an honorary club in which the girls must have at least a B average and a commendable citizenship record
  • Diplomats - Junior Optimist Club whose main objective is service
  • Modern Dance
  • Sitzmarks - ski club
  • Speech
  • Drama
  • Figureheads - math club
  • Foreign Correspondents - promote better understanding between the people of the United States and other nations
  • G.A.A. (Girls' Athletic Association) - girls sports
  • Spanish Club
  • Band
  • A Cappella Choir
• The Eagles Eye newspaper was published for the first time on the second day of school
• First Graduating Class at Ike - 1960

• Alma Mater written by Rev. Keith and Edith Whitford

  Where desert sand and mountains
  Meet beneath the western sky,
  'Tis there my heart forever
  Yearns for Eisenhower High.
  Our dear old Alma Mater,
  We owe our best to thee,
  'Tis here we spent our cherished years,
  We pledge our loyalty.

• Overhead view of the Eisenhower campus

1960-1961 School Year

• Administration in 1961- Mr. Schumaker, Mr. Ryan, Mrs. Dollahan

• Basketball qualified for the CIF playoffs for the 2nd year in a row

• Clubs added in the second year:
  • Ambassadors
  • Better Business Corporations
  • Girls' League
  • Rally Committee - responsible for all social activities
  • Lettermen - for boys who have earned a varsity letter in sports
• Student Council visited with former president Dwight Eisenhower at the Santa Fe station in San Bernardino
• Girls enrolled in a secretarial elective. They were assigned a member of the faculty. They took dictation, typed letters, and ran stencils.

• Bonnie Mosher, Football Homecoming Queen
• June Reynolds, Basketball Homecoming Queen
• A copper eagle sign was made under the supervision of Mr. Thompson. Students involved were Bil Gregory, Gordon Mosher, and Ron Sentipal

1961-1962 School Year

• Teachers in the faculty lounge

• Graduating class the first to complete their entire three years at Eisenhower
• Art production class constructed projects for:
  • place mats for Booster Club banquet
  • props for the Christmas program
  • music and drama props
  • Commencement staging
• First year in the TCL (Tri-County League)
• First year for Cross Country
• Gene Carson placed second in CIF semi-finals of Cross Country
• January 22, 1962 - groundbreaking for Ike gymnasium. Next year all ball games will be held there. The gym will have a visiting team dressing room. It will be open to the gym classes. Next year's prom will be held in the gym which will eliminate the problem of having to close down the cafeterium a few days before prom. Coach Dowd posed in the gym during construction.

• Ellen Hill, Football Homecoming Queen
• Ulla Rundlof, foreign exchange student from Sweden, was also the Basketball Homecoming Queen

1962-1963 School Year

• Band received a superior rating 3 years in a row in the District Music Festival
• Band rated superior for 2 years in the State Music Festival
• Over the summer, the D wing was added
• Gymnasium dedicated January 24, 1963, capacity 2,200, cost $456,000

• First year for Wrestling
• Anita Ware took 5th out of 22,477 entries in the national Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She received a $3,000 scholarship. The contest requirements included a two-hour written examination in science, a five-page report, and a high school transcript. The 40 finalists went to Washington, D.C. where they were interviewed by four judges. Because of this EHS was titled an Honor School. During Anita's trip Washington D.C. she was able to meet President Kennedy.
  {Anita Ware was the first person from EHS to win one of five annually given Westinghouse science awards. She won it by proving that sound could be used to imprint psychologically patterns of motherhood behavior on new born ducks. It was the first sound imprinting proven. Anita was the valedictorian in the class of 1963 and delivered her speech on the "Google"... 10 to the millionth power.} The addition to the information about Anita Ware was provided by Mike Short-Class of 1963.
• Anita Ware also took second place at the National Science Fair-International at Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Vicki Hessel wins first in the Scholastic Writing Awards contest
• John Cook was among 11,000 seniors throughout the country to attain semi-finalist status in the National Merit Scholarship competition
• Paulette Chmielewski, Football Homecoming Queen
• Judy McCook, Basketball Homecoming Queen
• "A World of Music" festival was held at the San Bernardino High School auditorium. Proceeds to raise money to send an EHS junior and a student each from Pacific and San Bernardino high schools to visit San Bernardino's sister city Tachikawa, Japan during the summer. Suzy Wohlers was chosen as the EHS ambassador.
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower visited March 22, 1963. He arrived at 10:00 am and first spoke to the students in an assembly of both junior and senior high students. He visited a Senior Problems and World History class. Eisenhower was given an honorary ASB card (ASB #1). Eisenhower was accompanied by Freeman Gosdin of Amos and Andy fame and long time friend of the General.

Ike visiting Ike

1963-1964 School Year

• A look at the cafeteria in the early years

• The 1964 Christmas Program was unique in that it combined the choirs and orchestras of two separate San Bernardino district high schools. This would no longer be possible in the following school year as Eisenhower would be placed in a different district.
• Varsity basketball opens the season with donkey basketball. Principal Ryan joined with several teachers to play against the varsity team. Proceeds from the game were to be used to help pay for the sign to be erected at the front entrance of the administration building.
• Cherrian Felicetta, Football Homecoming Queen
• Judie Wyant, Basketball Homecoming Queen
• Gayle Patterson became a member of the All-Southern California Honor Choir. She was the only student selected from this area.
• School welcomes the Eisenhower bust in November. Originally designed for General "Ike" by the Italian sculptor, Valerio Valentini. Valentini admired General Eisenhower during his war days in Europe. Eisenhower couldn't accept it as President, but after the publicity surrounding General Eisenhower's visit to EHS last spring, Valentine sent a letter offering it to EHS. ASB raised money to pay for shipping it to U.S. The bust will be displayed in the administration building on a pedestal at the "Eisenhower Wall" fronting his pictures.

• The Eisenhower Myth - rub his nose for good luck before a test!!
• Anyone remember the fall of 1964 football game with Colton? They placed headstones in the dirt half of Ike's parking lot and yet we managed to beat them in the last minute of the game. I've been to many pro games, yet that is still one of the tops in my book! (Memory submitted by Gary W. Board c/o 1965.)
• The class of 1964 gifted the school with the original marquee on Baseline. (Memory submitted by Jo Ann Hughes Chalker c/o 1964)
• Assembly in the gym

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