HOMECOMING 2013
The History of Homecoming at Fort Worth Country Day By Michelle Miteff Purvis ’78 and John Boswell ’78
Homecoming is a longstanding tradition among many academic institutions. The Harvard-Yale football game has been hosting alumni annually since the late 1800s. Baylor University is one of three universities to lay claim to planning and hosting the first homecoming celebration in the early 1900s. Fort Worth Country Day traces its Homecoming roots to the 1969-70 school year when the Falcons hosted Irving Cistercian for its first Homecoming game. Martha Schutts Williams ’70, was elected the 1969 football queen by the team during the customary pre-game pep rally. After the rally, a human chain of Country Day students snaked their way down to the football field to cheer their Falcons on to a 14-12 victory that was followed that evening by a dance in the original cafeteria. Martha remembers the red-and-blue streamers, balloons, and flowers decorating the cafeteria as the students danced to the soulful music of the Red Hearts.
Martha Schutts Williams ’70
That following year, Judy Beggs Clement ’71 was selected 1970 football team sweetheart and was presented a bouquet of roses and a crown by the football team captains. Judy would be the last queen/sweetheart until Nancy Hunnicutt Gunnin ’90 was chosen homecoming queen in 1989, as homecoming was inexplicably discontinued in 1970 until its revival in 1977. A tradition that managed to survive this homecoming drought was the “Flaming Letters.” Before a big game in the early years of Country Day, large letters were made out of cloth and hangers and shaped in the form of “F.W.C.D.” or “C.D.S.” Prior to the pre-game pep rally, the letters were attached to a portion of the fence surrounding the original tennis courts. Once in place the letters were doused in kerosene. As the cheerleaders led the student body in chants and cheers, the Flaming Letters were lit and burned in the background as the pep rally reached its climax. Judy Beggs Clement ’71
Before a big game in the early years of Country Day, large letters were made out of cloth and hangers and shaped in the form of “F.W.C.D.” or “C.D.S.”
Fast forward to the late spring of 1977 when Michelle Miteff Purvis ’78 and John Boswell ’78 met with newly elected Student Body President Ken McKenzie ’78 to talk about reviving Homecoming at Country Day. A plan was discussed and soon a meeting took place with Upper School Head Bob Minnerly. The students believed that the timing was right to bring back Homecoming. Country Day was in its 15th year, and the first graduating class would be celebrating its 10-year reunion. With the blessing of the School’s administration and the support of the Student Council, a Homecoming Committee comprising students from the Class of ’78 was formed. In October of 1977, Country Day’s annual Homecoming celebration permanently took flight. Homecoming Week ’77 kicked off with “Red and Blue” Day, when everyone got into the spirit by wearing their school colors. Thursday, October 20, and Friday, October 21, brought the arrival of the ever popular Homecoming mums and the traditional “Flaming Letters” pep rally took place on Friday night. John remembers climbing the fence and attaching the letters for the pep really. “It was a great tradition and memory,” he said. On Saturday October 22, students, parents, teachers, and alumni packed the stadium to watch the Falcons play Wichita Collegiate. The Falcons showed their might, handily defeating their opponent 60-14. Homecoming Week concluded that evening with a formal dance at River Crest Country Club. The Coconuts, a band from Dallas, had all in attendance dancing the night away. In 1989 The Falcon Quill declared, “For the first time in the history of the school there will be a Homecoming Queen.” Nancy Hunnicutt Gunnin ’90 reflects on her memories of being selected and crowned Homecoming queen by her fellow classmates in October of 1989: “The 1989-1990 Student Council, led by my friend Jennifer Wilemon Verdecchia ’90, incorporated several fun and innovative new programs during our senior year that added to the camaraderie of the student body. As I recall, one of the senior moms proposed the idea of including a homecoming court election during Homecoming Week, and Student Council ran with that new idea. The election was meant to add an additional light-hearted and spirited element to an already fun week. While the experience was
certainly a treat for me, my most special memory is that my sister, Tiffany Hunnicutt ’92, was also homecoming queen in 1991 and my brother, Rob Hunnicutt ’94, was elected homecoming king in 1993. This was just one of the fantastic shared experiences with which our 13-year experiences at Country Day provided us. I'm very grateful to the School for that collection of memories.” In 1990, Chris Thomason ’91 was chosen to be the first Homecoming king. Chris jokes: “It must have been a sympathy vote …. Patrick Jeffers ’91 should have run away with it. It was great though to walk in to [Evan] Peterson's office and tell him that I was the king and he needed to listen to a few ideas I had about changing the way he ran the Upper School. Thank goodness he listened to me ... a few years later (after implementing some of those ideas), they offered him the headmaster job.” 2013 is a very special year as Fort Worth Country Day celebrates its 50th anniversary. It is worth mentioning that Homecoming is alive and well at Fort Worth Country Day with 2013 marking the 36th consecutive year in which Country Day has celebrated Homecoming. The Falcons will take on their long-time rival, Trinity Valley School, on Friday, October 25 at 7 p.m. We hope to see everyone there!
The Falcons will take on their long-time rival, Trinity Valley School, on Friday, October 25 at 7 p.m. We hope to see everyone there!
Taking a Closer Look at Homecoming from 1969-2005 By Stephanie Stouffer, design editor The location of the “big game” had changed. Instead of playing on their home field, the football team had to play in a foreign stadium. The Athletic Director was worried about his team’s karma and the possibility of no fans coming to the game. He decided to invite all of the alumni to come home for the biggest game of the year with parades, parties, and a huge pep rally. His request was granted when over 9,000 fans came home for the event. The year was 1911 and the University of Missouri was beginning the well-known Southern tradition of Homecoming. For almost 100 years, high schools and colleges all over the country have celebrated homecoming, a football game for which thousands of loyal alumni return to their alma maters to engage in reunion celebrations and watch their football team rise up against its competitors. The traditional Homecoming events are famous for including huge parades with massive floats and a plethora of decorations. Girls wear elaborate mum decorations pinned to their shirts that sometimes weigh up to 15 pounds and can be as long as five feet. Homecoming is now one of the biggest events of the year for thousands of schools across the nation. At Country Day, it began in the fall of 1969. In the 60s and 70s, the CDS football team played their games on Saturday afternoons because the field did not have stadium lights.* Friday nights were dedicated to pep rallies for both home and away games. During the pep rallies, one of the traditions was a display of flaming letters. Students wrapped fabric around coat hangers and soaked them in kerosene. The hangers were bent into the shape of “CDS,” suspended from the goal post on the football field, and lit on fire. Pep rallies moved to the Upper School building in 1975 upon its completion. In 1969, the CDS senior class crowned Martha Schutts Williams (’70) the first Football Queen. The Football Queen continued for a couple of years but then was dropped for unknown reasons. In October of 1977, CDS held its first Homecoming. The game was on a Saturday afternoon in the newly finished stadium; however, the Queen and King awards had not yet begun. The team played Witchita Collegiate and the school invited alumni to an open house. In ’77, the first graduating class celebrated their 10 year reunion. The students were invited to a dance the night of the game at Rivercrest Country Club with the band “coconuts” providing the entertainment. Cheaper than Homecoming costs in the 2000s, the ticket cost in 1977 was $10 for couples and $6 for “stags,” or people who did not have dates.
The first known year that girls wore mums for Homecoming was the fall of 1978. In the October 27, 1978 issue of the Falcon Quill, Edmund Schenecker complained about the high cost of Homecoming. “It’s time to pull out the bundle [of money] you’ve been saving for a rainy day,” Schenecker wrote. “Word has it that Griff Hughes is temporarily going into the flower business and he is selling mums for $9.85. Consider yourself lucky because it is hard to find a mum for under $12 or $14.” In 1988 former Upper School Division Head and current Headmaster Evan D. Peterson decided to move the Homecoming Dance from a country club to the square gym on campus. The Homecoming Queen and King awards began in the late 80s and 90s. The October 1989 issue of the Falcon Quill states, “for the first time in the history of the school there will be a Homecoming Queen.” Nancy Hunnicutt (’90) was crowned the first Homecoming Queen by her classmates during Homecoming 1989. The following year, Chris Thompson (’91) became the first Homecoming King, and his queen was Bridget Battles (’91). For Homecoming 2005, the football team will be competing against St. Andrew’s from Austin on Friday, October 21 at 7:30 pm. Each current Upper School class will decorate a float to be in the parade. The graduate classes of ’70, ’75, ’80, ’85, ’90, and ’00 will celebrate their reunions and decorate a float. The dance is Saturday, October 22 from 8:30 to 11 and is semiformal. Rather than $10 per couple in the early years, for Homecoming 2005 students can expect to pay $25 per person for a ticket to the dance and $40 for mums. Tickets will be discounted to $15 with the sale of at least six magazines.
-Falcon Quill, October 2005
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Susan Stevens Crummel Former Faculty Susan taught Upper School math for 20 years at FWCD. She has written many best-selling picture books with her sister Janet. The sisters were presented with the Texas Bluebonnet Award in 2001. Donna Poye Rubin Former Faculty Donna is a former FWCD teacher, who taught first grade for 19 years. Donna’s first book, Log Cabin Kitty, originated from her yearly field trips to the Log Cabin Village.
Mary Tavener Holmes ’72 Alumna Mary graduated with an MA and PhD from the institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She has worked as a curator, teacher and author in the field of European art. She published three picture books based on works of art.
Alexandra Teague ’93 Alumna Alexandra earned an MFA from the University of Florida and was a 2006-08 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. She is currently assistant professor of poetry at University of Idaho. Her poetry collection is titled Mortal Geography.
FWCD ALUMNICOUNCILPRESIDENTS1974–PRESENT
The Falcon Quill October 18, 1991
Colonel Rosacker Plants Seeds for CDS Athletic Program By Cullen Thomason The name Rock Rosacker has rung through the halls of Country Day for years. A certain magical mystique is associated with the name, a mystique of which many do not know the origin. “He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known” and “He knew how to win” are remarks often heard when the name of Colonel Rosacker is brought up. Although many students and parents are not aware of it, Colonel Rosacker made the Country Day athletic program what it is today. When I approached Colonel Rosacker for this interview he insisted that I come to his house. I was a bit intimidated at first due to the respect his man receives from the coaches, faculty, and alumni of Country Day. Colonel Rosacker graduated from the University of Kansas and enlisted in the Marines in September of 1939. During his military tenure, he served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel in 1969. In 1969 Colonel Rosacker worked for the Casady Athletic Department in Oklahoma. Peter Schwartz, who was the headmaster of Country at this time, asked Colonel Rosacker to be the Athletic Director at Country Day. When Colonel Rosacker arrived at Country Day there were only three hundred kids total in Kindergarten through twelfth grades. The athletic department at this time consisted of one small gymnasium, which had just been complete, and one playing field where the soccer and football fields are today was just a field of Johnson grass and dirt. The first change the Colonel made was the school colors. They were blue and white at this point, and so were those of all the other surrounding private schools. The new red and blue were a success and were the next steps toward remodeling the Country Day Athletic program. Next came the hard part: raising the money to develop the field of Jonson grass into what it is today. Colonel Rosacker made a layout of his plan and approached Mr. Schwarz with his proposal. Once the plan was approved the next step was actually getting the money. Men from aournd Fort Worth who supported Country Day were approached and responded with generous donations. The transformation of “eighty acres of mud to eighty acres of grass,” as Colonel Rosacker put it, was now complete. As a result of the new fields a new image of Country Day evolved. Parents took their kids out of the surrounding private schools in order that the attend Country Day. This new image was largely due to the vision of Colonel Rosacker. Along with a new image came a winning tradition in football and in other sports.
“Winning” is another word that often surfaces when one hears the name of Colonel Rosacker. Colonel Rosacker molded many winning teams in his history at Country Day through discipline and hard work. Colonel Rosacker believed that all boys should play football and that they should begin in the sixth grade in order that they develop a love for the game when they got to high school. The first day of Middle School Colonel Rosacker would gather up all the Middle School boys and thell them he expected every single one of them to play football. As a result when the Middle School and High School football teams lined up for the national anthem before the game, the players stretched from one goal post to the next. The first day of football practice Colonel Rosacker would line up all his players and make them run a sprint. The first eleven guys to finish would most likely be the eleven starters who would go both ways. Another story football players often hear from Coach Murph or Coach Breedlove is how Colonel Rosacker stopped practice every fifteen minutes to run sprints. This is how those eleven guys could go both ways. One of the reasons I think Colonel Rosacker was so successful in football was his approach to the game. He compares football to a war and prepared his players likewise. One graduate who played for Colonel Rosacker summed it up best: “Colonel Rosacker made boys into men.” At the Homecoming Pep Rally, Colonel Rosacker was asked by Coach Carter to address the players and pares. He gave one of the most invigorating speeches I have ever heard. Coach Rosacker currently helps with the sixth grade and junior varsity football teams. He obviously loves Country Col. Rosacker and Janet Maberry Dickerson ‘78 Day and teaching the kids. If ever there was a “father of Country Day Athletics,” that man is Colonel Rosacker.
8th Grade Football Team in 1976
Fort Worth Country Day Falconer Fall 1988
Colonel Rosacker Honored During Homecoming In honor of former Country Day coach Colonel Ralph C. “Rocky” Rosacker, the Fort Worth Country Day football stadium has been named Rosacker Field. The stadium was officially renamed and the new scoreboard dedicated at the 1988 Homecoming game against St. Marks on September 30. Co-chairmen Mike Goodrich and Doug Woodson coordinated the Rosacker Field project and led the drive to raise $72,000 for the Athletic Endowment Fund. Planning Committee included Dee Kelly Jr. and John Brookman. Homecoming weekend began with an alumni picnic followed by the football game. Dedication ceremonies were held at halftime when Headmaster Geoffrey Butler spoke of the Colonel’s importance to Country Day. Edwin S. Ryan thanked the Colonel on behalf of the parents and alumni as the Colonel received a standing ovation. Goodrich and Woodson presented the Colonel with a commemorative plaque.
The Colonel was unprepared for the honor of Rosacker Field but in his acceptance remarks, he offered gracious thanks to Headmasters Butler and Peter Schwartz, the founding Trustees and Athletic Committee.
The Colonel gave special thanks to Headmaster butler for making him feel welcome; to Country Day’s first headmaster, Peter Schwartz; to the first Board of Trustees and Perry Bass; and to the original Athletic Committee. Following the game, the alumni honored the Colonel at a reception in the Upper School Commons where everyone congratulated Colonel Rosacker on his well-deserved honor. Those alumni who coordinated Homecoming events included: Stephanie Burk; Susan VanderHamm; Robin Whitson and his wife Kim; Elizabeth Boswell; Cindy Lipscomb Cox; Stephen Alton; Ken Cruce; Blaine Crates; Melissa Thompson; Cynthia Siegel; Susan Sivalls; and Patty Ryan. Win Ryan, Class of 1977
Doug Woodson present Colonel Rosacker a framed Homecoming program for the coach to use as a reminder of Country Day’s special recognition.
Athletic Memories 1960s “In January of 1967, both Thad Smith and I had minor injuries, so we were playing with the JV team before returning to the varsity. We were playing Casady in an SPC tournament in Oklahoma City. At the end of regulation, the score was nil-nil. In the final two minutes of the second and final overtime period, it was still nil-nil. The final four minutes of the contest were played in a massive scrum in front of the CDS goal with most of the players on both teams kicking the ball back and forth in close quarters with no progress being made in either direction. Finally, Thad tired of playing this like a soccer game, so he barged into the middle of the scrum like the fullback he was, took control of the ball and drove straight through five Casady players to break free down the left side of the field. The entire Casady team gave chase. Thad glanced to the side to see me sprinting down the center of the field, so he knew I would be there at the other end when he arrived at the Casady goal. By the 40-yard line, half of the Casady team had given up the chase. By the Casady 30-yard line, the remaining Casady players had been left behind, several bent over gasping. Now it was only Thad and the goalie. Having carried the ball the full length of the field Thad now angled into the penalty area forcing the goalie to choose between attacking him or staying in place if he passed to me. The goalie finally committed to charge Thad. After playing hard for a full game and two overtimes, the muscles ache and accuracy suffers, but as the goalie dove at Thad's feet he fired a perfect pass just beyond the goalie's reach and across the goalmouth. I didn't have to break stride or even attempt a kick. I just let the ball bounce off the side of my foot and into the goal. Thad had used me as a backboard for scoring the winning goal in the final seconds. It was the most inspiring play I have ever seen in high school soccer. Thad had taken on the entire Casady team, run over half of them and left the rest gasping as they chased him the full length of the field, and at the other end defeated the goalie by making a perfectly banked shot to win the game 1-0. Neither before or since have I seen one player take on and personally defeat every player on the other team to score the winning goal after playing non-stop for the equivalent of three halves. Thad was very special.” ~ Bill Curtis ’67 “When Coach Don Hammer would make us do push-ups we would ask him math questions, and it usually caused him to go away and we could stop the push-ups.” ~ William Landreth, Jr. ’67
“When playing against Hockaday, you could always expect ‘rough’ play. I have permanent dents in my shins from ‘wayward’ kicks and crooked fingers from ‘slipped’ bullies.” ~ Susan Hyden Reid ’69 1970s “I still hold a few track records. Thank goodness the following year they changed to meters from yards!” ~ Richard Wilburn ’70 “I don't remember who we were playing in volleyball, but I was such a short, puny girl, I could barely get my serves over the net. This actually made my serves difficult to return. I served one whole game without a rotation. The other team never could manage to get the ball away from the net to return it. It is my single athletic memory of which I am proud!” ~ Gay Simmons Holsapple ’70 “My most favorite memories are of Coach Rosacker. Every student HAD to play a sport. The boys HAD to play football in order to have a team. We had so many great trips going to sporting events with the coaches and teachers.” ~ Martha Schutts Williams ’70 Colonel Rosacker knew exactly how to motivate each individual he coached. During halftime of a game against St. Mark’s my sophomore year, we were in the locker room over there waiting for the halftime pep talk. I thought I had played a pretty good first half. The Colonel walked in, looked around, looked me in the eye, walked over, got in my face and said, very loudly ‘Tatum … you're a disgrace to yourself and your family.’ After the shock wore off, I swore right then that I would never give him a reason to say that to me again. It worked.” ~ Stephen Lyle Tatum ’72 “Summer practice, with hard training, swimming, eating and puking. My 43-yard game- winning field goal up in Wichita.” ~ Dr. Ulf Rosenqvist ’73 “I played on the FWCD girls’ basketball team all four years. It was SO frustrating for me because they played three-on-three rules where the three offensive players could not cross halfcourt and neither could the defensive players. When I played defense, the other team scored low. When I played offense, our team scored high. HOWEVER, we NEVER won a single game during all four years! I think that was the tipping point turning me off team sports for most of the rest of my life!” ~ Dr. Shannon Sweeney Wright ’74
“There were so many. What I most remember is when we would travel and how much fun we had, especially to SPC tournaments.” ~ Margaret Thompson Ladd ’74
“Mr. BenBarka was a math teacher and our soccer coach. Our novice team won SPC, both north and south zones our senior year, and I was most valuable player. My children think I made this up.” ~ Kelly Ann Young Ewin ’75
“Bobby Flettrich once warned the host coach at a track meet that he ‘had a boy who might break a couple of hurdles’ and hoped they had extras. I broke one in half on the final stretch. I finished fourth, I think.” ~ Thomas M. French III ’75 “Beating Trinity Valley when D. Capper hit D. Thompson for a touchdown with no time left on the clock!” ~ Dr. Neel Ware ’76 “Running wind sprints at halftime of a Middle School game because the other team scored.” ~ Win Ryan, Jr. ’77 “Bill Baker was great to work with. He treated me as a full team member. I can brag that I lettered in basketball, which surprises my friends and family.” ~ Lisa Beth Team ’77 “Our coaches at Country Day were the best. I hold Colonel Rosacker, Coach Flettrich, Coach Stansberry and Mr. Welch close to my heart to this very day. I could go on forever telling stories about the life lessons we learned from these men that I still use today, so I will tell one of my favorite game stories. Our senior year in football we won our first eight games and our last game was against St Mark’s, whom we had never beaten. Coach Flettrich brought us in groups come to the Colonel’s office where he played the audio from opening scene of the movie Patton. After everyone (all 100+ players, managers, coaches) had listened to the tape, he marched us down to the field for pre-game warm ups. We were so pumped up, a friend of mine who played for St. Mark’s looked at me and said, ‘Oh *!#$@, we are in for a long day,’ and I responded that they were indeed. We won 34-16 (first time Country Day had ever beaten St Mark’s in football).
Coach Flettrich made sure that every player played at least one down in the game, which was quite a feat considering we had 100 players on the team. We finished the year undefeated and won the TISC and SPC Championships.” ~ John Porter Boswell ’78 “In eighth grade, Colonel Rosacker moved the team out to a very sandy part of the practice field. I was supposed to take the ball, run to the outside and make the cut up field right where it was most sandy. I slipped every time and hit the ground. I made the mistake of complaining about the "ground conditions" right in Colonel’s face. Big mistake. After the expected face whip by the facemask for what seemed like a never ending time, the lesson taught was that you get the job done regardless of the circumstances. Challenges will present themselves, but they must be overcome. Don't complain, don't whine, don't make excuses, just get the job done. Period. End of story. I will never ever forget that day almost 40 years ago.” ~ David Sanford ’78 “The stories about Colonel Rosacker are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, he's the best teacher and mentor I've ever had in any capacity.” ~ Michael Stephen Goodrich ’78 “Colonel Rosacker was the toughest man I ever knew, and we loved him, feared him and wanted his approval. I was a big kid, but kind of ‘soft.’ In eighth grade, he called me out and told me I had ‘arms like a little girl.’ Not wanting to disappoint him, I started lifting weights and was the strongest athlete at my college five years later.” ~ John F. Hodgson ’79 “I was manager of cross country senior year. Coach Boyer had me out measuring different courses every day. At the time, it didn't occur to me to wonder why. Years later, I realized he had me logging almost as many miles as the team.” ~ Jack Armstrong ’79 “Doing aerobics in the Upper School atrium to ‘drop of the key Lee ... hop on the bus Gus ... what was the name and singer of that silly song?!” ~ Marsha Harrison Kleinheinz ’79
1980s “Charlie Hankins tackled the quarterback who stupidly tossed the football to me allowing me to score a defensive touchdown. And who can forget Jimmy Fleming’s punt!” ~ Thomas Medary ’80
“There were many hours on the softball field with Ziggy and Ms. Robinson. One summer, Ms. Robinson came to one of my summer softball games, and I was switch hitting. I hit a home run. She accused me of holding out on her, but that was the first game I had ever tried it! Needless to say, I was a switch hitter at CDS from then on!” ~ Valerie Kay Lewis Hicks ’80
“When I entered sixth grade, I was scared of Colonel Rosacker and scared of playing football. When I left Middle School in eighth grade, there was nothing I enjoyed more than playing football, practice or games.” ~ Gordon Vance Tucker ’80
“Colonel Rosacker making the football team stand around the ‘T’ that had been burned in the field at Rosacker Field prior to our big game with Trinity Valley. We decimated them the next day, as usual. Other one was watching Ned Fleming catch a kickoff in stride and run it in for a touchdown at Trinity Valley.” ~ Colonel Parker Boswell Schenecker ’80
“Ziggy was our field hockey coach then. I still see her at Greenhill games occasionally. She told me that we were her only team to call her that nickname.” ~ Vivienne Boswell Mays ’80
“I'll never forget a soccer tournament played for Colonel Rosacker in the freezing cold—it even started snowing during the game!! We never wore long pants, always the shorts, but he did let us wear skin tone dance leotards under them. I'm sure the other teams thought we were insane! (And standing around chanting ‘Blood! Blood! Blood makes the grass grow!’ probably didn't help.) But Colonel always said if you keep your torso and head warm the rest of you would be warm. It must have been true because I never once thought about the cold once the game started. Of course, it snowed so much it got hard to see the lines on the field but we never let that stop us! On another note, to this day I can still hear Anne Robinson yelling ‘Two hands, Posey!’ whenever I play outfield in softball or watch my daughter's softball games.” ~ Angela Kay Posey Destro ’80 “Colonel Rosacker made us growl when we ran wind sprints in soccer.” ~ Shannon Gilbert Moten ’81 “FWCD hosted winter SPC my freshman year. It snowed three to four inches the night before our games. Colonel Rosacker was our coach. He would not let us wear anything on our legs— because he did not wear anything on his! He wore shorts every day of the year. Anyway, I asked him if we could wear ‘panty hose’ that would make us look like we had nothing on. He agreed so we each wore three pairs of support hose! We won our games—because we freaked out the other teams. And I guess there was some skill involved! My sophomore year, Ziggy asked three people to try out for goalie in field hockey. Gwen Clappsaddle (our highest scoring player!), Diedre Parchman (our next highest scoring player), and me (a fullback!). Hmm … guess who she ended up choosing for the goalie? I eventually loved the position (because getting the pads on and off allowed me to miss several of the laps around the pond we had to run!). My dad, however, did not love the position. He insisted that I wear a ‘Halloween’ type hockey mask to protect my face and those newly straightened teeth! Smart man. I did get hit in the cheek one game! For tennis Sissy Wagner and I were partners. When we were down in a game, we would ‘psyche out’ the other players by speaking gibberish!! True story! My fondest memory of softball was my first game. I was a senior and had never played softball before. I got up to bat, hit the ball, ran toward first base, and then I slid into first base. The stands burst out laughing. Why?! I had no idea … then someone told me that you could over run first base! Never knew that!” ~ Frasher Hudson Pergande ’81 “Singing ‘Oh what a beautiful morning’ doing push ups in the rain during Colonel Rosacker’s summer football training.” ~ Carter Kolba ’82 “Winning SPC Division I in basketball and softball my senior year will always be some of my best memories of all time. Ziggy and Coach Reese were awesome.” ~ Bari Buckner Brookman ’83
“Our soccer team won TAPS our senior year.” ~ Elizabeth Anne Stapp Fleischer ’84 “My class was the charter girls' golf team for CDS. We had an amazing time practicing at Pecan Valley daily after school. Tee tourneys at EDS were a blast!” ~ Kimberlyn Jeana Bugg Koirtyohann ’84 “Playing soccer for Colonel Rosacker and our 1980 volleyball team going undefeated and winning SPC.” ~ Victoria Webb Walker ’84 “Coach Stanbury's never-ending patience.” ~ Carlo Papini ’86 “I played tennis all through high school, and my favorite memories are the years we won TAPS and playing doubles with Ric Bonnell.” ~ Jeffrey Blake Simon ’86 “I can still hear Coach Reese’s whistle as I rounded the curve in the 200-meter dash. Coach Traeder was an amazing track coach and motivator and Coach Breedlove, aka Papa Smurf, could get us to run anything! Enid Russel was an amazing field hockey coach, and I remember playing soccer and winning TAPS with Coach Rubinson. I also remember tripping over ‘a blade of grass,’ according to Paige Farris Chisholm, in a huge soccer game. It is something she will never let me forget ...” ~ Cynthia Rimmer Prince ’87 “In sixth grade, we were undefeated, never scored upon and only had three first downs against us with Don North (now head of Kinkaid) and Joe Murph coaching. Colonel Rosacker brought us into the eighth-grade practice and made them circle around us and clap as he said, " Salute and honor these men, for they are champions!" I'll never forget it.” ~ Jeff Fraley ’87 “My freshman year was Gayle Corkery's first year, I think. The decision was made to include ballet as a sport option. I took ballet each semester all four years of high school. I absolutely loved it!” ~ Jennifer Berry Anderson ’87 “Coach Cooke and the ‘If you score more points than the other team, you will win’ speech …” ~ Thomas Williford ’88 “I'll never forget my freshman year sitting down under a tree for a break during field hockey practice. Just as the cross country team, whose members included my biggest crush, ran past me, a couple hundred fire ants bit my legs at one time. I jumped up screaming in pain and ran to the locker room showers. Much to my embarrassment, the incident was the talk of the school the next day. People enjoyed counting the bites, over a hundred on each leg. What a way to stand out!” ~ Stacey Anne Herron Harwood ’89
1990s “Love that Coach Traeder is still there and that he's my daughter's kindergarten PE coach ... what a wonderful coach and person! ~ Meg Kendall Lehman ’90
“Field hockey game senior year with Christina Acuna. We were winning BADLY. The ball had not crossed the 50-yard line once during the game. She and I were playing defense. We were talking and relaxing (bad idea) when all of the sudden a stray ball flew between us out of nowhere and we both screamed ‘YOURS!’” ~ Dr. Marta Otero ’90 “Coach Burke was great—he always made me feel like my work managing the girls soccer team was worthwhile and that I was valued.” ~ Jennifer Stevens ’91 “I loved managing the boys’ varsity team for Coach Breedlove. I coached with some of my best friends. We were the first girls to ever coach the boys’ team.” ~ Jordan Beasley Davidson ’96 “Coach Murph: Not enough can be said about this great man who helped me become more of a man than I thought was possible. FWCDS wrestling rules! I still remember coming in after football thinking I was in shape, and, man, Coach Murph let us all know how wrong we were. Don't let his height fool you; he is a giant among men.” ~ Kelly Coats ’92 “Loved, loved, loved sports at FWCDS.” ~ Meggan Craft ’93 “I was so terrible at sports, that, by the time I reached Upper School, Coach Traeder and Coach Breedlove took pity on me and allowed me to be the manager of the varsity girls’ basketball team to earn my varsity credit.” ~ Rebecca Elizabeth Stovall Cheng ’94 “I remember playing field hockey in Tulsa in the snow. I could not feel my feet nor see the ball. It was cold, but really fun!” ~ Anjie Landreth Butler ’94 “Coach Breedlove doing a back flip in one of our pep rallies…” ~ Nicole Cavazos Dresher ’95
“When I came to FWCDS as a 5'10" freshman, Coach Traeder took one look at me and wanted me on the basketball team. I told him, ‘I'm terrible at sports, but I'll strike you a deal. I'll come to your basketball camp over the summer and if after the camp you still want me to play, I'll play.’ After camp, we decided maybe I should manage the volleyball team instead! And I did that for all four years and loved it.” ~ Sandy Strickland Bembenek ’96 “I was a part of the women's basketball team that had Coach D in middle school, and graduated with her to the high school team when she became varsity coach. We all loved her - we'd been playing together since YMCA days, and so the team got along well, and because Coach D was with us for six years, our team dynamics were pretty amazing. Coach D made us a pre-game warm up mix, and it had Credence Clearwater on it. That was our entree into classic rock in seventh grade.” ~ Stephanie Erin Banks ’98 “As a soccer and field hockey coach, I love to tell the story about how, when I was a senior, we played Paschal High School. Everyone thought we would lose (including us). Mostly we were preparing to keep the score low. However, we ended up (much to everyone's surprise) beating them in the last 10 minutes after a mostly tied game, 2-1. I still remember reading the Star Telegram and seeing the news release. It was so great to get credit for defeating one of the best teams in the state at the time.” ~ Tanis Smith ’99 “Yeah—I was the girl who played football. Too many horror stories to tell.” ~ Flaminia Giuriati Chapman ’99 “The travel games were always a lot of fun because there was so much camaraderie and team spirit.” ~ Martha Oswald ’99 “There are so many, but Ed Chisolm taught me to drive a golf cart, trifold towels just so, tape an ankle and mentored me through the toughest years of my life. I owe him so very much for believing in me and encouraging me in every way. I got a full ride at Rice University because of his preparation and training as a student athletic trainer. I can't say enough for what an impact he had on me, and teaching me beyond training room skills, time management, diligence, pursuit of excellence, but, most importantly, instilling self-respect by his respect.” ~ Rebecca Garrett Finn ’99 “I was insistent that I get No. 13 in every sport. One year, it may have been freshmen year before we got new uniforms, Trainer Ed did not have a No. 13 soccer jersey. To appease me, he actually took the No. 3 jersey and got a No. 1 sewed on in front of it. It was a little off-center, of course, but it did the trick! I was endeared to Trainer Ed forever. He also gave me an old No. 13 jersey when they retired a set of uniforms. Another Trainer Ed story: Sophomore year, I badly injured my ankle in a soccer game a week before we were supposed to go up to North Zone to
play Casady and Holland Hall. I begged Trainer Ed to do anything it took so I could play that next weekend. He had me come up to School over the weekend and do cold whirlpool treatments (my first, but definitely not my last, cold whirlpool experience) and stem treatments, and twice a day during the next week. I had to wear a boot on my foot, and actually traveled up to Oklahoma still wearing it. He was reluctant to let me play, but right before warm-ups, he took off the boot, wrapped my ankle so tightly I didn't have much feeling, and let me play. The boot went right back on post-game. It was worth it—I scored the only goal for CDS in one of our games!” ~ Lindsey Duran Sberna ’99 “The teamwork and training for the girls 4X1 relay in track. Coach Breedlove singing his ‘fire it up’ song before a meet.” ~ Tandra Denet Gonzales Casados ’99 2000s “I have so many memories of sitting in the Training room with Trainer Ed listening to country music and getting ready for games/practice. My fondest memories at CDS happened in sports.”~ Elizabeth Hill Deegan ’00 “Butch Traeder's 300th win during my senior year of varsity volleyball. Beating TVS in varsity soccer junior and senior year. Also, winning the SPC 4x800 relay race junior year as well as running in Texas Relays at UT Austin junior and senior year (coached by Joe Breedlove).” ~ Sarah Watson Ofner ’00 “Any moment with Coach Breedlove on a bus to a track meet was priceless.” ~ Marcia Patrice LaClara Nkenge Rankine ’01 “I loved cheering at all the games and really enjoyed all the opportunities we got to travel for the away games. We always had such a great time no matter where we were.” Lacy Ames Bankston Tucker ’01 “I remember for one of the cross country meets, there weren't enough female runners to make a team, so the runners just went from room to room during first period asking if any girl was willing to suit up and run a race that day. I raised my hand and was immediately dismissed from class to go to Trainer Ed's office to get a uniform and hop on the bus.” ~ Anna Berthold ’02 “Sports were a great time for me to learn a new sport and get to know students in the other grades better. Anytime we beat TVS was a GREAT game!” ~ Stacy Bourth Bourne ’02
“I played on the JV soccer team with my cousin Catherine. I loved seeing our fathers - identical twins—in the stands together rooting for us.” ~ Martha Claire Kelly Schuchard ’02 “One of the best track memories I have is from a meet in Keller when I finally broke a sixminute mile. I loved hanging out under the track tent with Ceaf Lewis and the other trackees between events and attempting to run hurdles when Breedlove wasn't looking. Once for soccer practice, Mr. Weintraub took the entire team to Starbucks and told us it was just too miserable outside to even think about playing soccer. During cross country SPC my junior year, the course was completely mud and the entire team was covered from head-to-toe by the end of the day. Needless to say, mass amounts of fun.” ~ Mary Caroline Stancukas ’03 “My most memorable moment was traveling up to Wrestling Nationals my senior year with Coach Murph. The competition was tough, and I was able to pin my first opponent in less than 30 seconds!” ~ Jeffrey Jesus Davis ’03 “Coach Breedlove! Still love seeing him today, and, yes, I still call him Coach Breedlove. He was our kindergarten PE coach (along with Don Hicks). In Lower School PE, we played on the scooters and with the parachute. Those were my favorites. I'm so glad that Joe Breedlove has stuck around FWCDS, playing different roles and is still as amicable as ever.” ~ Katherine Anne Strickland ’04 “I think my most memorable experience was running back two kickoff return touchdowns on my seventh- and eighth-grade football team. I was really small and Coach Anderson called me ‘Baby Smurf’ which made my touchdowns all the better.” ~ John Harrison Frankel ’05 “My favorite memory is when we won SPC Division I champions in volleyball senior year.” ~ Blake Brogdon ’05 “Being down by 8 points with 50 seconds to go in a basketball tournament, we came back with 3 3-pointers (one being at the buzzer) to win.” ~ William Thomas Duggins ’06
“At spring SPC senior year, we had a two-day tennis match against Greenhill (who we always hated) due to a rain delay. Going into the second day, we needed to win all three matches left on the court, and one of them was down a set and down in the second set. My doubles partner and I went to a third set and won our match, and our number two singles won his, and it was up to a freshman playing third singles against a senior to pull it out. Our whole team went to his court to cheer him on. It got down to match point, and when our teammate won the point, we all hopped the fence and rushed the court in celebration. That was the most fun SPC I have had.” ~ Keaton Hamm ’06 “Coach Brasfield and his summer workout class. He inspired me to run track in Middle School, and it was an incredible experience. I also loved managing the boys’ basketball team with Courtney Cruz. Coach Breedlove and Victor Mann were great people to work with on that team.” ~ Stephanie Stouffer ’07 “Coach Rains who I managed for all 4 years of high school is still a dear friend of mine. Traveling with her and the team to a thousand different tiny Texas towns for tournaments will be memories that I'll treasure forever.” ~ Christina Roxanne “Anne” Hargis ’07 “Greg Duke was a really awesome Cross-Country coach. After meets we would stop on the way home to eat and then play dodgeball in the wrestling room when we got back to school. He really motivated the team to work hard. Everyone liked Coach Duke and wanted to work hard just to please him. Mike Vincent was also one of the best coaches I had. He cared so much about the girls’ soccer team and did everything in his power to build the team into a competitor for the D1 championship. Mike is fantastic. Finally, even though I only had Coach Rains for one year, she was a great coach. She really cares about her players and knows what it takes to win. She is someone I always make a point to see when I go back to campus.” ~ Kaitlin Elledge ’07
“Winning the Division I SPC Championship in baseball in 2008.” ~ Logan Benoist ’08 “Coach Allen had the greatest influence on me at FWCD. He taught be how to be independent and lead a team.” ~ Alice Marie Conlin ’09 “Junior year, lacrosse coach Craver moved me from attack to long pole defender in preparation for our upcoming playoff game. I was able to pick up the position and the stick skills in under a week. We lost the game in overtime but we set the stage for our championship run the next year with our grit, flexibility and toughness.” ~ Tony Eugene Montgomery ’11 “I loved getting to know all of my basketball coaches. I think I learned more life lessons and how to be a better person that I did about basketball!” ~ Brooklyn Joy Witte ’09