Fall 2010 - Central Catholic High School :: K-Space Web Page

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22 Feature Story | Fall 2010(continued from page 11)I could go on forever remembering thoseyears. A group of our high school friendsstill gets together every other month. Imarried Joe Wright ’42. All seven of ourchildren and two grandchildren who live inToledo graduated from CCHS, and anotheris starting this fall as a freshman - AnthonyWright. So far, all but one of my childrenand grandchildren have been in the GleeClub and musicals. I met my husbandin the Glee Club. He was a friend of mybrother.I was the proud niece of Fr. Harringtonand I saw his pride and pleasure in beingprincipal of Central Catholic. H e toldme once, after he retired, that he couldhardly wait to get down to the school inthe morning to see what exciting thingswere going to happen. He guided theschool through some difficult times, butloved every minute of it. As I drive past thebeautiful building today and see all the newstructures, I am very proud I graduatedfrom CCHS.”Fran Krompak ’58“I graduated from CentralCatholic and I also taught therefrom1962 until 1992 - 30 yearsof teaching phys. ed. and health,coaching basketball, volleyball,and tennis. I was a G.A.L.[Girls’ Athletic League] moderator. It was awomen’s athletic association that sponsoredafter-school bowling intramurals, flagfootball, ski trips, and canoe trips to Hell,Michigan. Mary (Eggerstorfer) Glowacki’72 was an awesome back! One year whenwe took the gals from the class of ’72 onthe canoe trip, they took the wrong turnon the river and wound up in a cornfield.They included Vicki Kelly, Deb Carcus, andBecky Stewart as I recall. The G.A. L. wasthe precursor to involvement in the CityLeague.Our skiing trips were also adventuresome.All I can remember is the many falls andmore kids down than upright. We usuallytook two busloads of boys and girls over theMartin Luther King break. I was also thecheerleader advisor for over 10 years andworked with some great young women. Wewere always having car washes to pay fortheir uniforms. One of our cheerleaderswas Terry Augello ’68. She would alwaysyell so loud she would lose her singing voice.But her daughter, Alicia Keys, has made upfor it!When we began competition in the CityLeague in 1969-70, we only played eightbasketball games. Our scores were 27-13and 51-1. We played with six players andnot everyone could run the full court. I hadgreat assistant coaches like Mo Gallagherand many of the young boys basketballplayers at CCHS. Among them was JohnWieck ’68, who later married Chris Justen’71, one of our players. I played a littlematchmaker in that one. Eric Stockard’75 was outstanding. We were so blessedto have him. He would attend practices atthe University of Toledo and observe, andthen we would do a lot of their drills. Hewould come up with defensive schemesthat befuddled our opponents. There werealso Denny LaDuke ’75, Terry Murnen ’73,Steve Dermer ’72, and Mitch Seemann ’77.They really supported the girls’ teams. Thatis one of the underlying themes of CCHS-supporting each other.I remember that the front gym was freezing.We had poor lighting and old windows. Istarted drinking hot coffee just to get warm.We had many basketball practices with noheat. Our locker room was dark and inneed of much work. The girls from thebasketball team painted it one summer -Diane Brazell, Kathy Szenderski, and LindaFournier from the Class of 1972. Whensomething needed to be done the kids justpitched in. We had a very minimal athleticbudget and held a whiskey raffle to raisemoney.One of the notable characters at CentralCatholic was Felix Elllerbrock, the headjanitor. You didn’t want to mess with Felix.One year he planted grass on the footballfield and the track team had the audacityto run on the new grass. They sure heardabout it from Felix. A few weeks later, somemembers of the track team got their revengeon Felix. They sneaked in at night withweed killer and wrote in very large letters onthe football field, ‘Felix is an a**.’ It could beseen from all the upper floors at CCHS.In 1962-63 when I started at CentralCatholic as a teacher, we had manynotable feats. We won the mythical statechampionship in football. We won the CityLeague championship in basketball andwrestling, and we had four Merit Scholars.We had 2,200 students and a faculty of over100. At least 80 were sisters and priestsand we had barely 20 lay teachers. Quite aremarkable change. We had a great bunchof lay teachers, including Paul O’Rourke,Tim Dever, Tom McHugh, Bob Nichols,Dorothy Brown, Sally O’Connell, KristiHayward, Jerry DePrisco, Joe Gajdostik, andJoe Rozanski. Our marching band was over100 strong.Val Fischer taught physics and was theschool treasurer. We were paid in cashevery two weeks and my starting salarywas $4,000. We did not sign contracts andverbally agreed to return the next year.Monsignor Harrington would take us eachaside and tell us we had done a good job andhe was going to raise our pay. He would askus not to tell anyone else. Later we foundout we were all told the same thing. To getback to Val Fischer, he never missed a dayof school in 38 years. I remember he leftCentral Catholic on a Friday afternoon anddied on Sunday. We were all shocked.We had great assemblies, and the traditioncontinues. It was the class of 1972 thatstarted Super Fella. I remember rollerskatinginto the gym for one of the facultyassemblies with Mo Gallagher. We woreraincoats and had big squirt guns and got allthe kids wet. We skated to ‘Raindrops KeepFalling on my Head.’I retired from basketball in 1980 and tooka break, and then I returned to coachvolleyball. I took a great deal of pride inworking With Chris (Tuttle) Maseman’79, first as her coach and later her mentor.Chris did a great job with the girls’basketball program and continued thewinning tradition. She hired Steve Pfahler’72 and we all know how successful Stevewas.I’ve been awed by the teachers andadministrators who have devoted theirlives to Central Catholic, the alumni whohave remained loyal and supportive, andthe parents who sacrifice so much for theirchildren. That has been a constant. Somany of our former students have returnedas faculty and staff. So many families areCentral Catholic families, the generationsof grandparents to parents to students. Ouroffice staff does a great job of keeping theschool running smoothly. Mary Lou Snyderand Ann Bonanni have been invaluable,Sandy Faunce and Terry Albert and Joe Perzare the unsung heroes.After 30 years of teaching, I became aguidance counselor at CCHS and workedfor 12 more years. Central Catholicencouraged me to further my education.They paid half my tuition and Terry Alberthelped by typing my papers. Mike Smith,our principal, gave me an extra free periodso I could do my internship at Central. Iworked with the suspended students anddid support groups. Central Catholicallowed me to grow, and after 42 years Iretired with immense gratitude for all it hasgiven me.”Denny Bolbach ’63“As a student I participatedin student government, was athree year letterman in footballwww.centralcatholic.org
and track, and I was named to the All-City football team two years. I receivedthe Player with the Most Desire award myjunior and senior years, and I played in theNorth/South All Star Game. I was inductedinto the Central Catholic Athletic Hall ofFame in 1990, and was also inducted withthe 1963 State Championship team, the1960 City Champion football team, and asa coach with the 1972 and 1977 footballteams. I was very fortunate to receivea four-year football scholarship to theUniversity Dayton, where I lettered threeyears.I returned to CCHS for the 1968-69 schoolyear, and I was the last teacher to sign acontract with Msgr. Harrington. I coachedfootball and wrestling and helped withtrack. After coaching for several years, Ibecame athletic director in 1975 and didthat until 1982. Throughout my 42 years,I taught mechanical drawing, math, phys.ed., health, and driver’s education. From1982 to 2010, I was the Dean of Men, and Iretired in June.Returning to CCHS to teach and coachfootball was a dream and a goal throughoutmy college years. As a CCHS student, Iwas so imprinted and enlightened by ourstrong traditions. It is hard to explainthe attraction, mostly because it was thetotal experience of my four years. I was soimpressed by the dedication of the teachersand coaches and people involved withthe school that I wanted to be part of thatexperience as an adult. We have always hadso many alumni that return to play somerole in the continuing history of CCHS.From administrators, staff, and coaches,to volunteers. they are all caught in the‘Irish Spirit’ and want to see it continue forgenerations to come.I often told people when they asked if Iwas still at Central Catholic, ‘Yes I amstill here, and if I ever leave Central, I willleave education all together, not becauseI think we are greater that any place else,but it is the only place I would ever want tospend my career.’ It’s about faith, tradition,community, honor and a true realization ofthe world and community we live in.Central Catholic has stood the test of time.Strong in its roots, and with Christ as ourtrue leader, our school has changed to keeppace with the world we live in. Certainlytechnology has led the way in the last 10 orso years. To be cited as a leader in educationfor the Toledo Diocese is an honor and aresponsibility.Some people will say that we have mademany big changes from the CCHS ofthe 1960s to the present, some good andsome may have been questioned. But wehave stayed true to our mission as a coed,Catholic institution. Some people questionour staying in the Central district of Toledoand our increasing minority population.I truly believe God has a plan for us, andas some question our direction, I see ourdiversity as a strength and a reflection ofreal life experience.Certainly winning the 1962 state footballchampionship was an outstanding event asa student. We were 10- 0 that season and10 players were elected First Team All-City.There were several other individual honors,but I must say that it was a total team effortthat allowed our team to reach the top -Great coaching by Tom McHugh and hisstaff, great leadership by our principal Msgr.Harrington, a very supporting faculty, andjust an outstanding, student body that noone could out cheer. Again, totally a CCHScommunity accomplishment.Over 42 years there were many highmoments, along with some very downevents also. But experiencing the differentevents involved the total support ofeveryone - to celebrate, to be there whenthere was a need, and together thanking theLord for His guidance and for providing thegreat community of Central Catholic.Central Catholic was honored during thelate 1980’s through most of the 1990’s whenwe were recognized as a National Schoolof Excellence for our drug prevention andeducation programs. Our student assistanceprogram was rated among the top in thecountry.I am very proud to have been able to servethe Central Catholic community for themany years that I did. I thank God and allthat are associated with our institution forallowing me to be part of Central Catholichistory.”Jan (Kozak) Florian ’70Jan has been Central Catholic’sschool nurse since 1991. In thiscapacity she has also served as apreceptor for nursing studentsfrom UTMC, Lourdes College,and Mercy College, moderatorfor STAMP (the Stay Tobacco-free AthleteMentor Program), facilitator and cofacilitatorfor CCHS support groups, andhead of the faculty wellness programs. Shehas also been a waitress for some of theCCHS wait nights. Jan reflects on her timeat CCHS:“As a student, I think that in general thingswere not so different than they are forstudents today. I remember there were upsand downs as I was trying to fit in and figureout who I really was and what I wantedto be when I grew up. As an employee/adult, I have the same struggles! My momis convinced that because I liked school somuch, that is why I came back, even thoughI’m now a nurse!Things are moving much more quicklythan when I was a student. If you don’t payattention, you can easily miss something.Technology has definitely been a drivingforce - for better or worse. We now have theIB program. Certainly when I was a studentwe were not thinking so globally. Now weneed to or we will get left behind.Our faculty/staff has definitely changed.When I was a student, the majority of ourfaculty members were religious - priests,brothers, sisters. We also had graduatingclasses of 450 to 500 students. Our facilitiescontinue to be updated. We never hada ‘home game’ at our ‘home’ in any ofthe sports when I was a student. Not tomention that girls’ sports were non-existent.Basketball was just beginning to be arecognized girls’ sport.It really is the people and the spirit thatmake Central Catholic special. People whoare involved in CCHS are like a family. Justlike regular families, we’ve had some upsand downs, we’ve celebrated successes,moved through difficulties and grievedtogether, even had some disagreementswe’ve had to work out together. Throughit all there always remains a sense that weare all here to help our students be the bestthat they can be wherever their paths maylead them. There is also an atmosphere- just as there is in any family - that therecomes a time to move on, but you arealways welcome home. I think this mightbe obvious in the number of faculty/staffwho have come back and the number offamilies who continue to send their childrenand grandchildren to CCHS. The fantasticcrowds that attend our events are alsoevidence of this.My graduation class was ‘special.’ The classof 1970 was the 50th anniversary year forCCHS, so we wore gold graduation gowns.At that time, graduation was held in theSports Arena that is no longer standing!”Timothy J. Dever ’77Tim taught for one year atCentral Catholic (1982-83)before attending law school,and he was also the boys’ tenniscoach from 1981 to 1983 andagain from 2004 to 2008. Hisfather, Timothy Dever, was a social studiesOne Faith. One Community. One Mission.
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