2006-2007 Fall/Winter Directions - Friends' Central School

FEATURES – FORMER FACULTY
Many former Friends’ Central faculty members left lasting impressions on the students
they taught here. Floss Jackson and Harvey Zendt are just two whose names still figure
in conversations among alums. Floss reigned over Girls’ Athletics at Friends’ Central from 1959 until
1981, and as Connie Lanzl’s ’68 tribute indicates, she profoundly influenced the lives of many of Friends’ Central’s
female athletes and students. Harvey Zendt spent a fair amount of time in the athletic building as well, down in the
wrestling room, or “the Bump” as it was more affectionately known. But he also taught science, social studies, language
arts, and surfing during the boisterous period of 1973 to 1988. His energy and enthusiasm for teaching helped
shape the character of the Middle School program. Harvey currently serves as Head of School at St. Anne's Episcopal
School in Deleware.
A Tribute to Floss Jackson
by Connie Lanzl ’68
n September, 1959, in most of the
nation, team sports for young
women were few and far
between. Title IX was still twenty-three
years away from impacting the boundaries
and budgets of every college, university,
and high school in the country. The expectations
for girls in terms of higher education
and career advancement were far less
than for boys. And except for anomalies
like Wilma Rudolph and before her Babe
Didrickson, girls were not only not expected to excel in
athletics, but often discouraged from doing so. The
rationale might have been, of course, that sports were
unladylike, but more to the point, why bother? There
were no rewards, no recognition, and no remuneration.
But Friends’ Central in 1959—and long before—held
a different attitude. Team sports for girls were encouraged—even
mandated—because the school believed
strongly in the lessons that could be gained from participating
as a member of a team, regardless of gender: cooperation,
discipline, acceptance of criticism, leadership
skills, strength of character, self-esteem, grace in victory
and defeat, compassion, competition, enduring friendships,
and memories that last a lifetime. It is possible to
gain these experiences in other ways, but team sports contain
them all. And in 1959, Friends’ Central clearly
believed they could and should be learned by everyone
from a young age, regardless of innate athletic ability.
September of 1959 was the first month of Floss
Jackson’s twenty-two year career at Friends’Central.
That time also coincided with my introduction to field
hockey as a fourth grader. Because I had to wait every day
for my father’s football practice or drama rehearsal to end
32 DIRECTIONS Fall 2006 / Winter 2007
Terry Cooper and Floss Jackson, 1963