Interview+Transcript+With+Chuck+Moore

Kevin: Alright, Chuck you graduated from West. Can you tell me what year you graduated?

Chuck: Well I graduated in 1965 and it was not West it was just Belleville Township High School

K: Oh, well do you know when it became West and East?

C: Umm, I think they started splitting in ’67 and the first graduating class from East was in 1968

K: Hmm...well alright

C: So there was only one high school when I and that was Belleville Township High School and we had about 4200 students because there were well over 1000 students in the class of ’65, only 900 or so graduated but we had a class of about 1000 for four years up until graduation

K: Wow…I actually had no idea

C: Didn’t know that did you? hahaha

K: That actually works out quiet well because I didn’t know how big the class was in ’65. The yearbook year I’m doing is ’32, and it was much smaller. So next question, while looking in the year book I saw that you were in the Marching Band. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

C: Uh I don’t know in the marching band I played French horn and also we played concert band during the winter time and during the fall we played all the football games and during the winter time we played in the concert band like they do now

K: Oh I see what you mean, so besides the music programs were you in any of the other clubs at Belleville High School?

C: I don’t know I did the float but I don’t know, I was in Spanish club but I don’t think I was in the club. Not a real social light.

K: Oh well that doesn’t really help. So one of the things that people wonder about leaving west is if they were prepared for the rest of their life. Do you feel that BTHS got you prepared for the rest of life?

C: I don’t know if it got me prepared but it defiantly got me started. You know there were a lot of crazy things going on back in the 60’s, it was a very interesting time. You know, for everyone in high school it’s kind of a confusing time. It’s a new age with growing up and maturing and everything. Yea I’d say it got me prepared on the right foot and everything. I went on to get a BA and Masters Degree and graduated from the College of the Army

K: Oh how long were you in the army?

C: Well a total of 35 years I was in active and reserve for…yea…right at 35 years. I was enlisted and commissioned and retired a colonel.

K: Ok, well another question. As you said, life in the 60’s was kinda crazy, and as you know JFK got assassinated in ‘63 how did that affect the school for you?

C: Well I remember exactly when it happened because I was walking out of the cafeteria when we found out he was assassinated and I guess it was a wake up if you will of all the political things going on and what a crazy place the world was at that time. I was a junior or a sophomore I think, I don’t exactly remember

K: Yea.

C: A junior I think, it kind of umm I don’t know it was just such a shock and everything and there were like three days over that whole weekend were they had the funeral and all that and the whole country was watching that. It kind of made you realize all the crazy things that were going on the world and what a tough time it was.

K: Do you kind of feel as though the assassination can be kind of related to how the world felt with 9-11

C: No I don’t see it. I don’t know, I see that as…different

K: Yea I uh understand how that can be quiet different, it’s kind of an incredibly strange difference. Because one was the leader of a country, the other was a tower.

C: One was a terrorist act by religious extremist against our country and the other had political undertones and I didn’t see it really as a terrorist act, it was a political assassination with political motives if you will. Both horrible things but I don’t see them as being the same if you will

K: Yea, and umm you have a son, Ryan and he goes to West now. And you talk to a lot of people there now. How do you feel time has changed for these students?

C: Well, the world has changed a lot in the 45 years since our class graduated. It’s an entirely different world both technologically and politically, and I think the students now have been exposed to a lot earlier in their lives than we did back then. Back then problems at our school were people smoking in the bathroom and putting gum under the desk. Now it’s drugs and fights and weapons and that’s just the and we got gangs and that was all unheard of back then out our high school. And like I said the world now and all the information available to you is totally different.

K: Yea, I know what you mean there. I’ve been thinking the same thing lately how everything is so much different. Things that you would get in trouble before are just totally blown out of the water. Alright… so umm these next questions are more about the actual school aspect. So, I saw in the year book and saw things about donkey basketball.

C: Yea, a lot of fun

K: Yea it is, were you on a donkey basketball team?

C: Yea actually I was. I actually did two of them

K: Oh really?

C: Yea someone was unavailable for the other side so I filled in.

K: Oh, what went with your guys’ donkey basketball game?

C: It was more just a group of guys got together and we waited our turn then got on donkeys and tried to get baskets. Like I know some schools were more elaborate with theirs but ours was more just go out ride the donkeys tried to make baskets and have fun. It was a lot of fun.

K: So umm hobo parades?

C: Oh yea, I might mention that first of all the class of’ 65 won the float competition all four years

K: Did you help build the floats?

C: Oh yea a couple of them, but def most of them. There was a main group that did more than anything else but I did go and do a few things my junior and senior year. They were pretty elaborate and each class built their own and each class had fun. I think we were the first class to go through and win it all four years. I don’t know if it’s been done since

K: I wish haha, our school now has kind of los the fight with the parade. Now we just celebrate with a big poster in front of the school. It’s really lost a lot of what it was

C: Yea, today I see it and its nothing compared to what we did. There was a lot of involvement by everyone. There was a lot of fun and activity leading up to the parade. We didn’t really have any problems. The floats were very elaborate and sometimes took weeks to put together but it was really a lot of fun and no real problems there again, a different atmosphere from what you have now

K: Yea hobo day for us is just everyone dressing up and walking around campus

C: Well you know, we actually had the march down Main Street.

K: Yea that did sound like a lot of fun

C: It was sorry you weren’t able to do it too

K: Yea now we just have an assembly and nobody gets to really see what we’ve done

C: Yea. And the hobo day parade led up to the Thanksgiving Day game against East Side too. And that was a big deal and again our class I think we beat them 42-6 junior year and went undefeated, but again they started having problems with fights and stuff against east side after our time and were forced to change it and because of the playoffs the schedule changed so the Thanksgiving Day game changed. It was uncommon that the stadium behind the old high school was filled but it was standing room only at that game. It was packed; you’d get there at 7 in the morning just to get a seat. I don’t remember how many thousand people would b there. Literally the track around the field was standing room only. We had good games haha

K: Yea today it seems like your team either wins or loses n the games aren’t as intense

C: Well back then you didn’t have as many sports. It was football and baseball, there was no soccer, so most of your best athletes focused on football and baseball and there was more activity in them because you weren’t spending all of your time at the other sports. And you had more people involved so you had big audiences. And we had big teams, I mean; we were beating east side back then hahaha

K: So uh, one thing I noticed when looking through the year books is that east side was our biggest rival and this was before East and West, but when would you say they struck up a rivalry between the two schools that were once the same?

C: The rivalries between which schools?

K: West and East.

C: Well like I said there was not west and east haha

K: Well when east opened up their campus?

C: What?

K: When East opened up their campus because it seems that it was East St versus BTHS for the big rivalry

C: Oh it was

K: Oh yea, but it seems to kind of mask how it is today with West and East

C: You mean like comparing the rivalries?

K: Yea

C: Hello, Kevin? Are you still there?

K: Yea I’m here

C: Ok, you mean comparing the east side- BTHS rivalry with the east-west rivalry? You’re breaking up on me. Is that what you’re asking?

K: Yea that’s what I’m asking.

C: Ok, oh I don’t know I don’t see any comparison, the east side-BTHS rivalry started back in the 30’s and 20’s we they started playing each other and I think it was a greater rivalry. And the east0west rivalry, partially from what I mentioned before with the greater focus and filling the stadium, I don’t think you can match the crowds and anticipation with the east-west game. Hobo day was focused against east side and with the greater activities that you had leading up to it I just think it was a bigger rivalry

K: Yea I understand what you mean. Because now it seems like it’s a bigger rivalry than what everyone says about the east-west one. So now some questions about the actual school itself while you were there. What was your favorite class?

C: I don’t know I had a lot of fun in Marching band n I also enjoyed Chemistry with Jim Masse as the instructor, I had a good time in there he was a good instructor. But I had a lot of fun in marching band that’s for sure. Mr. Kerch, Leroy Kerch was the instructor and we had a lot of good times with that. So chemistry and marching band.

K: Ok, and what instrument did you say you played again?

C: French horn

K: Ah, so um you were saying about your chemistry, teacher, you liked him, would you say he was your favorite teacher?

C: Well if he wasn’t then he was one of them just because he was a good teacher and a good guy. Oh Mr. Miller was the principle then and I really like him, he was great. He was a really good guy, went on to be superintendent

K: Oh I c what you mean. So um we’ve been doing a lot of research in the year books and I’ve been noticing a major change in the curriculum. Because in the 30’s I noticed that well over half of the class or a majority of the classes were vocational classes, can you tell me what BTHS was like in the 60’s?

C: Well it was probably a mix, you know? They had some of the vocational classes, and some of the traditional chemistry math English and foreign languages. In fact, when I think I was there they offered more languages than now, when I was there they had German and Latin, French and Spanish. I don’t think they offer that kind of variety now.

K: Yea

C: Now, um, but they had the vocational classes also which served a good purpose because I don’t think everyone needs to go to college because you need plumber and people to work on your car and I think everyone’s abilities are different and just because you don’t go to college doesn’t matter because there’s a need for all these other trades and um some people I think it’s a mistake because they don’t enhance the abilities they have in other areas, like I say being a carpenter or whatever.

K: Yea I understand what you mean by the demand for those because it feels like it’s starting to climb because everyone feels like they need to go to college

C: Well yea they do, but why? Half of them go and make it thru and are working at McDonalds and asking someone if they want a large coke with their fries. If they want to go that’s fine but people have wonderful careers and serve the community much better off by being well trained carpenters and plumbers. A lot of unemployed people go to college when they maybe should do something else.

K: You told me you spent, how many? 35 years in the army?

C: Well it was a combination of active and reserve. N I did the equivalent of 12 years active duty time. That was over a 35 year period and over my last 4 years active duty I started as enlisted then eventually worked my way up and retired as a cornel over at Scott.

K: Has there been anything else after that?

C: What do you mean?

K: Have you done anything besides the military?

C: Well I retired from the police department and am currently over my own department at South Western Illinois College in Granite City.

K: How long were you in the police force?

C: I started in Fairview and I retired from Belleville after a total of 25 years. And I was a reservist and took off time to do active duty during that time, sort of did a bunch of stuff at the same time

K: So one of the big things at west is things like prom and dances and these things were they as big during your time at Belleville?

C: Well I’d say they were probably bigger. As an example; after every football game we had a very large dance in what was the girls’ gym. They had live bands and that was after every football and basketball game and they were crowded. The majority of the students went to them after the sporting events and they were a big deal.

K: Ours have seemed to die down to the Homecoming, winter ball and prom itself

C: And they had a winter dance and the prom and they had the junior jam and that was a real focal point, and people participated in all the different plays. A lot of social activites. And from my perspective it was a lot more than what is happening now.

K: And you mentioned something about the junior jam and I’m really in to the theatre, and I’m wondering how big the theatre was then?

C: You mean like number of people participating?

K: Like number of people participating? How big the shows were? And how anticipated the shows were?

C: Well it was kind of a focal point, it was a big deal for everyone to go to the junior jam, and certainly everyone worked on it. We went to the jam and the theatre was full and they wrote their own plays. It’s different than what there is now. They literally got together and wrote their own plays and a lot of people came and saw it.

K: Wow

C: And the money that was raised from that is the money that paid for the junior-senior prom and the juniors put the prom on for the seniors

K: Yea, that hasn’t changed. Ok, I have one final question, this one is, what would be your most memorable memory from your time at Belleville?

C: Hmm I don’t know most favorite memory from my time at Belleville? I guess I’d say marching band practice. We had more fun at practice, I mean we got done what we needed to get done but we did a lot of crazy things while we were practicing and had a real good time doing it. So I’d say the marching band practice and we had more fun practicing than anything else

K: Well it seems like practicing is always more fun than the actual event itself. Well, alright Chuck, thank you very much!

C: Ok, good luck!