The Class of 1974 will celebrating their 50th year since graduating from THS in May of that year. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know several of them through the years and thought I’d share some of what they have experienced in their journeys.They were born just before the beginning of the Space Race ( Sputnik in 1957 ) and got to witness its conclusion when man landed on the Moon in 1969. To borrow a line from a well known song of their time they were “a generation lost in space.”As grade school kids they were divided between Washington and Lincoln elementary, the boys played on 1 of four pee wee football teams, ate in the basement of the Catholic Church if they didn’t go home for lunch, and loved their playground time! They were also part of the golden years of television. In their 5th grade year it was Batman and Robin, Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, just to name a few. And nothing beat the feeling of waking up early for Saturday morning cartoons.Summers were filled with bike rides, summer softball and baseball, swimming and swimming lessons at the public pool on the south side of town. Even a penny was worth picking up. And if they could manage to get a hold of a quarter, WOW! Candy was 1 cent, you could get a nickel coke at DairyLand, they had lots of options! Summer seemed endless.In 1968 they all came together as Bucs for the first time. First time to wear the Orange and Black, go to sock hops, and experience new things. As the years went by they shared a lot of things, classes, music of the time, a lot of them singers and musicians themselves in Band or Vocal Music, sports, and they even made their own Star Trek episode! It’s pretty good , I’ve seen it. Sadly they also lost some classmates early on.By the time they reached driving age ( and started dragging up and down Grand for hours) they had become scholars, athletes, band members, cheerleaders, twirlers, singers, were involved in youth groups, etc. Their hobbies, besides burning gas in their cars, were building and launching model rockets, eight tracks, records and cassette tapes, endless evenings at the park playing basketball, and just hanging out.As usual being a former football coach I have to mention the 73 team. Outsized and ...
