Displaying East’s glorious past

Posted by [email protected] | Sep 26, 2015 | East/Warner, History, Sports | 0 |

• April 8, 2015

Last summer, while setting up their new office, East’s incoming Athletic Directors Jason Johnson and Patrick Irving came across a truly extraordinary storage room. It contained dozens of trophies East teams had won dating from 1908 (first East-West football game) to the 1920s. They were mostly from track and field, but also the 1925 Rochester and Vicinity baseball champions (depicting a crouching catcher) and even one for the 1909 Debating team.

Principal Anibal Soler decided the trophies should be displayed prominently outside the auditorium.

As explained to me by Patrick, he and Jay knew there was storage space, but had no idea what they would find tucked away on the top shelves. They discovered the trophies: dusty, but well-preserved. Patrick told me, “When we first got to East, we heard so much about its rich history. And now we had the proof.” Immediately, they knew the trophies needed to be showcased.

East Athletic Director, Patrick Irving. To his left is the 1925 baseball trophy.

Already, they are drawing attention. Patrick often sees captivated students peering into the cases. During basketball games, fans frequently ask him about these fascinating artifacts. Soon-to-be East’s superintendent, Stephen Eubbing, told me when he gives tours, he proudly points to the old trophies.

Next year, we will watch as a “new” East is born. What better time to celebrate its glorious past.

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.