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Messrs. V<strong>and</strong>ertoorn <strong>and</strong> Murphy’s Big Trip: Louisiana, 1979<br />
In the second year of the elementary-junior high, 1978-79, the two teachers took on<br />
the enormous-once in a life time trip- project of taking the boys basketball team to<br />
New Orleans. As Basketball Nova Scotia President, Mr. Murphy had received an<br />
invitation from Mr. Tom Bissell in Louisiana. The trip was to include hosting by the<br />
City of Baton Rouge, games [including the preliminary game to a Louisiana State<br />
University game], a visit to the Superdome, a tour of new Orleans, Mardi Gras, <strong>and</strong><br />
crawfish treats.<br />
Both Jack Murphy <strong>and</strong> Mike V<strong>and</strong>ertoorn moved<br />
on in the early 1980s. They had seen a fine athletics<br />
system they developed ended with the exodus of high<br />
school students. They needed new challenges in new<br />
schools.<br />
A particularly charming tribute was paid to Mr.<br />
Murphy in the 1981 Yearbook. ‘…During laps he<br />
encourages the stragglers….At the rings..a group are<br />
trying their hardest but doing the worst ..The teacher<br />
is a man of underst<strong>and</strong>ing “…Some people just don’t<br />
have the physical build for it <strong>and</strong> I’m one of those<br />
unfortunates. Just keep trying” he encourages….’<br />
We would like to dedicate this yearbook to a kind instructor..to the students you<br />
are an underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>and</strong> competent phys. ed instructor. You are notorious for the<br />
hardest geography tests…you also mark fairly <strong>and</strong> honestly .…To the sportsmen<br />
you are known as a talented coach To the students with mediocre ability you are<br />
underst<strong>and</strong>ing….to the well below average you eliminated the pain of last pick…..You<br />
are renowned as the fastest fundraiser…an efficient business man….as well as having<br />
a penchant for ….FUN...we will miss you’<br />
Sammy Ali’s Story Watches Harlem Globe Trotters in Body Cast<br />
Sam now runs Printers Corner [<strong>and</strong> printed this history] <strong>and</strong> Ali’s General Store at<br />
Blockhouse. He was a keen athlete <strong>and</strong> ‘A’ team basketball player.<br />
In grade 9, he was on the county championship team.<br />
In September 1976, He entered grade 10, eager to play<br />
senior ball. As the season opened, he was in a motor<br />
bike accident, was rushed to The Children’s Hospital in<br />
Halifax with a broken femur, <strong>and</strong> put in a body cast. Just<br />
about every Thursday he was visited by Mike or Jack or<br />
both with a group of school friends. His grade ten class<br />
won a school fund raising competition. The prize was a<br />
class visit to see the Harlem Globe Trotters at the Metro<br />
Centre.<br />
‘On the very day I was released from hospital…still in a<br />
body cast…Mike picked me up <strong>and</strong> threw me in the back<br />
of his old station wagon…At The Metro Centre they had<br />
arranged a stretcher <strong>and</strong> a space on the front row….<br />
I got carried down [remember with a body cast, I could<br />
not sit in a wheel chair]…I got to see the show.’<br />
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