Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 9, September 2003

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Walking Ingraham's hallowed halls

By JAMES BUSH

John Thorp remembers walking these halls when the student body of Ingraham High School numbered only about 800; Shawn MacPherson vividly recalls IHS's reign as the Seattle sports powerhouse of the late 1960s.

The two Ingraham alums took The Seattle Sun on a tour of the building to view the new library and science labs set to open with a September 6 community celebration (see sidebar article) and to mark the school's four decades of service to the North Seattle community.

Opened in the fall of 1960, the school bears the name of Major Edward Sturgis Ingraham, Seattle's first Superintendent of Schools and a noted mountaineer who climbed Mount Rainier 11 times, was a leader in the effort to create Mount Rainier National Park, and is the namesake of Rainier's Ingraham Glacier.

The school's ram mascot honors Ingraham's mountaineering bent, and a ram on wheels nicknamed "Sturgis" was a sideline fixture at late 1960s football games, says MacPherson. "My brother stole him and took a picture of him with a cigarette in his mouth."

Thorp, a member of the school's first graduating class of 1961, recalls that the school opened up with a group of sophomores and juniors (most of whom had attended Roosevelt and Lincoln high schools during their own sophomore years). The school, the furthest north of Seattle's 10 high schools, was then populated by students living north of North 95th Street or North 100th Street, he recalls. There were fewer juniors than sophomores among the first group of IHS students, as those who had already begun classes at Lincoln or Roosevelt were allowed to stay put if they chose.

Unimpressed with Lincoln's outdated facilities, such as the ancient gymnasium and the backless lunchroom stools (which proved especially uncomfortable during study halls), Thorp was happy to make the move. An avid golfer, he remembers that Lincoln's entire golf team (including National Junior Champion Bill Tindall, later the head golf pro at Broadmoor Country Club) chose to attend Ingraham.

MacPherson, a member of the class of 1970, remembers Ingraham as the center of Seattle's thriving high school sports scene. "It was a powerhouse," she says. "It was the strongest school in Seattle. We didn't lose a single football game the three years I was here." Before game days students would buy buttons touting the next victory, bear messages such as "Beat Queen Anne" and "Clock the Quakers." As Washington didn't establish state high school playoffs until 1973, the Metro champion had bragging rights as the mythical state champ.

Walking down Ingraham's halls, the first thing Thorp and MacPherson notice is the half-sized individual lockers. In their day, two students shared a single, full-length locker. MacPherson points down a hallway. "The teachers lounge was down there," she says. "Everytime the door opened, smoke came out."

While the faculty's cigarette spot was inside, students who wanted to sneak a smoke retreated to "The Goat Farm" the nickname for the woods alongside the school's athletic fields.

MacPherson, a former cheerleader herself, stops to say hello to a group of the school's current cheerleaders, who are practicing moves in the school's main hall.

Thorp and MacPherson admire the new library, especially appreciating the district's decision to raise the roof and create an atrium-like main room. Thorp's homeroom was in the library during his IHS days. MacPherson was less familiar with the former set up. "I shouldn't mention it," she jokes. "but I hardly remember the old library I don't think I was there much."

The remodeled science labs, still under construction, are a much-needed improvement, says Thorp. "I went in a couple years ago and they were the original (1960-era) labs."

Both praised the sports complex, built several years ago, as a great improvement. In days past, Ingraham played its football games at Memorial Stadium at the Seattle Center. "The biggest difference from when I was here and my son (Bryant Moore) was here is you'd go to the games (in the late 1960s) and Memorial Stadium would be filled," says MacPherson. "When my son was here, there would be 30 or 40 people there."

Bryant is the only second-generation Ingraham grad among Thorp and MacPherson's children. Thorp's son, John, and daughter, Kristina, were drawn to Roosevelt by its strong swimming program. MacPherson's two younger sons, Kyle and Tyler, decided against attending their mom's alma mater. "I had planned on my other two kids coming here," she says, "but my middle one announced he wanted to go to Blanchet."

As for other differences between the students of the 1960s and today, MacPherson says that students seem far more focused on academics, in part due to the competitive nature of modern college admissions. "You didn't see the super kids like you do today," she says.

MacPherson, a Washington State University graduate, now works for the family businesses, Prudential MacPherson Real Estate and MacPherson Property Management. Her grandfather founded the real estate firm in 1932. Thorp, who retired last June from the Seattle School District's instructional division, has continued to work as a consultant for the district. While an School District employee, he helped in planning Ingraham's International Baccalaureate program and the school's library and science lab renovations.

Asked to cite a memorable teacher, MacPherson picks Wallace Marshall, whose art appreciation classes she still remembers vividly. Thorp cites "social studies guru" Jerry Hardcastle, who he had as a teacher during both his junior and senior years. Also remembered well are football coach Tony Gasparovich and basketball coach Walt Milroy, whose undefeated (23-0) squad took the 1969 state championship.

In the pre-diversity, pre-busing 1960s, only a handful of minority students attended Ingraham. MacPherson recalls the student population as being "very Ballarda lot of Johnsons and Johnstons."

She also vividly remembers the pre-Title Nine days, when the girls' gym classes were required to memorize the names, uniform numbers, and positions of the school's football players and the only varsity sports available to female athletes were swimming and gymnastics. "The girls today can't believe that ... but it was really quite a different world," she says.