Memories from our Senior Year – April 1972
Author: Rob Corns
Before I begin, I wanted to take a moment on behalf of this group to, not only send condolences to the families of the LHS72 classmates we lost last month, Chris Cassidy, Debbie Ray Klingensmith, Dennis Moeller., Mary Kazanas Westbrook and Dean Kent as well as all of the classmates that have sadly passed away over the years. Some of you knew them, perhaps you went to grade or church school or junior high school with them. As big a school as Lakewood High was, there’s a chance one of them was in a class with you or sat at a table next to you in the cafeteria. Maybe you passed them in the hallway or sat near them at The Civic Auditorium during one of our assemblies. They will always be in our thoughts and prayers.
Easter was on April 2 in 1972, so we had a Spring Break. Not sure what I did, probably stayed at home as I was still only 17, but did any of you remember going anywhere that week? Florida or the east coast where there were sandy beaches would probably have been your destination of choice. And, the usual debauchery that accompanies it probably happened too!
Well, with Spring finally here, the weather was just right with no snowfall at all after April 8 and temps falling in the upper 40s to mid-70’s range! And, yeah, we did get some showers, but they DID bring us some beautiful May flowers (or so the saying goes)!
I think we all remember the student newspaper, “The Lakewood High Times”. Well, I guess times have changed and now, for some reason, the High took the high road and it’s now just called “The Lakewood Times”. Anyway, the editor-in-Chief was Elise Miller along with Managing Editor Scott Kermode and included seniors on the staff such as Mary Kaye Spilker, “Hobblin” Ed Hobson, Brent Laymon, Mark Muth, Carol Seelbach, Joel Plagenz and Adrian Abernathy.
Well, for their April Fool’s issue, it was renamed “The Lakewood Low Times” and the school was renamed “Lawtherville High School (which was a nod to then Lakewood mayor Robert Lawther) and they did stories with headlines like, “Band embarks on chilly tour of Siberia”, “Beards prove hair-raising problem for Barnburners”, “TIMES proposes selling cafe as HUMAN ZOO” and “Drinking team out-guzzles Rocky River at Bradley” whereas the Rangers boozers were led by their “senior ace” Dirty Dan McClown (no relations, as far as I know to our own Dan McCown). This “McClown” guy said, (allegedly), “I think the turning point came when I filled my 33 gallon gas tank with ‘Strawberry Hill’ and then drank it all with a straw.” Again, I’m still trying to get confirmation on this story.
And, speaking of The Barnburners, er The Barnstormers, they put on their second production , and these were three one-act plays under the name of “Triune”. Act One was called, “The Old Lady Shows Her Medals”, Act 2 was “Riders to the Sea” and the third act was “The Apollo Of Bellac” (which was student directed by Tom Meyrose). Seniors that appeared in these shows included Joan McClusky, Martha Brdar, Marsa Kingmanm Thomas Sarlina and Dan Lofgren as “Apollo” aka “The Man”.
Before I have a stroke, let’s dive right in to see how The Rangers Swim Team did this year! From what I see, they did swimmingly! Making a splash were tri-captains Chris Cassidy, Brian Murphy and Kevin Smith. They made waves by capturing the L.E.L. Championship with a 14-0 record! On top of that, the well-deserved District Coach Of The Year went to coach Neil Skinner. And, no, he did not later change his first name to Lynyrd, just so you know!!
On April 10th, the 44th Academy Awards show, the Best Picture Oscar went to The French Connection and Gene Hackman (The French Connection) and Jane Fonda (Klute) won Best Acting Awards.
(On a personal note, my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on April 11th of 1972 and my brother and I organized a surprise party for them that night They would have been married 75 years this month!)
On the boob tube, the end came for the long running sitcom “My Three Sons”. I mention this because it went on the air in September of 1960 when we were all starting 1st grade and it ended in our senior year. And, by actual count, Fred MacMurray went through 2,316 smoking pipes!
By the way, Apollo 16, which was the 2nd to last moon landing, was going on between April 16 and 27. The final one launched in December of 1972. I was really in to those back in the day, even after the Apollo 13 fiasco from a couple of years before.
Of you were listening to local Top 40 radio this month, whether it be WIXY-1260, WHK, color channel 14, WKYC 1100, WGCL “G98”, 1220 WGAR or even CKLW (“The Big 8) 800 AM our of Detroit, you would have been groovin’ along to such hits as “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack, “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” by Paul McCartney and Wings, “Betcha By Golly, Wow!” by The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin’s “Daydreamin’” or for you hard rockers, “You Could Have Been A Lady” by April Wine. And, for those who “dig” Progressive Rock, Duane & Gregg Allman released their self-titled album that WNCR 99.5 and 100.7 WMMS were playing. And, the place to go to buy that album would be, of course, Lamp’s Melody Lane on Detroit Avenue!
Date night in April 1972? Well, the blockbuster Godfather was still out from last month, but as far as new movies? Well, unless you were taking your date to the old Hilliard Theater to see Fritz The Cat, it looks like you were pretty much out of luck for some good not rated X movies back then! Trust me, I looked and there were not any good choices!!
If it were me, I’d go to either Miller’s (don’t forget the sticky buns), Baratko’s , Piccadilly Square (later The Phantasy Nightclub) Clark’s Restaurant over there on W 117th and Clifton, Chicken Delight on Detroit, Maria’s Roman Room, or maybe even Bearden’s restaurants (I would recommend The Bearden Basket,: burger, fries and coleslaw), or even my favorite “go-to” place, Manner’s across from the Lakewood Library and spend that $6.00 on the two of you and enjoy a hearty meal. And, you’d even have enough to fill your gas tank with the 55 cents a gallon it would cost you!!
