POPULATION: 17,348
HOUSES: 4,184
- Addition to main library completed. New building entrance requires removal of classic front facade architecture of existing building, which would be a target of criticism in later years.
SCHOOLS
- Newton native John Lee hired to teach industrial arts, then physical education at Walpole High School,becoming head coach of football team.
- School committee acquires plans for 15-room addition to Fisher School
8 comments:
John Lee was initially hired as an industrial arts teacher. He moved to PhyEd when Chan Finney was re-assigned to one of the junior highs. The adoption of the name Rebels occurred two years prior to Coach Lee's arrival. Coach Lee had nothing to do with the name change.
Four Walpole men make the ultimate sacrifice while serving in Vietnam:
Army PFC Nicholas Conaxis, January 5, age 20
Marine PFC Richard “Charlie” Drake, January 30, age 19
Army 2LT Paul Fitzgibbons, May 13, age 21
Marine PFC Brian Collins, September 12, age 19
Thanks, Dave. I will follow up on this. Do you have any other details with regard to the Rebel name change?
And thanks for the recognition of Viet Nam soldiers who died in service.
I have plenty of details and evidence that the name change occurred at least two years before Coach Lee's arrival at WHS. The Rebels theme may have intensified after his arrival due to the success of his teams, but he definitely did not introduce the nickname to WHS. The name change was the result of a contest sponsored by the WHS Student Council in 1966. Coach arrived the summer of 1968. I played on the 1966 WHS football team and we had Rebel decals on our helmets.
Thanks again, Dave. I've researched this in archives of the Walpole Times, and have a couple of things that maybe you can clarify for me. Please contact me using the Contact Form in the right sidebar.
I would love to see that decal in 1966. I graduated in 1986 as a Rebel but my Grandfather, Great Aunts and Dad were all Hilltoppers.
Fact: Before John Lee came to Walpole, he was an assistant football coach at Overton High School, a segregated (white) high school in Memphis, Tennessee. Their Mascot: The “Rebels”. Overton ditched the Rebel in the 1970s. Walpole finally ditched the “Rebel” mascot in 2020…turning to the Timberwolves in 2021.
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