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~ School
History ~
This is
a summary of an article in the 1967 "Aries" yearbook,
which Sharon (Salyer) Kay, class of '69, sent in:
The
area now known as the city of Whitehall was originally
a rural district called Truro Township. Truro Township
had three elementary schools - Broad Street Elementary,
Main Street Elementary, and Courtright Elementary.
After completing eighth grade, students at those schools
had the choice of attending Bexley, Groveport, Reynoldsburg
or Gahanna high schools. The students' tuition to the
high school was paid by the Truro Township Board of
Education.
Construction
on what is now Whitehall Yearling High School was started
in 1952 and completed in 1953. That original building
is now the north front wing of the current high school.
The eighth grade classes from the area elementary schools
were moved to the new high school on November 1, 1954.
The
south front wing, cafeteria
and gymnasium were built in 1956,
and the business offices and
auditorium were added in 1957.
No additions were made between
1957 and when the "Aries" article
was written in 1967. The white
facade on the front of the school
was added sometime around
1968 (if anyone has the exact
date or info on when subsequent
additions were made to the school,
please
)
The
name "Whitehall Yearling" was selected by
the students in 1955, and in June of 1958, 122 students
became the first class to graduate from Whitehall Yearling
High School.
Rams Mascot
Rusty Wilson, Class of '72, sent this along about
the Rams mascot:
September, 2003
Coach Kane told
me that Ray Schick, who was first
athletic director, was close friends with coaching
legend Sid Gilman (Gilman was
also Coach Kane's coach at both
Miami University and the University of Cincinnati).
At the time Whitehall'a athletic
department was being
formed, Gilman was the head coach
of the Los Angeles Rams. In need
of a name, Schick contacted
Gilman and asked if the
team could use the nickname Rams
for the school's teams. Gilman
gave his blessing and
also gave Whitehall permission
to use the Ram horn logos on
their helmets.
At that time helmet decorations
were rare and the LA
Rams were the first to use decorations
when they were the old Cleveland
Rams in the `40s. Therefore,
you might say WYHS is the first
team, other than
the NFL Rams, with permission
to use the horns on their
helmets.
I remember as a kid (we moved to Whithall in 1959 and
immediately started going to WYHS football games) Whitehall
had a live Ram mascot that they took to games. He was
named Ramsey.
They had live Rams until the mid-60s when
some Gahana students
stole him and painted him blue
and gold - not knowing they were
doing him harm. The ram died
of suffocation. They
had a funeral and I think he
is buried under the flagpole
on the football field.
. I remember once at Eastmoor
a Columbus cop thought
he was being cute and started
waving a red hankerchief at Ramsey
- he took off
after the cop and his chain broke
and he almost impaled the cop.
Luckily his handler -
the farmer that kept him, caught
the chain. This was when
Bobby Benjamin was playing for
Whitehall - I think around 1961
or 1962. They tried to return
to a live Ram in the late 70s
but I think the risk of injury
and insurance cut that
idea out
As for the colors Black
and White,
I heard from one of the old coaches - I don't think it
was
Coach
Kane -
that people
couldn't
make up their mind on school colors so Black and White
were
chosen since
they technically aren't colors and
are unique.
Band Room
We understand the band room was designed
by Mr. Warren Wesler, who was
the band director in 1956. Anyone
have info or details?
There may be other omissions
in the school history we don't
know about. If you have
any additional information,
can fill in any gaps, have stories that would strike
a "common chord" with
many alumni from your era, or
have photos from the early days
of the school, we'd love to hear from you.
Additional
Info?
I'm also looking for details about
Ramsey's first appearance -
both as an animal and as a costumed
character. It might be nice
to have some pictures of how
Ramsey has changed over the years,
and a list of those who have
worn the Ramsey costume. If you've
got any photos or stories, I'd
love to have you send them my
way.
I'd also
like to know where the
victory bell came from and when it was
first installed. And
we'd like some side-bar articles on
the places and events
that made your high school years special.
Whether it was Stewart's
Root Beer Stand, Swim Land, the Pour
House (nawwwww...no Whitehall
students ever went there),
or someplace else, it was part of
the high school experience,
and we'd like to chronicle it
here.
If you have any additional info that might fit here, please
This alumni stuff is a heck of a lot more fun if a bunch of people are
involved. Maybe our motto should be "The more the merrier!"
I distribute an electronic WYHS.org newsletter via Email - usually about
once a month. The newsletter contains a bit of info
about what's going on in Whitehall and as much Alumni-related
info as I can find.
I'd love to have 5,000 WYHS Alumni on my E-mail distribution list by the
time our "All Class" reunion rolls around. Please
Click Here to sign up for the mailing list. Also, please spread
the word about the web site and mailing list to your fellow WYHS classmates.
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=-> CLICK HERE <-=
To reach the old wyhs.org "start" page
The site has several domain names,
including www.wyhs.org, www.wyhsRams.com,
and www.RamsAlumni.com.
All bring you to this site. From here
you have access to a ton
of information, memories, and stories
sure to be of interest to WYHS alumni. You
may also notice that some of the pages have
a different "look and feel." I'm in the
process of changing some things. If
you find a link that doesn't work or an image
that doesn't load, would you please
let me know? Oh - this page is the "new" look.
You should know that this wyhs.org / wyhsRams.com web site
is a private web site. I've got no affiliation
with the Whitehall City Schools or any
other "official" organization
in Whitehall. In addition, I have absolutely
no connection with a site called WhitehallRams.com.
Information published on the site is gathered
from various sources, and since this is a hobby
for me, there's a real
good chance you're going to find some mistakes
here and there. All information is presented "as is" -
if you're looking for perfection, there's a real
good chance you're going to be disappointed
in here. If you find an error or an omission,
please let me know and I'll try to get it fixed
as soon as I get a chance.
When my wife's multiple sclerosis progressed to
the point where she couldn't be left alone for long
periods of time, I started a home-based business
so I could work from the house and take care of her.
If you'd like to read a bit about the Fish family
and my home based business, please
click here to reach the "about
us" page on my business
web site. And if you're a real glutton for punishment,
you can check out my personal web site, robfish.com
