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I was lucky, in the fact,
that I got to be part of Jefferson twice. My own time was 1950-1954.
It was such an easy time to grow up and Daly City was just a little town at
that time. Everyone knew everyone else and the Daly City Record kept
you up on what all of your friends and neighbors were doing. It
was a great home town newspaper and I still enjoy spending time at the
microfilm reader at the library going over the gossip section and visiting
the "olden days". That is where I have collected so much of my
Jefferson history. This picture is on the front page of the Daly City
Record in 1953.
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DALY CITY GOVERNMENT FOR A DAY -- 1953
Gwen Anthony, Martha Whitehouse, Nadine Baher, Kathy Dunn, Pat Long
Carol Bertelli, Mary Jane Schuler, Sidney Warren, Yvonne Williford,
Roberta Taylor, Bev Hamilton, Carol Benedetti
Mike Sibitz, Ron Bygum, Dave Haaland, Jim Galindo, Neil Vannucci,
John Wiesner |
Many wonderful days were
spent at Jefferson, but this picture represents the one day that stands out
from all of the rest. This is that day in 1953 when the Jr.
Statesmen took over the city. This could never happen today like
it happened back then. We really did take over the city.
I was lucky enough to have been elected Mayor for
the Day. First order of business was that Councilman Paul Green,
representing the mayor who was out of town, stepped down and I was installed
as Mayor. I truly was the first female mayor of Daly City--for a day.
I spent the day preparing for the Council meeting
which would take place that evening. The other members of the
City Council and I even got to make a few resolutions and put the work in
order for new laws. We were very busy.
The Police Chief spent the morning learning how
the DCPD worked. The Fire Chief spent the day at one of the fire
houses or buzzing around town in his Fire Chief's car. The Dog
Catcher drove around the city looking for strays. Every
department had a Jefferson student in charge -- although standing by was a
very talented #2 person..
THEN came lunch. I remember that I
was being chauffeured about town in a police car with a final destination of
the Colonial restaurant for lunch. We were cruising along when a
message came through that there was a dangerous criminal --with a
gun--hiding out at the railroad tracks. With sirens blaring, we
took off down Mission St. headed for a section of the railroad tracks near
Washington and Junipero Serra. I wasn't the only one to arrive on the
scene--everyone who was being driven to lunch found themselves crossing town
in a blare of sirens. They had driven us far from the "scene of the
crime," prior to the event, so that we had quite a few minutes of "fear" as
we sped through town. Can you imagine something like that
happening today????? The lawyers would be lined up, as well as the
insurance companies.
We arrived on the scene and "my" police officer told me
to, "GET DOWN!" which I did. "He's got a gun!" Panic set in!
They caught the criminal in
an old box car and he was arrested, driven back to the police station where
the "Chief" fingerprinted him, photographed him and threw him into a cell.
We all honestly thought that we had captured a dangerous villain. Many
days later we learned he was actually a firemen putting on a great act for
all of us. What a great piece of drama was provided for us by
our city leaders.
For all of you who were there, how can you ever
describe lunch to someone who wasn't there. Remember how we heated up
the soup at the direction of one of the City Council "adults"?
To end a perfect day, I was thrown out of office
at the end of the Council meeting, by resolution. Don't think any
other Daly City mayor was ever "thrown out" of office.
There were other times when Jefferson students
had an opportunity to learn about Daly City Government, but no other group
ever had our fantastic experiences.
My next years at Jeff were my daughter's years,
1977-1981 and she
made sure I was an active participant at the school. Our Alumni Association was formed in
1979 and many of our members attended Jefferson events and there were many "fun"
times:
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Our first big event was the banquet to honor the first football
championship in '79 with John Madden telling old locker room stories about the coaches.
Alumni from 1926-1979 enjoyed being back at dear old Jefferson even though
it had changed considerably for many of them.
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We had our big Donkey Basketball game. Remember when Dennis
Scally, '78, was given a donkey that was too small for his long legs and he ended up
holding on to the tail for dear life as the critter took off down the court after he
jumped on backwards to score. OR Willy Lemp, '74, in his clown outfit assisting our team
onto or from under their donkeys and using his huge golf club for a few marvelous
"drives" before the pooper scooper arrived? "Too funny!"
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The Alumni Team
Coach Joe Zanobini, '50, DeNatale, but which one? sorry,
Sally Rasmussen, '81, Mark Zanobini, '78, Pete Diaz, '77,
Only recognize one in red--Jim Martiri.
Dennis Scally, '78, Miki Backlund, '70 and Jim Caruso, '79.
Our clown is missing! Out cleaning his golf club? |
- Who could forget our Golf Tournaments put together under the
leadership of Larry Kennedy, '55 with Rich Gonzales, '55 taking first place two years in a
row and then Gene Pidgeon, '43, followed by Alex Sola, '48, taking top honors. And
one tourney, believe it or not, was won by a San Mateo Bearcat, Ron Devencenzi, '54, with
Bill Strassburger, '57 and Bob Berry, '58 tying for the #2 spot.
- At our Golf Tournament 2000, Ron reminded us of his win.
He was behind the desk at Poplar. New Champions were Bob
With, '61, and Vic Lewkowitz, '59, for the men and Miki Backlund Barnblatt,
'70, for the ladies.
- We have had so many activities--our trips to Reno and Mexico; our
bowling league and our days at the races are just a few with good memories.
Our reunions have been the best--seeing old friends is why we participate.
I've lost track of the number, but our last one, Reunited 2000, had over
500 guests talking about Jefferson days.
- During the 80's we had all of Jeff's championship games in
football, soccer, track, badminton, and basketball to share. We saw so many old friends at
these games. "BEAT S.I.!"
- Of course, that all came back in the 1999
season and with Jefferson grads as Coaches, Madden Lights and Indian
Spirit the 2001-2002 school year should be exciting.
For me, the most exciting event in all of Jeff's victories in
the '80s (including the first C.C.S. football championship in all of that South City mud
and the excitement of the first State Championship in basketball at the Oakland Coliseum)
was the S.I. game at Kesar Stadium in 1982.
Don't get me wrong, those other games were exciting, but let me explain...
The newspapers had hyped the game pretty well and the
expectation of a huge crowd for S.I. with their powerful alumni group was thought to be
enough to make S.I. the victors. After all, they were the defending C.C.S. champions and
no school in San Mateo County had ever been C.C.S. champs. Whatever spark turned Jefferson
grads toward Kesar Stadium that night, we'll never know. It wasn't until half-time that we
knew just how many had come.
Our team was behind, but when they returned to the court to
start the second half, the stands came alive with "BEAT S.I.!" chanted over and
over. Jeff grads stood up and continued shouting. It wasn't S.I. alumni that filled the
stands it was ours. The team was astounded. They had never had such a huge crowd rooting
for them. Needless to say, the spark was lit and the team came alive and brought home the
victory and later, winning a game against Riordon, they brought home to Jefferson the
first C.C.S. Championship in San Mateo Co. and a very proud coach, Bud Bresnahan, Coach of
the Year.
One last note on the excitement of the crowd, two '60's grads,
Rod and Wayne Stoller were so excited at the S.I. game that they took the whole team out
for steak dinners. That's excited!
Sidney Rasmussen, '54
Jefferson Alumni President - Totem Pole Editor
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