1962-1965 Rockhurst High Part 3: Speech & Debate Team

The start of my career in speech. Continue reading

Early in September, 1961, an intercom announcement at Rockhurst advertised a meeting in Mr. Marchlewski’s classroom in the basement for students interested in speech and debate. I attended, along with quite a few guys in my homeroom, including John Williams, the guy who sat behind me.

The faculty representatives were Michael Marchlewski and Arnold Rothermich. Both were Jesuit scholastics from St. Louis.1 They explained that the team competed throughout the state in many types of events. I was mostly interested in debating, but I was willing to try just about anything.

I am not sure whether any upperclassmen talked with us that day. I do remember two seniors who debated, Doug Kingsbury and Al Riederer.2 As I recall, Kingsbury won all the academic awards at Rockhurst that year. I have only a few vague recollections of any guys in the classes of 1964 and 1965.

Bishop Lillis High no longer exists.

Bishop Lillis High no longer exists.

Initially I was paired with Pat Dobel. Our first debate was against two novices from Bishop Lillis High. I am not sure that we even had a practice round before this. One day after school (or maybe on a Saturday) a bus brought a bunch of guys on the speech team over to Lillis. Pat and I were on the negative against two girls from Lillis. I was first negative. I had brought a few quotations that I had cut out of the J. Weston Walch handbook and taped onto index cards. I probably brought a pad of some sort on which to take notes. I don’t remember the resolution, and when I looked up the national topic recently, it did not seem even vaguely familiar. I seem to recall that a priest was the judge.

I have one very vivid memory of this debate. I was giving my constructive speech when I heard an unusual sound coming from below my waist. I stopped speaking for a couple of seconds to identified the noise. I had lost control of my knees, and they were knocking together.

My performance was abysmal, but Pat must have been pretty good. At least the judge voted for us. Unfortunately for me, that was the last time that I got to debate with Pat.

After that victory I lost FOURTEEN debates in a row. This may be a record of some sort. Certainly, ten or so losses in a row would be enough evidence for most people to realize that they should try something else. I wonder what my parents thought. The thing was that I really liked going to the tournaments. The humiliation of all those defeats was mitigated if not outweighed by the fun of being with a bunch of friends on a road trip.

I could not blame my partners. I debated with Tom Mulhern and Rick Collins, who were in the class of 1966, but not in my homeroom. They were both very good speakers. I was certainly the weak link in both of these partnerships. I got over the extreme nervousness soon enough, but I was immature, and I was so ignorant that I had no idea of how ignorant I was.

HefTwo examples should suffice. The first happened when I was debating with Tom. The other team quoted from Hugh Hefner, the Playboy magnate. I thought that we should make an issue of the fact that they had based their case on such an immoral and unqualified person. I mean: anyone who had even mentioned the name Hugh Hefner at Queen of the Holy Rosary School, which I attended just six months earlier, would have been marched into Sr. Dominica’s office. What would happen after that is speculative, but it would not be pretty.

Fortunately Tom did not bite. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it did not work. When we got the results, I was stunned to see that the judge voted for our unashamedly immoral opponents.

Rick was my partner for the other truly embarrassing anecdote. For some reason the two of us were chosen to represent Rockhurst at an important six-round varsity tournament at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, MO. It was an 83-mile drive. The format was 8-3-4, which means that after each eight-minute constructive speech, one of the opponents was allotted three minutes to ask questions.

Well, we dropped our first five debates. None was memorable. The last round was “reverse power-matched”, which meant that the teams with the best records faced the ones with the worst. Why they did this I cannot imagine. I have attended hundreds of tournaments over the course of fifteen and a half years of involvement in competitive debate, and never once did another tournament use this technique.

So, in the sixth round we were scheduled against a pair from William Chrisman High in Independence, MO, who were among the very best teams in the state. I gave the first negative constructive. The round was over after the after one of the affirmatives cross-examined me. I got so flustered that I said that Rick would explain what I meant in his speech. When I sat down, Rick was justifiably furious at me. He asked me what he was supposed to say. I admitted that I did not know. Needless to say, we lost.

Mr. Marchlewski did not work with any of us much. After one of these bleak outings, I asked Mr. Rothermich what I could do to improve. He said that maybe I needed a new suit.

I did not quit even after the fourteenth loss, and we did get a little better. We won a few rounds before the end of the year. I kept signing up for trips. I often did extemporaneous speaking. I think I tried original oratory, although I cannot remember the topic. I read “The Death of the Hired Man” in the poetry reading event.

Frederick March was a little better than I was, but he had that fan, and we could not use props.

Frederick March was a little better than i was, but he had that fan, and we could not use props.

Rick and I even did a scene from Inherit the Wind in duet acting. I played the William Jennings Bryan character. Before my senior year I was mediocre at best in all of these events, and my results reflected it. Nevertheless, I still loved going to tournaments.

I enjoyed working with and performing with both Tom and Rick. Tom sometimes brought his guitar with him on overnight trips, and I was very impressed by his ability to play it. I knew how to play the saxophone, but (1) it was not nearly as cool, and (2) for a period after my last lip operation it was uncomfortable to play, and I got out of practice.

Rick was a real card. He started every morning by growling at the mirror and then intoning “Oh, Rick, you handsome dog, you!”

Not at Rockhurst.

Not at Rockhurst.

The team attended several tournaments in southern and central Missouri. Things are different there. From other Rockhurst debaters I heard some incredible stories about the debate team from Webb City, which is near Joplin, MO. One male debater was shocked to hear that Rockhurst had no female students. “What do y’all do for beaver?” he asked.

A Webb City novice team’s affirmative plan allegedly gave 2 percent of the weapons from the fifty largest countries to an international organization. They claimed that the organization would thus have control over 100 percent of the world’s weapons, but each country would maintain its own deterrent.

MonettI remember that we stayed at an old hotel on the main street in, I think, Monett, MO. I have not read the town’s building code, but I cannot believed that this hotel passed. My room was on the second floor. There was no fire escape. Instead, a very long rope that was at least an inch thick was tied to the radiator, which was located near a window. The rope was knotted ever foot or so. There was no instruction manual. Apparently in case of emergency occupants were expected to throw the rope out the window and climb down. I wonder how the hotel adapted to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

We had a few practice debates, but I never received anything that I would characterize as coaching. Mr. Rothermich did help me a little with my poem. Mostly I learned from osmosis by listening to others.

There were a few dramatic moments. If I was only participating in individual events like poetry reading or extemp, there would be times when debates were occurring, and I was not busy. I would often walk around and listen to portions of debates by standing in the hallway near the door. At one tournament the coach of one of the teams that I had listened to complained to Mr. Rothermich about my behavior and demanded that I hand over all of my notes, of which I had none. He was really incensed about it, but Mr. Rothermich told me not to worry about it.

Junior year ended with something of a surprise. The four-man team of Pat Dobel, John Immele, John Williams, and Bill Lockeall from our junior classwon the state debate tournament. They received some public recognition for this, but probably not as much as they deserved. I did not feel envious; these guys were all my friends, and I was happy for and proud of them.

The problem for me was that I was now clearly a fifth wheel as far as debate was concerned. There would be little or no chance for me to debate at the varsity level as a senior, and I was too experienced to compete at any other level. It would be necessary for me to adjust my goals.


Marchlewski1. Fr. Marchlewski recently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination.
 
 
RothermichMr. Rothermich did not become a priest. He died in 2020. His obituary is here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Riederer2. Al Riederer died in 2012. His obituary is here.

1962-1965 Rockhurst High Part 2: My Classmates

Guys in my homeroom. Continue reading

Here are the guys in our homeroom class whom I can remember.

I think that these guys were all in the class for at least some of the years, but I did not know them very well: Jim Cecil, Carl Cordes, Mike Griffin, Jim Hafner, Robert Hudspeth, Mike Loftus, Jim Murtha, Mike O’Connor, John O’Malley, and Mike Ulses. There was another guy named, I think, Mark McSomething.

I was pretty good friends with Chuck Blumentritt. Chuck, Joe Montanari, and I played golf at Blue Hills on caddy day once. The caddymaster got angry at us for some reason; maybe no guests were allowed. I also recall that Chuck later wrote a satirical play called Knifesmoke. The leading character was a saloonkeeper named Philip McGlass. I think that Chuck also played on the soccer team that was initiated in our junior or senior year. It was a club sport; in the sixties Americans did not take soccer seriously, at least not in KC. I think that Rockhurst only had four official sports in those years: football, baseball, track, and basketball.

I knew Michael Bortnick from when my family first moved to Prairie Village. His house was on Nall Ave. immediately behind ours. His family moved away a few years later. He was not at Rockhurst in our freshman class. I think that he enrolled when I was a junior. I had only a few classes with him, and he always sat on the other side of the room.

Jock

I am uncertain whether Jock Bracken was ever in our homeroom. He ran for President of the Student Council. His slogan was “Jock supports athletics.” I don’t remember whether he won or not.

Terry Cernech, my cousin, played on the varsity basketball team. I think that he also was associated somehow with a musical that was put on by Rockhurst High and Notre Dame de Sion, a girls school. I think that at one of those rehearsals he met his first wife, Debbie Lieschman, who, believe it or not, lived directly across the street from us in Leawood. Terry lived twenty miles away.

Jethro

Dave Chappell was a good friend. I went over to his house a few times to play chess. He had a fancy chess set. It was difficult for me to identify the pieces. The queen looked a lot like a bishop. He used to say “Jethro Bodine is my ideal.” For some reason he decided to go into the Navy rather than go to college after graduation. He had a pronounced southern accent.

Dobel

Pat Dobel was two-time state debate champion. He was also very good at extemporaneous speaking. He and his debate partner John Immele finished first and second in the overall GPA race. I don’t recall who won. He is on the faculty of the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

Fischer

Bill Fischer was on the speech team, and he also acted in the school’s plays. He was easily the best actor in the Class of 1966. I remember him being very upset when Bob Dylan brought an electric guitar to Newport. He is on Facebook.

Gary Garrison
Gary Garrison

Gary Garrison was my friend from grade school and the Boy Scouts. At the 8th grade graduation he was one of the shortest guys, but he grew nearly a foot over the next summer. He has published two books and now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Michael Huslig, a very quiet guy, was one of the top students, especially in math and science. I think that he is now at Kansas University.

Immele

John Immele was also on the debate team that twice won the state championship. He was either first or second in GPA. As of 2005 he was associate director for nuclear weapons technology at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Bryce Jones was one of the guys that I hung around with, but I don’t remember any good stories. He died in 2019. His obituary is here.

Mike Kreyche took both Latin and Greek at Rockhurst and then studied the same subjects at the University of Arizona. He was the Systems Librarian at Kent State, where he published many articles.

Locke

Bill Locke was a friend from grade school. He played on the varsity football team at Rockhurst and was also on the two-time state championship debate team. He went to Notre Dame on a speech scholarship, but I never saw him on the collegiate circuit. For a while he was a barrister in London. His Facebook profile says that he is now a criminal lawyer in California.

Bill’s family lived fairly close to our house. One evening he and I decided to roll hedgeapples under cars driving on 89th St. When a car’s tire hit one it sounded like a blowout. One driver stopped to talk to us, I wanted to run, but Bill held fast. We said “yes, sir” and “no, sir” for a few minutes, and then he drove off.

Hedgeapple

What’s a hedgeapple? It is the fruit of the Osage Orange tree, which is very common in KC.

I remember that Bob Malone was pound-for-pound the best wrestler in our phys ed class.

Jim Mansour was easily the hairiest guy in the class. He played on the junior varsity basketball team. I think that he is a doctor.

Joe Montanari was a pretty close friend. He was our homeroom rep on the student council in freshman year. For some reason many of the guys wanted to impeach him. Then we voted him back in. In 2021 he was president of Montanari Fine Art Jewelers in KC.

Kent Northcraft was the tallest guy in the class. He worked very hard on his basketball skills, and by our senior year he was one of the best players in the KC area.

Vic Panus, who usually sat directly to my left, was a real character. I remember that he once did a very tight forward roll in Mr. Stehno’s Latin class. When a guy from Junior Achievement tried to recruit us, Vic asked him this question. “How can I too become a J. A.?” He wanted to go to Spain because the señoritas were all beautiful, and the guys were, well, not serious competition. He debated with Vic LaPorta for a little while. In one practice debate he talked for a few minutes and then said, “Please ignore everything that I just said.” There are a lot more Vic Panus stories. I think that he is a lawyer now.

I think that Gene Ramirez joined our class as a sophomore. I remember that he finished geometry in two quarters, as I did. So, we were together with a few other sophomores and a bunch of seniors in the second-semester probability class. The seniors called him Rammo, and made fun of him. It was one of the very few disgraceful incidents that I experienced at the rock.

Rubin

John Rubin was a friend from grade school. He competed in public speaking events, but I am not sure that he ever debated. He later worked on the Prep News. He was in all of my classes.

He was first elected to the state legislature of Kansas in 2010. His Wikipedia page is here.

Jay Ryan was a very good ping-pong player. He was also deadly accurate shooting a basketball.

Big Ed Schafer played varsity football. He also was a camp counselor at Camp Nash, the local Boy Scout camp on the Kansas side.

Pat Tierney was inducted into the Rockhurst Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Pat Tierney was inducted into the Rockhurst Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

Pat Tierney was probably the best athlete in the Class of 1966. He was a very good point guard on the #1 rated basketball team in KC. His goal was to play center field for the Yankees.

Van_Dyke

Mike Van Dyke also played varsity basketball. As of 2017 he was an attorney at Polsinelli PC in KC. He also has been active in the alumni association.

Dan Waters sat in front of me. He was in the chess club, and he usually beat me. I remember once that we played Stratego at his house. He put his flag in the front row where it could easily be captured. It never occurred to me that he would do something so outrageous. I did not think that of Dam as much of an athlete, but he beat me in the only 100 yard race that we had. I should have known better; his brother was a sprinter on the Rockhurst track team.

We were very good friends throughout the four years. We exchanged a few letters in college but then lost touch.

Williams

John Williams, whom everyone called Willy, sat behind me. He was also a very good friend and my debate partner during football season of my junior and senior years. The rest of the time he debated with Bill Locke and won two state championships. One night he called me, and we spent about two hours trying to determine if John Williams was the most common name in the KC phone book. It was second to John Brown.

He got married and had a kid while I was at Michigan. I saw him once in KC and once at a debate tournament at UICC in Chicago. He also had a band and was in theater productions. He became a lawyer and a judge. His obituary is here. It says that John Immele was his partner. They may have teamed up occasionally, but his primary partner was Bill Locke.