SPECIAL PROJECTS

Brick Order Form

Poly Banners and Flag

Preston Thompson Ballpark

The "Poly Marines"

Royce, sorry I had a delay on this photo of the Poly guys called to active duty in the Marine Corps on June 12, 1952. They will be celebrating 50 years since they were activated. The guys joined as they liked the idea of getting to go to a training session in California and also "free" fatigues they could wear. Jimmy Atkinson recalled a story to me the other day about an incident at Camp Pendleton in CA that earned the Poly guys a tough repetition. It seems Jimmy was on guard duty and another Marine was hassling him because he was one of the smaller guys. Roy Wilbanks was nearby and told the guy "Don't mess with Jimmy." The guy did it again and Roy said "Don't mess with Jimmy!" The third time he hassled him Roy hit him and knocked him about half way across the drive. The guy was shocked and said "I was only kidding" and Roy said "I said don't mess with Jimmy." Well, word got out and everyone was saying don't mess with those Poly guys as they mean business. The Poly boys even adopted one or two friends and made them "Poly Guys." The photo was made by the Star-Telegram and was published in the paper.

All of these guys are accounted for except Jerry Baker and no one seems to know of his whereabouts. Loyd Harper lives in California but the rest of the living are all in the general area.

C A Thompson Memorial Dedicated

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On Dec. 14 th a large group of association members gathered at Poly High School to dedicate the memorial to C. A. Thompson, who was principal at Poly from 1943 to 1965. We had a brief dedication ceremony, presided over by Bob Bruton, association president. Harold Nichols, the current Vice Principal at Poly, represented the school, along with Lillian Love Kennedy, who is Academic/SIP Coordinator at Poly. The association also presented the school with a coffee maker and microwave for the Teacher's Lounge during the same ceremony.

The school building was opened for us to go in and wander around, and everyone seemed to have a good time. The important thing, of course, is that the memorial we've been discussing since the inception of the organization finally became a reality. It is a fitting tribute and sits very prominently in front of the building near enough to the street to be read from a car. We've included a couple of pictures in this issue but if you haven't seen it by all means go by and do so at your earliest opportunity.

A large number of members worked on the project to design and procure the memorial, most notably Donah Tucker and Marie Gaunce. Glen Carruthers donated the material and labor for the concrete foundation.

I sent some pictures of the monument to Larry Thompson, Mr. T's son and received the following email message from him:

"Royce, thanks for your nice letter and the copy of the newspaper coverage. Shelby [Sharpe (1958)] called me on the Friday before the dedication, but I had a conflict and couldn't make it on such short notice. Nonetheless, I appreciate the dedication. My dad could have made a lot of money in his life, but chose, instead, to be a positive influence on young lives. I remember taking vacations as a teenager and being constantly amazed that no matter where we went in the country, nearly always, someone would yell, "Mr. T" and it would be one of his former students.

I was blessed with two wonderful parents and I've always been proud of them. I will go by to see the monument when I am next in Fort Worth and of course, I, too, always remember "who I am and where I'm from"

Larry Thompson

Left to Right: Royce Dalton (Editor), Donah Tucker (Treasurer), Suzie Williams (Vice President), Bob Bruton (President) Click On Image For Larger View Use "Back" button on browser to return

RIDGLEA COUNTRY CLUB - MARCH 13TH.
BIRTHDAY - 100

Miss Evalyn Martel celebrated her 100th. Birthday with family and friends in the Garden Roomat the Ridglea
Country Club. There were 71 in attendance with at least 50 family members there to help her celebrate. Her great
niece, Cynthia Ruff O'Conner, and Cynthia's daughter, Virginia, came all the way from New York City. Miss Martel's
other great niece, Lisa Irby Edick, and her two daughters, Kari and Ellen, came from Knoxville, Tennessee.
Most of the rest of the family live in the Texas area.

Miss Martel taught her first class at Poly in 1927 and retired in 1969 as the Dean of Women of Poly High School.
Miss Martel graduated from Central. Three of her sisters graduated from Poly, Maud Martel Ruff, (Poly Class of 1924), Frances Martel Hale (deceased) ( Poly Class of 1927) and Ruth Martel Barton (Poly Class of 1929).
Maurine Martel (deceased), older sister of Evalyn's, graduated from Central. She taught at Poly
and sponsored the Poly Parrot annual for many years.

One from the Class of 1927 attended the celebration, Lesbia Word Roberts.

Dr.Fritz Barton, her nephew was host.

Several other Poly graduates were also present. Martel Ruff (nephew), Lesbia Word Roberts and Sue Gunter Mason
to name a few.

March 14th.
On the morning of the 14th. I contacted Miss Martel and wished her a Happy Birthday on behalf
of the Poly Alumni Association, Bethel Cole, and myself.

FORTY TWO (42) YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STUDENTS AT POLY
HIGH SCHOOL - HOW MANY HAS SHE TOUCHED WITH HER LOVE
FOR TEACHING?
GOD BLESS YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO US.

Charles Boston Class of 1950
(Information furnished courtesy of Hazel Taylor)

Left: Martel Ruff (Nephew)   Right: Dr. Fritz Barton
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Evalyn Martel in doorway
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Left: Evalyn Martel Age 100
Center: Maud Martell Ruff Age 97 (Poly class of 1924)
Right: Ruth Martel Barton (Poly class of 1929)

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NOTICES

Check out the Poly Blues at the site below

submitted by Robert Smith

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ABOUT THE CAR: At C.A. Thomson memorial.
Sitting - Dub Graves (Class of 47) - Gene Middleton (Class of 54) - Standing Don Fox (Class of 52)
CAR - 1931 Modal A Ford Roadster
1939 Car owned by Frank Thomas.
1940 - January - Car sold to Jo Dunham who was a Poly Senior.
1998 - March - Car sold to Don Fox (Class of 52)
2003 - Car sold to Frank Thomas III
After 53 years car made it back to the Thomas family.

Texas locker room to be dedicated to Woody Woodman

AUSTIN, Texas - Prior to team introductions for the first game of a 1 p.m. doubleheader between Texas and N.C. State at Disch-Falk Field on Saturday, May 15, the Longhorns locker room will be dedicated to former baseball letterman and UT fund raiser, the late John A. "Woody" Woodman. A three-year baseball letterman for the Horns from 1956-58 as well as a significant fund raiser in the area of Major Gifts and Planned Giving for the UT Athletics Department for a number of years, Woodman (right) passed away on June 14, 2003, after being diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. To honor him, UT head coach Augie Garrido wore Woodman's No. 2 during the Horns four games in Omaha last year. Before Saturday's game with the Wolfpack, Woodman's family will be presented with a plaque dedicating the Texas locker room to his memory. Starting at second or third base for head coach Bibb Falk's Longhorns for three seasons, Woodman helped lead Texas to a pair of Southwest Conference Championships (1957 & 1958) as well as two NCAA District 6 Playoff berths and a trip to the 1957 College World Series while being tabbed an All-Southwest Conference performer during both the 1957 and 1958 campaigns. Inducted into the prestigious Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2003, Woodman posted the third highest single-season batting average on UT record with a .413 mark in 1958 en route to amassing a .345 career average, which still ranks 18th on the school's all-time career list. Following his time on the Forty Acres, Woodman developed a strong background in fund raising having worked for numerous years in that role for a hospital in Midland, Texas. Then, when UT Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds was looking for someone to spearhead the $90 million capital improvement fund raising drive that included several major projects at UT's athletics facilities, Woodman returned to Austin. In his new role on the Forty Acres, Woodman created, and named, The Longhorn Legacy and became a key figure in the UT Athletics Department once again.

My sister, Annie Louise Lewie Land, passed away March 1, 2005, in Fort Worth at the age of 82.
Annie graduated from Poly at the age of 16 in 1939. Since she was only 16, she could not enter college
until the following year when she enrolled in Texas Women's College in Denton. Annie's daughters,
Marsha - 1965, Jeanne -1971, Lindy - 1972, all graduated from Poly.

Barbara Lewie Berry -1955

Fort Worth High Schools Lunch at Angelos BBQ

Contributed by: DonPeacock

I got a call this weekend from Jerry Nabors saying that James Brewer, of Northside, was getting together a group of Fort Worth high school athletes for a lunch at Angelos BBQ on White Settlement Road. Jerry said just anybody in the 40's or 50's could come. I didn't think too much more about it but decided this morning I would go ahead and go. Boy, what a pleasant surprise when I pulled into a crowded parking lot at Angelos and went to the front door to see a crowd of men standing around trying to get in. I walked in with Tommy Taylor and Brewer was greeting people at the door and two women had a table set up registering the men and giving them a name tag with what school there were from.

Wanda Rufner? and Peggy Webb? were also greeting guys in the line. They ran out of the forms they were using for the men to fill out but I don't know how many forms they used. I guessed there were close to 100 men and women there. Everybody grabbed their food and went into the big dining room and were laughing, talking, lying and the usual type of talk men do when they get together. They had a bunch from Poly, Northside, Riverside (no one called it Carter-Riverside), Arlington Heights, Paschal, Diamond Hill, Laneri and others that didn't play in Fort Worth but came with friends that did. The only school I didn't hear called was Tech, but there could have been some there.

After a while Brewer asked each person to stand up, give their name, high school and year they graduated. They ranged from 1940 to 1953 as I recall. I wished I had brought my video camcorder as it would have been great to know for sure who all came. Dan Jenkins, the Paschalite writer was sitting next to Brewer and said he was from Paschal and wanted to know if any Peacocks were there, and that brought a laugh. Brewer asked if they would like to make the lunch an annual event the first Monday after Thanksgiving and the majority said yes. Brewer said he would try to get it better organized for the next one. The names meant a lot to me as I could recall a lot of them from the playing days of my older brothers. I recall several of them being standouts and probably all district. Yale Larry, with his old running mate Bobby Helms, for two and Tommy Runnels, also from Northside, brought one of the Renfros but I didn't catch his name and Bill Baumgardner also from Northside. Lavon Means of Diamond Hill was there and closer to my age. Don and James Hunt, Shug McPherson and Orien Browning were some of the Riverside guys there. They had a good turnout. Bill O'Grady from Arlington Heights also had several of the Heights guys there. I have to quit on these as a name of one or two keep popping up. HA! Like I said, I needed my video with me.

From Poly I saw these guys and I hope I don't leave any of them out: Dub Crocker, Bill Davis, Tommy Taylor, Bill Burkhart, James Fry, Royce Kirby, Dub Graves, Jim Grace, Jerry Nabors. Heck, I know others were there but may have to sleep on this to recall them all. Of course, Peggy Webb and Wanda Rufner.

The whole point is it was good to see so many men get together and share a few minutes with each other and their days of playing sports in the "OLDEN" days of Fort Worth athletics. That was an era I really enjoyed being a part of and hopefully Brewer can get it together next year. If it gets any larger they may have to find another gathering place though.

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