Cleveland Heights High School 1901-1966 page 10
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The 1950-51 school year was to be perhaps the best year in Heights athletic history. Lake Erie Championships were won in basketball, swimming, baseball and track. The swimming team also won the Greater Cleveland N. E. Ohio Championships while the baseball team captured Northeast District honors. During the winter the Varsity H Club sponsored their annual "H Club Show." This successful affair was one of the highlights of the school year.

In July of 1951 Mr. Wiley retired and Dr. O. E. Hill became the fourth superintendent of the Cleveland Heights school system.

L. E. L. champ again

The school year of 1951-52 began with a drop in the school population - total enrollment was only 1804. The B & G celebrated its 15th anniversary - it had been published every other week during that long period of time by 76 journalism classes. In September the first annual Homecoming Game was held. Heights beat Glenville 34-6 and the weekend was a huge success. The Latin newspaper "Hermes" suspended publication after two decades of printing because it lacked sufficient subscriptions due to the drop in enrollment in Latin.

A golfer tees off

February, 1952 introduced a new type of entertainment - stunt night. Each class wrote a series of skits and the result was a very enjoyable evening. During that winter Heights clinched its second LEL basketball championship in a row.

The swim team captured their fourth straight LEL title. A month later the band, under the direction of John F. Farinacci wound up a successful tour in Washington, D. C. In June the 40 member Heights Choir under the direction of Mr. George Strickling set sail for Europe, the only high school group to sing at the first International Music Conference in Brussels. Seventy-five thousand dollars had been raised for the summer trip.

Choir sails for Europe

"St. Paul'S Cathedral" London

In February, 1953 Mr. Morley, principal of Heights High for 29 years, announced his plans to retire. One of his pleasantess memories included "moving into this building from Roosevelt in 1926 with about 1,000 students." So in May, a witty and charming personality retired from the ranks of the high school.

The new school year began with a new principal, Mr. Donald Roe, whose three year term spanned the gap between two imposing figures in Heights history - Mr. Morley and Mr. Paul S. Nash.

The music department continued to grow as members traveled to Chicago in the spring of 1954 to participate in a music conference. In June the orchestra was privileged to perform at Severance Hall with Eddie Cantor.

A new sport, wrestling, was introduced at Heights in the fall of 1954, first as intra-mural activity and then as a part of the regular varsity athletic program. One hundred boys turned out for the first practice in November. Since then wrestling has grown in popularity and has become the fastest growing high school spectator sport.

The bigger they come

The marching band tradition received a boost in the autumn of 1954. For the first in 26 years majorettes led the band during the performances at half-time.

Facing the Heights administrators at the time was the haunting problem of the congested hallways and stairs. To relieve part of this difficulty the system of "Up and Down" stairs was devised and introduced in December.

The close of this period of Heights history coincided with the retirement of another colorful veteran of the high school. Before the beginning of the next school year Miss Helen K. Wallace, for 45 years a dynamic leader of girls would bring her career to a close and Miss Mary Ryan would become the new Dean of Girls.

The decade of 1946-55 saw the realization of a dream - Hosford Stadium. It also marked the close of two outstanding careers as Miss Wallace and Mr. Morley turned the shaping of Heights High over to others.