I noted that Jim Hammer doesn't know where Lafferty School was . It was located in the northern end of Baldwin Borough,near Becks Run and Carrick. It was a two room school with three grades in each room. When my Dad went there, it housed 4 grades in two rooms. With three grades in our room, the teacher had 24 different lessons to prepare each day. There were 11 kids in my grade and only 4 of them graduated (Larry Servich, Chuck Gegick, Anita Karel, and me) Did you know that Chuck and Larry died in the same week many years ago?
We were taught Reading by the look-say method. There was no phonics instruction which might account for so many not graduating. Your Reading grade on your report card was based on one oral reading just prior to the end of the six week grading period.
I don't know if any of you played "Buck, Buck, how many fingers up. It was our favorite winter time game played in the basement of the school. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it,I will describe it. It involved two teams with one team lining up single file bent over so their backs were parallel to the floor and wrapping their arms arund the person in front of them thus forming one line of 5 or 6 kids. The other team would then one -by-one leap up as far as they could on the backs of those below. When all members were safely on, the captain of the team on top would hold out1,2,3,4,or 5 fingers and say,"Buck, Buck, How many fingers up? The captain of the team below, would try to guess. If he guessed correctly,the teams changed positions, but if he guessed incorrectly the team on top got to dismount and do it again.Could you imagine mothers today. They would storm the school trying to put an end to this barbaric game. We loved it!!!
Lafferty School was changed to a Senior Citizen Center many years By: Ron Christ

Many of you know that I was a teacher/administrator in the Upper St. Clair School District prior to teaching at California University. However, very few of you know that I was also the first varsity basketball coach USC ever had.Prior to 1957, USC only went through Grade 9. Students then matriculated to Mt. Lebanon, Peters Twp., or Bridgeville to finish their schooling. Those school districts became overcrowded and so the Upper St. Clair School Board decided to keep the ninth graders as the first graduating class in 1960. In 1957, I became the basketball coach at age 24; at the time, the youngest coach in WPIAL. I coached for four years and my record was 54 wins and 30 losses. We would have won more games if only we could have made more foul shots. Our foul shooting percentage was 49% which remained a mystery to me since in one faculty/ varsity game I made 14 out of 17 which is 81%. Somehow, I couldn't get them to replicate the technique. At the end of the fourth year, I was offered the principalship in one of the elementary schools and accepted the position. At the time, USC had a ruling that you had to teach in the building where you coached so I had to resign from the coaching position. I am including a picture of the 1960 team who were in the first graduating class.

Ron Christ

Several of the Elementary Schools are now gone like Union School that is now some sort of School Administration Building. Below, Jim tells of where the Pleasant Hills crowd went until eighth grade. Actually, our 1951 Class Prez Jack Smith's younger sister, Sue, went to Brentwood High so it was a tossup each year for PH students but now I think they have a close by high school. Senator Orrin Hatch went to McGibbney School and Ron will tell us where Lafferty fits in. Bob Dean, obit below, lived out near Sickman School and the clay pigeon shotgun club and Option Supply. I heard Sickman is closed and then I heard it is a giant elementary school, too. The playground of Union School was a beehive of activity for pickup sports depending on the season and today is a nice Little League Field. Some of you may want to e-mail me with elementary school reminisces. /s/ Jack

It was the Pleasant Hills Elementary school on Old Clairton Rd.for the first seven grades. We went to Roosevelt School down in Large, PA for our eighth grade class. It was just off of Rt. 51 across from the Large, Pa., Whiskey Distillery. (Jim - was that Old Overholt Rye Whiskey?) Both schools are now gone with the PH school being tore down for a PH Presbyterian Church addition and the Roosevelt school turned into a commercial property.We...our eighth grade class....had a choice between Baldwin and Clairton for our High School. I believe all the classes after ours had to all go to Clairton High School....
I can't remember just where Lafferty school was!!?? /s/Jim

(Carl is Korean War veteran of Navy Aviation and met Peggy while attending the University of Montana on the G.I.Bill and has spent most of his working years in the Left Coast. He was Baldwin 1951. He and Peggy are on the lower right of the photo from the Spanish Bakery at our last Mini)

Hello Jack,

I am writing to you from Cambodia....Thank for your emails on the football happenings. Haven't had any news for a while. We are in Cambodia as part of a medical missions trip to the upper reaches of the Mekong river system. Very primitive here. The natives are very needy for medical and dental help. Peggy has done this before and I am along this time as a support person.
Quite an adventure as we traveled up the river stopping off at villages along the way to setup a mobile clinic and treat the natives. Some are really tribal in their subsistence....And since we are a Christian team working in a country that is 90% Buddist, it has been quite an adventure...

So this is the first chance to catch up on emails from this town of Siem Reap where our team is relaxing before heading home on Tuesday...

Still I am hoping to attend the mini, but haven't been able to make arrangements yet. How have the signups been going. Would hate to miss it.

From Southeast Asia,

Carl Backe

Bob Dean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bob Dean was a kicker and two way lineman with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. Born 1930 Died 2007 Dean played college football at the [[University of Maryland, College Park|University of Maryland]], where he was a letterman from 1948 to 1950. He graduated with a BA degree in education. He enjoyed three highly successful years with the Eskimos dynasty. He played in three Grey Cup games, from 1954 to 1956, against the Montreal Alouettes, winning all of them. His convert on [[Jackie Parker]]'s famous 90 yard fumble return won the 42nd Grey Cup classic. Dean retired from playing after the 1956 season but made Edmonton his home and continued to coach. He was a teacher at Victoria Composite where he coached of City Senior Football Champions in 1966 and 1967. At Bonnie Doon Composite, where he was assistant principal, they won two City Senior Football titles (1972 and 1973) with Dean as head coach of the Lancers. Later he was principal at Victoria and at M.E. Lazerte Composite High School where he coached his teams to four more City Senior Football championships. He later served on the Edmonton Police Commission and the Edmonton Public School Board.