Colorado Springs, CO – As Harrison High School in Colorado Springs prepares to kick off its homecoming game on Sept. 24, 2010 at 7:00 pm, Ron Roehrich and Aran McClure are busy planning to recruit the first players from Harrison’s first football game that kicked off in 1955. it is.
It’s hard to believe that it was 55 years ago (on the afternoon of Sep 23, 1955) that Coach Anderson and Coach Gordon led their first official high game victory, beating Cripple Creek 13-0.
Aran McClure and Ron Roehrich both graduated from Harrison back in the late 50’s and remember their high school days. In fact, the more they talk about it, the more details come out and the bigger the laugh and who could forget, before the season before Harrison!
Pat Smith, a beautiful brunette, who was a cheerleader at the time, is planning a hard time in that year to get down to routines. She and the other happy managers Rogene Gilbreath, Lena Kuder, Bette Bertolet and Marni Suydam were all anxiously waiting to get out there on the field and feed their horses. The tearful coach, Miss Janitell, made the girls work hard but they didn’t mind, they wanted to be the best.
Pat commented, “I transferred from Harrison to Harrison at Nürnberg High School at the end of my junior year so I wasn’t around football until fall season. I remember football at HHS was so big that I got kicked out of school at noon on Fridays – that is, until Marni and Bette was in car accident and Marni was in car accidents and Marni to have stitches. After that, we didn’t come to the “morning release” anymore, I guess to keep us all out of trouble.
That original game between Cripple Creek High School and Harrison was played on a dirt field next to the school house near Janitell Rd., which is adjacent to the football field today. Ronald has sponsorship from the local paper since that day, claims Sam Powell scored both for the winning team, climate in the second quarter culminating with a one-yard plunge and a 22-yard dash in the fourth quarter. Ronnie Roehrich kicked the extra point after the second touchdown. The following week, Harrison played Manitou Springs in its open season.
What ever happened to those players and former player announcers from those first classes at Harrison High in Colorado Springs CO.? They will always live on in the hearts and stories of Ron, Oren and Pat. Their stories are endless and fascinating, Harrison High School did not have an official twelfth grade class until 1955, and then several programs and electives were introduced including the school’s first football team.
Ron Roehrich (HHS Fourth Star late in 1950) has been busy in the states, hitting the news and interviewing classmates for the past five years. Fortunately the classes of 1955, 56, 57, 58 and 59 are a tight group. Most of these former classmates have kept in touch with each other for many years, and Louis Oren’s wife has collected monthly schedules for the group, who refer to themselves as HHS raiders. Ronald worked on a permanent memory of the event; her plans to compose Harrison’s story into a book.
A lot of students from from that year transferred from other schools to start this new program. Sam Jones transferred from Lamar, CO, Ron transferred from Idaho Springs, CO and Sam Powell transferred from Cheyenne Mountain HS. Ron said “we are few in number…..but just, just with a big heart.”
Ron says he not only brings some laughs, but also remembers that in the game at Manitou… his first damage was thrown and it knocked him out of the game in the middle… he still has
Aran, known by his friends as the capital, earned the nickname from his years in the military, admits that he was overwhelmed in freshman. first year, but he was happy to be there and survive two days in the old football field. It shows that the school has built some great coaches and coaches from the bottom up. Those coaches didn’t know what had been handed, but they made it work and made the school proud.
Aran was a young 15-year-old freshman at the time and had never played organized football until Harrison came on the scene. McClure, who stands 6’2 with a broad shoulder, said, “Up until that point I had never had the opportunity to play organized football so I used the new program….I guess at least half the team never had. Before or stalked before or hay in the field”.
He went on to say, “My memory from those early years was that, I just wanted to learn and help the team in any way I could. We got together pretty quickly and you did pretty well. Most of us all played a lot. You got caught up so quickly.”
Aran continued, “We have a great team, Pat Gilliland, Carl Barteck and George Jackson, great players and great guys.” Ron said, “For the life of me, I can’t remember why Mickey Beville didn’t play in the first year,” asks Aran.
The trio enjoys sharing stories about Harrison’s past and the students who once walked those halls. Pat Smith recalls that there were so many great memories of that year, it’s hard to pin it down, but he said, “The Spring Panthers downed 144-6 in the triumphant game (Nov. 2, 1956) and Rogene Gilbreath was crowned queen and Lena. Kuder. and two tunes, The ones I remember playing above were “Little Brown Jug” by Glen Miller and “Dog Dog” by Elvis Presley.
Ronald was playing during the second game of the night they played against Manitou Springs High School. “Here’s some way down. vn/tag/big-game”>big game. We went to Stratton Meadows Elementary with Mr. Gorman, who was then the principal of the school, in a struggle to generate as much school pride/study. Their journey to HHS would soon be over.
The first afternoon was clear, bright, I don’t remember much about the temperature. We ran the old Split T formation…dull and in typical Woody Hayes fashion…3 yards and a cloud of dust. Putting the ball in the air is not always the first choice. I remember having a decent day passing; no show… Cleston Stewart and Sam Powell hit a few times. A few of the antemen also rushed in… and he was safe in the protection and mounted in several tackles. I also made extra point kicks (missed one…on the low), completed the kick and punting the first game. He missed making the kick a little later in the season. I was also taking punts and returning kickoffs (which I did all season the first two years). This may explain why I can no longer remember.
And for starters, without knowing anything, we started a small school to git-go to attend the census books.
Coach Demers, head coach, in the second season (fall of ’56) and coached the back and offense. And Coach Hanson took over the defense and was the line coach. Oh by the way, it was Coach Demers and Coach Hanson who came up on the impromptu team before the Castle-Rock game in 1956.. ..the introduction of the first Black Jersey game…gave the team the option of wearing our Whites or the new Blacks….but they were in favor of the Blacks…so it happened. the first night to pass through all the BLACK … and we also hit Castle Rock. Like no one is better. ”
I asked the guys how the uniform compares to the pedicel uniform that today’s Harrison students wear. Aran provided a description: “The uniform was obviously black and white…. White jerseys for home games and black for away games. Helmets were hard plastic with a foam rubber lining and no face guards. We had shoulder pads, hip pads and knee pads. In later years things improved with better helmets and face protection and added pads to your ribs. The < a href="https://e-info.vn/tag/football-cleats">football-cleats were high top with metal shoes that had to be changed at times….they were quite dirty when one went out on your hand, or on any bare skin. There were no mouth guards then. of protection…
Ron, Oren and Pat communicate regularly via email and the trio decided it would be a good time to bring their former classmates around and sit in on the stats to cheer on the current Harrison High School players and coaches.
Harrison High School is a border school in Colorado Springs that has served the southern part of Colorado Springs for many years. HHS officials are looking forward to this year’s Kindergarten game and would like to applaud Athletic Director Dave Hogan for all of his hard work.
The students at Harrison are bright, energetic and have a lot going for them, I hope that in 55 years they too will look back on their school days and remember their classmates and coaches fondly. Past, present and future students will all meet in a game this September generating some new memories.
