Spring 2013 - Manlius Pebble Hill School

alumni events • alumni events • alumni events •Mark Fursman ’62HQ, John Ellis ’67HQ,John Murray ’59HQ, Chris Ellis ’68HQ andRichard Armstrong ’54C.WEST POINTTAILGATE 2012(Continued from page 27)Chris Ellis ’68HQ took some time toshare his memories of the Manlius/WestPoint Plebes football games: The tripswere always on a Friday, which meantthat they were a school holiday morethan a field trip. Also, it was a change ofpace...a break in the routine. Theyalso represented the unofficial start tothe holiday season. The West Pointgame was always on the first Fridayin November. This meant thatThanksgiving was only three weeksaway with even bigger holidays (andlonger vacations) just around thecorner. Also just around the cornerwas the end of the fall schedule ofdrill and parades. They ended withThanksgiving, not to reappear untilthe end of Spring Break. So, theWest Point trip was not onlysomething good, it was theharbinger of even better thingsrapidly approaching.The day started early. We wereawakened an hour early in order toget ourselves up, dressed, shevelled,and breakfasted in time for adeparture time somewherebetween 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.Day students had the option ofeither relying on parentalgenerosity to get them to thecampus in time for thedeparture or spending theevening before the trip oncampus in one of the dorms.The buses weren’t schoolbuses. They were charteredfrom Syracuse and OswegoBus Lines, an interurbancoach company that I believe was takenover by Centro. The school wouldcharter six of them. They were state-ofthe-artfor the mid 60s, which meansthat they didn’t have some of theamenities of today’s coaches (likerestrooms), but they were made for longhighway travel, and were prettycomfortable. We were required to wearour “A” uniforms, as was so often thecase when we left the campus, but oncewe were on the buses, jackets wereremoved, which made things comfor -table. The first picture that came tomind when I started thinking about thetrip was a bus full of white shirts andblack ties.Snuck-on contraband wasn’t an issueeither. We were all given box lunches,and no one cared about an added snackor two. Also, we made two stops in eachdirection at Thruway rest stops, wherefurther goodies were obtained. Thebiggest contraband issue was tobacco.Seniors over 18 were allowed to smokeon campus, and there were no prohi -bitions in place yet regarding smoking onintercity bus trips. However, the atmos -phere was so relaxed (not to mentionhazy), that many an under classman tookadvantage of the oppor tunity to light upon the bus that cigarette which henormally had to sneak into the woodsbehind Farmer Hall to enjoy.I don’t recall much organized (or evenunorganized) singing. There was a lot ofchatter on the trip down, although a fewhardy souls tried to get some reading in.The trip back was usually quiet, mainlybecause by the time we boarded thebuses after the game, it was already dark,and we had all been up for 13 hoursalready with a six hour bus ride stillfacing us.Desperately hoping for a Manlius win?Yes that was there big time.Photo Group: left to right: Mark Fursman ’62HQ;Seventh Grader Haley Morgan; Mark Fursman II; First Grader Joey Morgan; Director of Advancement Tina Morgan;Fifth Grader Abby Morgan; Mike Fursman; John Ellis ’67HQ; Alex Fursman; John Murray ’59HQ and his wife Joyce;Chris Ellis ’68HQ; AJ, Charlie, Nancy and Scott Priscu; Donald Oliver; Sean Morgan; Richard Armstrong ’54C; LeslieOliver; and Director of Alumni Relations Maureen Anderson. Photo by Adam Oliver ’16.28MPH REFLECTIONS 2013