Recreation at the Ivy Building

                                                    Written by Mike Strong, Class of 1960

      I have lots of time to reminisce because every time I tune in my Orioles they are losing-big time-7-0 in the first inning tonight. It gets old, but I never give up. Look at the Cub fans--they've been waiting since 1908. I've only been waiting since 1983.

 Before I sign off tonight--more Ivy Hall--

     Do you remember the Christmas concerts before we would recess for a three week vacation? Thanks to all of the boarding students at SGP we would get an extrended break which would allow us to take the memorable 1958 trip to Rochester and Buffalo with Mayron. The combined schools would gather at Ivy Hall for a concert, carols, & then a recess that would include every student receiving a stocking of goodies as they exited the hall for their extended vacation.

    By my 8th grade (Form) a recent Notre Dame grad-Mr. McGraw-had arrived on campus. He was a dynamo from Texas and was active in the Asheville Little Theatre. I remember being thrilled to see him acting in the play "Inherit the Wind" and thinking that I knew a "real actor." Anyway, because of his theatrical background, he was very involved with that year's Christmas pageant at SGP & GH. I was selected to portray one of the Three Wise Men. Fake beards woudn't do. McGraw spent alot of time applying some special goo and then affixing the "real" beards. I'm sure we looked authentic, but what I remember is that it took several days to remove all traces of his "authentic" beards!

   McGraw was a breath of fresh air to the students who were used to the formal Headmaster Daniel Pinto and his sidekick Joe Lalley. Lalley drove an old beat up station wagon to school every day. McGraw showed up with a white Impala convertible with red upholstery! He not only was an ND grad, which in those days was considered just this side of heaven, but he was a former member of the Irish swimming team. He soon instituted a swimming program at Gibbons Hall and was soon adopted by the Patton family whose son Tim was quite a swimmer. Tim was a year ahead of me at GH. Somewhere along the line he had been held back a year so that he was actually two years older than I was. He had a sister named Kathleen, a class ahead of me at SGP. As an upperclassman, Tim became my hero (it also may  have been because I was completely enamored by his pretty sister.)

   The Pattons were from Cleveland, their dad associated,  as I remember, with the Beacon MFG company. Because they were 'Yankees" as mom & dad were and Catholics to boot, they became friends. I remember spending an evening at their home along Country Club Road, sitting with Tim & Kathleen on the living room floor, as McGraw regaled us with stories about his Notre Dame College days. McGraw would not only be involved with school theatrics but he would help institute a swimming program at Gibbons Hall. Not having a pool, the "all-in" mandatory program (as all athletics were at Gibbons Hall) was held at the Asheville YMCA. The following summer, aided by Nancy Merkie Lees. McGraw helped coach a competitive swim team at the Manor Swim Club.

   The swim clubs in Asheville in the late 1950s were illustrative of the discrimination policies that not only affected blacks but those of certain religious faiths. Of course blacks were excluded at that time from all clubs. But the Biltmore Club excluded those of the Catholic and Jewish faith. The Asheville County Club accepted Catholics but not Jews. The Manor Club accepted Catholics, but "frowned" on Jews. The Grove Park Inn at that time had a swim club that accepted those of the Jewish faith. I remember as a kid, how my friends from Gibbons Hall, who were from all different faiths, would comment about how "weird" our parents were regarding the faith differences. As the 1960's dawned our questioning of our parents "preferences" was unwittingly laying the groundwork for the more enlightened day that lay ahead.