* By Carolyn Glenn and Mary Phil Egerton
The year 1943 marks the
seventh year of Trigg County High School history. The school opened September
5, 1937, has had good years and bad since then, and it is with great pride and
determination that the students of the 1943-44 year in cooperation with the
faculty and principal, Mr. McDonald, strives to make this year the best ever.
The school's history begins with its construction by the W. P. A. and County
Board of Education in 1937 at a cost of approximately $25,000 for buildings,
grounds and equipment.
The first school year began on September 5,
1937, under principal Roy McDonald, with an enrollment of two hundred fifty
and a ten-member faculty.
During the first year the school operated two
school busses to serve as transportation to and from school. Since then the
number has increased to eight.
Library books, a piano, and laboratory
equipment were bought during the first semester for use in the various
departments.
The Parent-Teacher's Association with 20 members were
organized on September 23, 1937 and Mrs. Frank Clarke was elected the first
president.
The first faculty of T.C.H. consisted of Mr. McDonald, Miss
Cowan, Mrs. Armstrong, Miss Habaker, Mrs. Conley Wallace, Miss Hopson, Mrs.
Rose, Miss Felts, and Mr. Perdue.
There was no football team the
1937-38 school year, but under their first coach, Paul Perdue, the Wildcat
basketball team had a fairly successful season which was terminated by their
participation in the Fifth District Tournament at Cadiz High School.
On October 3, 1937, the first school and community Fair was held at
Trigg County High and was a great success from the standpoint of both school
and community. This custom was discontinued in 1941.
The first year
there was no band but glee clubs and orchestra were organized under the
direction of Miss Lula Mae Felts and the organizations took part in the music
contest held at Western State Teachers' College.
As the first year
came to a close a number of social events were instituted. One of the most
important of these was the first J. - Sr. prom, with Dorothy Ricks, a junior,
reigning the first T. C. H. prom queen. The first Baccalaaureate services were
held May 22, Class Night, May 25, and the year was climaxed by the graduation
of the first Senior Class of 24 members held in the auditorium of Trigg County
High School on May 26, 1938.
1938-1939
The second year of T.C. H. history saw
the consolidation of this school with CAdiz High School and other county
schools. the upper six grades remained at trigg County High and the lower six
attended the Cadiz school.
The music department, which had been
composed only of glee clubs and orchestra, was augmented in 1938 by a band
under the direction of Miss Virginia Lee Thompson. On March 30, 1939, a
banquet was helf for the purpose of raising funds for new band uniforms. The
school was well represented in the Interscholastic Music Contets at Murray
State Teachers College on February 8, 1939.
The school year ended with
the commencement exercises May 18, 1939. The graduating class consisted of 42
members.
1939-1940
Perhaps the one thing for which the
1939-40 school year is most remembered is the excellent basketball team. With
Mr. Perdue still coach, the Cats won victory after victory and finally became
the fifth district champs by topping their arch enemy, Kuttawa, in the final
game of the Fifth District Tournament on the home court March 2, 1940. The
football team, lacking the experience of the basketball squad, was not so
successful Maxine Chambers was crowned football queen at the third annual
School Fair during the half of the Trigg-Elkton game which was a 40-0 victory
for the Wildcats.
The Student Council, one of the most outstanding
institutions of Trigg County High, was organized in the fall of 1939, and John
D. Minton was elected by the student body as the first president.
The
third year at T.C.H. also saw the rise of forensics. Under the leadership of
their coach, Miss Frances Henson, the debaters made several trips debating the
National High School Question, Resolved: That the Federal Government should
own and operate the railroads. The team won a good number of decisions.
The music department showed marked improvement. Under the direction of
Miss Josephine Franklin, the band and glee club made superior ratings in the
Inter-scholastic Music Contests held at Murray State Teachers' College, and
the eleven other entries also received admirable ratings.
That year the
yearbook, "Memors," was renamed "The Wildcat" in honor of the school mascot
and the first volume under the new name was published by the Senior Class of
that year.
May 15, 1940, marked the third annual commencement and the
graduation of Trigg's largest class of seventy-one members.
1940-1941
The 1940-1941 football season was the
Cats' most successful year. Perdue's Wildcats won seventy-five per cent of
their games and at the end of the season ranked fourth in the Western Kentucky
Conference, topped only by Hopkinsville, Paducan, and Madisonville. The
basketball team also had a successful year, and its captain, Ted Sills, cited
by Courier-Journal Sports Writer, Harry Bolser, as "one of the most
outstanding athletics in Kentucky history," scored a total of 375 points in 39
regularly scheduled games, 250 points of which were made in the 1939-40
season.
T.C.H. was well represented also in the boxing ring, taking
part in the Golden Gloves Tournament with Ray Hunter as coach, Gerald Sumner,
a junior, was featherweight champion and Felix Wadlington, a freshman, placed
second as heavyweight.
The graduating class of 56 members, received
their diplomas at the commencement exercises May 15, 1941.
1941-1942
The football squad had a fairly
successful season under their new coach "Lou" Walters. The Cats won the title
that year of the 'upsettingest team in the W.K.C.' by tying Providence 7-7 and
winning over Russelville 25-13. Coach walters stated that he was "pretty well
satisfied."
With Gi Colaionni directing the bank ranked superior in
the Interscholastic Music Contests held at Murray. New band uniforms were
purchased for the large organization of sixty. The Courier-Journal stated, "
Colaionni is rapidly developing at Trigg one of the best high school bands in
the state."
Commencement exercises were held May 14, 1942 for Trigg
High's 68 graduates. Jean White, top honor student was the first T.C.H.
Student to be graduated with a four point standing.
1942 - 1943
The year 1942 marked the school's first
year of active participation in the war effort. A class in basic aeronautics
was added to the cirruculum, a Victory Corps was organized, and military drill
was offered junior and senior boys as preinduction routine. Classes in first
aid were given the second semester and the Beta Club did their part by selling
War Bonds and stamps and publishing a newsletter which was sent to all the
former Trigg County High School boys in the armed services.
The debate
teams under the direction of Mrs. Lonnie watkins had a quite successful season
and T.C.H. was eleminated only in the semi-finals in the district tournament
held at Murray.
The graduating class of 50 members received their
diplomas on April 29, and immediately after graduation many of the boys were
inducted into the armed services.
At present trigg County High is
carrying on in glory and the school is proud indeed of its hundred-odd former
students in the Army, Navy and Marines, its many graduates who are at work in
defense plants, and the hundreds of Trigg High studens and former students who
are doing their best for democracy on the home front. They realize their duty
and the school will uphold that duty. The war will be won, but only through
the cooperation of every man, woman, boy and girl and that includes every high
school student in America. Students of Trigg County High will help her country
in all possible ways to come out on top in this all out struggle for the
security of our homes, the freedom of religion, and the freedom to raise our
children in the Armerican way.
So that is the history of Trigg County
high. It is a challenge. Can we, students of 1943-1944 be equal to our past?
We think we can; and if we think we can, why, then we can.
