By Bruce Auld News Review Correspondent– As the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake grew, so did Burroughs High School. The Station’s Commanders recognized that quality schools were essential in recruiting and retaining scientists, engineers, and support staff and advocated for expanded facilities to meet growing enrollments. The decision to join the Kern Union High School District was profound. The Kern Union High School District was well-established and wealthy, and it had an effective faculty recruitment system. Very affordable Navy housing and commissary and exchange privileges attracted veteran Bakersfield teachers to move to the desert. Beginning with essentially nothing in 1944, by the end of the 1940s, “the 49ners,” Burroughs’s core offerings, activities, and athletics were accelerating.
Early in the evening of March 10, 1933, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurred on the Newport-Inglewood fault. Many school structures in Southern California were destroyed. For most of her school career, my mother was educated in tents in El Monte. The Division of the State Architect was created to ensure that school facilities would be seismically safe. Enter the Burroughs “Stall.” The federal school funding sources adequately funded Burrough’s core facilities. Amenities were not funded. Early on, there was no gathering place on campus for social activities. China Lake had a “maverick” can-do culture. During the 1946-1947 school year, a building was moved from the Goldstone Proving Grounds near Barstow to Burroughs, the Stall. Likely, the Division of the State Architect was unaware of the Stall, yet it became the social center of Burroughs as a trendy snack bar with a jukebox. The Stall lasted almost a decade when it was replaced by the federally funded cafetorium, a massive building with a state-of-the-art stage.
Burroughs High School has three identifying characteristics:
The Burro mascot is unique. There is no other California high school with a Burro mascot. There are only two California high schools with a mascot that matches the school’s official name: The Antelope Valley (Lancaster) High School Antelopes and the Burroughs Burros. B Mountain The Kelly Award.
During the 1945-46 school year, the iconic baby burro caricature was created by Phil Lilly. Both the Blockbuster and El Burro were being published. As a member of the Desert-Inyo League, basketball was Burrough’s first athletic program. Football was immediately followed by an inaugural 5-3 winning season. Burroughs football was first coached by Harold Pierce, who would retire as superintendent of the China Lake Elementary School District. Desert Park School would be renamed in his honor. The Girls Athletic Association was established during the 1946-47 school year. Years ahead of Title IX, girls’ athletics at Burroughs were intramural traveling teams with no letters or significant awards.
After again reviewing the early El Burros, it was unclear to me by whom and when the massive B on Lone Butte, now known as B Mountain, was painted. The first mention of B Mountain in a yearbook was in the 1948 edition, which credited the sophomore class (senior class of 1950) for painting B Mountain. Not satisfied, I interviewed Pat Farris (1947). She recollected that the class of 1947 painted B Mountain as juniors. For decades, painting the B was considered “a chore” relegated to the freshmen class. The freshman class of 1978-1979 was the last freshman class to paint the B. Due to severe overcrowding at Burroughs, the 1979-1980 freshman class spent their freshmen year at the two middle schools. Anecdotal accounts indicate that the senior class 1982 painted the B twice as a freshman and in their senior year. As we advanced, painting the B was no longer a chore but a treasured celebration for the senior classes. The 1976 senior class was the first to paint their graduation year on B Mountain.
Tragedy struck Burroughs during graduation week in 1948. Robert Kelly was a standout football and track athlete. He succumbed to injuries from an auto accident on Highway 178 on his way to a senior picnic in Kernville. “At the senior breakfast on graduation day, word spread like wildfire to name our football field in Bob Kelly’s honor. I do not know exactly whose idea it was, but all immediately accepted it.” (Bill Pearson, 1948) Robert Kelly’s parents established the Kelly Award. During the 1949 football season, the Kelly family returned to China Lake from Bakersfield to attend the dedication of the Kelly Award Monument. Equally important that night was the first performance of Burrough’s Alma Mater by the Burrough’s marching band, under the direction of Karl Major, composer of the Alma Mater. Art Craddock was the first Kelly Award recipient, and Joseph Buchan is the most recent. The Kelly family intended to sponsor the award for eighteen years, one for each of Bob Kelly’s life. The Kelly Award is Burrough’s most prestigious athletic award. It has been awarded at the end of each football season, except in 2020, when the football season was canceled due to the pandemic.
The following is Dr. Earl Murray’s Principal’s Message to the Senior Class of 1949: “Please accept my congratulations upon the progress made this year. It is evident in every field of school activity. Your scholarship has improved, the activities of student organizations and clubs have been better administered, and there is evidence of self-control and personal growth. In keeping with the centennial idea of the ‘49ners, it is fitting that we realize that the seniors this year are the first to have all of their four years of high school education in one high school. We have come a long way in four years, from 158 students to 385, from Quonset huts for all our classes to a finely equipped library, physical science laboratory, business education rooms, and fair facilities in home economics; from no shop, music or art facilities to at least a functional shop, music and art program; from no student body organization to one of the leaders in the desert area; from no athletic field to growing athletic program which does honor to any school of our size.
Most importantly, in line with these physical improvements has come students’ mental, emotional, and spiritual growth. You are no longer pioneers-you have arrived.” Thanks to the Kern Union High School District, 1950 Burroughs was a comprehensive high school.
To appreciate Dr. Murray’s comment on “at least functional” facilities, only drive by the district office on the corner of Felspar and Sanders. At the south end of the campus are four WWII “Dallas” huts, still appropriate for non-instructional purposes. These temporary structures housed music and arts at Burroughs and then Murray for many decades. Fortunately, the Department of Defense and state funding sources ultimately provided very functional facilities.
