The Shaft L. Ray Humphreys '56 During the 1950's there were annual occurrences at Weber College between two men's organizations namely. Phoenix and Excelsior - known as 'THE SHAFT." There were very few rules, except to place your opponent in a very embarrassing or frustrating experience during one of their special events, i.e. Phoenix's Snowball or Excelsior's Sweetheart Ball. Both were annual dances sponsored by the respective men's club. In 1956, Excelsior and Otyokwa were having their Sweetheart Ball at the White City Ballroom, a large dance hall built to accommodate the "Big Band Era" of dancing. They went to a lot of work, and everything was on schedule to present their Sweethearts during the intermission. It was a very elegant affair with a grand march of all the members and their dates to the stage for the presentation. Little did they know that there were now two public address systems in the ballroom, theirs and Phoenix's. Hal Stephens had worked mightily the week prior to the dance to remove the sound system from the old Moench Building and re-install it in the White City Ballroom. We had no way of testing the system without raising suspicion, as a local high school was decorating for its dance that night. The high school students thought we were electricians hired by the owners of the ballroom to do some electrical work. A week later, just as the grand procession began, Phoenix's borrowed sound system came to life with the sound of barking dogs, whistles, sirens, and bells. To our delight, the grand march was not as dignified as planned. The "disk jockeys" running the sound effects from outside the ballroom were Heber Jentzsch, Al Fleming, and Hal Stephens. They could see through the window that there would be no more signals coining from me as I was surrounded by the White Tuxedo Jackets of Excelsior. The only thing that saved my life was that the sound effects record changed while I was surrounded. This added to my alibi that I had nothing to do with "THE SHAFT." Excelsior's Sweetheart Donnette Ralph Papier-Mache' Float Jaciel Gray Blanch '56 It was Homecoming 1954. The La Dianaeda sisters were making a float. It was such fun. We had decided on a mermaid theme. We would all meet at Una Jean West's home around 7:00 p.m. To make this mermaid, we had to use boiling water, flour, and strips of newspaper to make a papier mache. We each took our turn stirring the big pot of boiling water and flour and then placing the newspaper strips onto a wire form. We had great fun doing this, and we all became good friends. Una Jean's mother was so darling, getting right in and helping us drape and form our beautiful mermaid. I don't remember who won first place or even second, but I do remember the wonderful times we had in La Dianaeda and the friendships we made. Jaciel Gray Blanch Growing Up Years Marcella Whaley Walker '56 Back in the fall of 1954, Weber was a junior college with about 600-plus daytime students and many more night students because so many veterans from the Korean conflict were using the GI Bill to go to school. School began in the late part of September, but the fun began long before that with the social clubs beginning their rush for new members. For freshmen this was an especially fun time, somewhat confusing, but lots of fun. I was invited to attend rush parties by three clubs: Otyokwa, Sharmea, and Chanodo. The rush parties for these three clubs were exciting; members went all out to make sure that the freshmen had a wonderful time and were duly im-pressed with the club. I received bids from all of these clubs. I re-member how worried I was that none of them would want me. When I got three bids, I felt so good. However, I could choose only one, and it was a difficult choice. I finally chose Chanodo be- 84 cause Kayla Kerr was the president, and she was a great person - one of the friendliest people I ever knew. This club made me feel that we would have one terrific time, and we did. Another thing that happened in the beginning of that school year was my appointment to be the writer for the Weber College column "Campus Chatterbox," which was published each Sunday in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. Glen Perrins was editor of the Standard then, and he hired me to write that column. I had worked on the Ogden High School newspaper and majored in journalism in college, i enjoyed writing that column and early set some goals. One was that it would cover the events of the week at the college, and another was that it would have a variety of names in it. I also decided to conclude each col- umn with a "thought" for the week, and I spent hours in the library seeking good "thoughts." At the end of that school year, several people wrote in my yearbook that they had really enjoyed the column because it had a lot of names in it, not just the "big men on campus." One of the things that impressed me that year at Weber was the selection of some African-Americans to be members of the social clubs. I remember that Audrey Harris was a member of Chanodo and Nolan "Spike" Jones was a member of Alpha Rho Omega. During Pledge Week, we went through all kinds of tough stuff. In Chanodo we had to wear Robin Hood outfits all week. My mother couldn't believe that I was dying a pair of white long Johns green to wear with a light-brown tunic. The week ended with initiations. I remem- ber we had to bring a goldfish because sometime during this week we were to eat it. I was really worried. We were brought individually into a room and blindfolded. We sat down and were told all kinds of baloney, but I heard later that the "goldfish" I swallowed was really raw liver. I am not sure which was worse. An Alka Seltzer tablet was put into my mouth which frothed like a mad dog. When that ordeal was all over, we were sent into a room and told to eat an orange to get rid of the awful taste left in our mouths. The only catch was that we were to eat the orange, rind and all. I peeled the orange and stuck the peelings in my pockets. No one ever searched to find out if we ate the whole orange or not. But this was just a fun beginning to a great year. Chanodo did very well in intramurals that year, largely because Audrey and Kayla were excellent athletes. We did a service project which I have never forgotten. We invited some underprivileged children to a party. We gave them gifts, we played games with them, and the children enjoyed refreshments afterward. That was one of my first real experiences of giving service to those less fortunate, and I was proud of our club and what we had accomplished. Who could ever forget putting on our assembly? Each club did an assembly during the year. We had to learn how to do a tap dance, and most of us had never tried it before. We enjoyed learning. Pat Rawson's sister taught us the dance. At Easter, we held our big breakfast to mark the end of the school year and the election of officers for the new year. I was thrilled to learn I had been elected secretary. The fall of 1954 was the first year that classes were held at the upper campus. There were four building plus the TUB, where we hung out. Most of our classes were at the upper campus, but we had to go to the lower campus for PE, dance, swimming, and most sports events. The auditorium was at the lower campus, too, in the old Moench Building. One time we decided to have a surprise birthday party for Florence Kubota. She was the shyest and quietest girl I ever knew, but also one of the kindest and nicest. Sharon Johnson and I worked really hard to make this party come off without her finding out about it. We held it at the Moench Building and told her we would meet her there for a meeting and then we were going to the movie. The surprise came off perfectly, and she was shocked and embarrassed by all the attention. I think she had fun, but she may not have forgiven us yet. At the TUB, where everyone went between classes, we could buy sandwiches and candy and other junk food and drinks to sustain us until we went home each day. The boys, especially the ath- letes, liked to spend a lot of time in the TUB. It was furnished with some overstuffed chairs and sofas. We soon learned that if we put our hands down between the cushions we could often find enough loose change that had fallen from the boys' pockets to pay for our lunch. I usually paid for lunch this way. In addition to being on the Signpost staff, I was also on the staff for the yearbook, the Acorn. We had been working hard to sell yearbooks, and I had sold one finally. However, when I went to turn the money in at the yearbook office, the money was gone. I looked everywhere for it and could not find it. It was $5.00, a lot of money in those days. I tried to think of a way I could earn the $5.00 to pay for the yearbook. Finally, a boy asked me to type his term paper for $5.00. I agreed. But I was not a great 85