Gary+Huwer+Interview+Transcript

Transcript #1 Interviewers: Kinzi Anderson and Samantha Driemeier Interviewee: Mr. Gary Huwer (Rustling) Samantha Driemeier: Okay it is recording. Okay so what year did you graduate? Gary Huwer: 1964. SD: Okay, and in your opinion, on the old West campus, where were the best and worst places for a classroom? GH: Well the best places on the old West campus when I was there was the science library or it was in the basement or the lower level of the cafeteria because they were both brand new at the time. And the worst places? Either the old library building or the third floor of the main building. SD: Okay and what was the best excuse you remember for being tardy or absent? GH: Well, first of all, I was probably at school almost every day and I don’t think I ever had tardiness as an issue. SD: Okay and what..what is your happiest memory at West? GH: The happiest memory at West? Probably being involved in sports. SD: What sports did you play? GH: I played baseball, basketball. Kinzi Anderson: What was your most embarrassing moment? GH: At West? Ah I would imagine an embarrassing, I can’t recall any most embarrassing, but I do remember in geometry class if I was called on and wasn’t prepared that was embarrassing. KA: Um what was the best thing about West? GH: The best thing about West? I thought the athletics, I figured that’s why I was there. (Laughter) GH: And I won’t, since you’re recording I won’t tell you the other thing. SD: Go ahead. (Laughter) SD: Go ahead. (Laughter) GH: What was your next question? (Chuckling) KA: What was the worst thing about West? GH: Worst thing about West? Size. And the water. KA: What was it about size? GH: Well when you came from a small school you had thirty-five students in your class and all of a sudden you were in a class of eight to nine hundred. See, there was only one school at the time, there was no Belleville West, it was Belleville Township High School. There was no East High School yet, so they had some real issues with size. SD: What about the water? GH: The water? In Millstadt we had well-water at that time, good, pure water. Belleville came from Mississippi River and was highly chlorinated and it was God awful, sort of like it is today, if you drink it when it’s warm. KA: What was Hobo Week like when you were at West? GH: Hobo Week? A lot of fun. Everybody dressed up like hobos, we marched in a parade, uh I didn’t do this, but some would go down to East St. Louis and throw eggs and some of the East St. Louis people would come up and do the same thing. It was a big rivalry then, it wasn’t a black and white issue at all. SD: Um, what was your senior prom theme? GH: I don’t have a clue. (Laughter) SD: Did it have a theme? GH: I don’t have a clue. I wasn’t concerned about the theme. SD: So, all in all, not good dances at West? GH: Not good dances? SD: Well, if you can’t remember a theme, that implies- GH: I was more into the girlfriend I was with than the theme. SD: Oh, okay. Um, do you have any interesting stories from West? That are appropriate? GH: That are appropriate? Oh there’s all sorts of stories. Uh we had this one kid in our class, he had a lisp. (Snickering) GH: His name was Norris. SD: Oh that’s cruel. GH: Everybody called him Norrith. And Norris went and took what was called, at that time you could get, they were called cherry bombs, and they had these huge explosive fireworks, and Norris took a cherry bomb into the upstairs of the library building, second floor, boys bathroom, lit it, threw it in the toilet, and blew up the toilet. KA: Oh my goodness. GH: Well, needless to say, because Norris told everyone what he did he got into all kinds of trouble, probably had to pay for the toilet. He went on to fight in Vietnam as a sniper and did very well and survived. SD: Wow. KA: That’s good. SD: Okay, were there any specific sporting events that you remember? GH: Sporting events? I remember football games, baseball games. Nothing overly specific. And I remember my very first baseball game at the start of the season in the very first inning the bases were loaded by the other team. There was a ground ball hit to me at second base and I came charging in and picked it up and threw home and as I soon as I let go of the ball it took off and hit the roof of the grandstand and bounced back on the field. Then I remember my last play as a Belleville West player in the playoffs. Again, it was a similar situation, the bases were loaded, it was the playoffs, I guess regionals. A ground ball was hit up the middle and I made a diving catch on the ball going up the middle and got up and couldn’t do anything with it. The kid was about walking across home plate, that was the end of the game. We were out, season was over. KA: Um, when you attended West did you have any field trips that stood out to you? GH: Yes, as a matter of fact. We went over to St. Louis and I don’t know, it was a soy bean association, that’s the best I can remember. And they talked about everything made out of soybeans. But, the then to be President Kennedy came in to speak to the group. KA: Really, how was that? GH: And, uh didn’t know who he was, you know? Nobody knew about what was going to happen to him. Then, maybe a year or so later while he was campaigning he came by Belleville West in an open convertible and I was probably from here to that bookcase away from him as he came by [a distance of about four feet]. KA: Wow. What kind of music was popular? GH: Beatles, I guess. I don’t really recall anything offhand, I wasn’t uh..they were playing a lot of ballads at that time, folk music, Peter, Paul ,and Mary, I guess. And the Smothers Brothers. The Smothers Brothers went on to have a comedy hour on TV and they performed in the gymnasium one night at Belleville West. KA: Wow. GH: That was before they became great. SD: Um, any movies that were like very big at that time? GH: It was always Elvis movies, and I would only see them at the Drive-In. Elvis was always the hero. Also, James Bond was coming on the scene about that time, cause we would go over to St. Louis and watch James Bond movies. SD: What was the reaction at West to the President Kennedy assassination? GH: Well, it sounds crass, I was on the debate squad at the time and we got news of it at uh, I believe It used to be called Normal? I don’t know if that’s northern Illinois now or not? But anyway, we got word of it. Jack Stokes, who does the Readers Theater and Dr. Stokes went on to teach, I guess English at BAC for instance. But anyway, we were in the backseat of his Buick, he was taking us to a debate tournament and he came out, he stopped at a place and came out and told us President Kennedy had been shot. Everybody cheered. Nobody had any use for him. He had bungled the Bay of Pigs invasion, uh here’s your mother looking for you, Samantha. (Snickering) GH: Anyway, he had bungled that and he left, we got involved in a lot of soldiers being, Cuban nationalists being left on the beaches, captured. And we wound up getting them back by paying for them in tractors and medicine to Cuba. Well, he botched that. So he was not well thought of by the debate squad. SD: Even though he came and spoke for your class? GH: Didn’t speak to out class, I said we went over to a soybean convention and heard him talk one time. By the way, he almost got us into a nuclear war also, if you’ve ever studied about him. They were within, they said Kruschev, the Russian leader, blinked. But arrangements were made to have people in Washington and that, there’s a mountain where they have nuclear bomb bunkers where they would be protected and all that. But it came very close to a nuclear war thanks to him. SD: Did you guys have bomb drills at West in case of nuclear war? GH: No we didn’t. No we didn’t. And I don’t even recall having fire drills or any kind of drills at West. SD: Was there a strict dress code at West like there is today or-? GH: I tell you what, I wore slacks like this normally. Didn’t wear blue jeans. It was only the derelicts that wore blue jeans at that time. So yeah, it was a well dressed group. (Silence) GH: This is a rather lame interview, ladies. (Chuckling) KA: It’s still going! SD: Well thank you, I think that covers it. Yeah..