By Bruce Auld News Review Correspondent – “Alma Mater, yes, graduates are beginning to speak of Burroughs High School as their Alma Mater, and it is proper that they should.” Said Ken Westcott, Vice Principal.
Sixteen-year-old Jerry Hough would graduate from Burroughs in 1950 and enroll at Harvard University. He would earn a PhD in political science from Harvard University and become the world’s expert on US-Soviet relations during the Cold War. The Indian Wells Valley TV Boosters was established “about” 1950, broadcasting NBC, CBS, ABC and KTLA into the valley and for decades Jerry Hough would be interviewed by Walter Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley and Edward R. Murrow about US-Soviet relations. My favorite Edward R. Murrow quote: “Anyone who isn’t confused, really doesn’t understand the situation.”
Baseball joined the Burroughs athletic roster during the 1951 season, but basketball would rule the decade. The 1951 Burros would win their first Desert-Inyo League championship and for the first time advance to the CIF play-offs. Dale Shaw was the Desert-Inyo League MVP. Under head coach Bill Moore, Burroughs basketball would win the Desert-Inyo League four times. Yet, in 1957, Coach Moore left Burroughs. One account of Coach Moore’s absence was that he left to coach in the Inland Empire. I think he was scheduled for a sabbatical. Regardless, Coach Moore was not the basketball coach for the 1958 season. He returned to Burroughs to coach basketball for decades. Coach Jim Nau coached Burroughs basketball for one season and won the 1958 CIF State Championship.
The home court for the 1958 Burros was the China Lake gymnasium, just a few yards from the original campus. In league play, the Burros scored a perfect 12-0 record. Advancing to the CIF play-offs, Burroughs defeated San Luis Obispo 51-35 in the first round, then beating St. Agnes 65-52 in the semi-finals. The Burros would take the state championship from Bell Gardens with a heart stopping 41-40 victory. Jay Carty was ASB president and team captain. Jay Carty played NCAA Division I basketball at Oregon State University and coached Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) at UCLA. He played one season with the LA Lakers as a 27-year-old rookie, the only Burro to play in the NBA. Jay authored several books with UCLA coach John Wooden. Jay died on May 4, 2017 of cancer.
Walter (Vic) Vieweg (1952) played two seasons of Burroughs baseball and was an outstanding pitcher. He was offered a minor league contract (Burrough’s first of many) and an appointment to the US Naval Academy. Vic graduated from the Academy in 1957, earned his medical degree in 1969, becoming a cardiologist and later a psychiatrist. Robert Rockwell (1953) would earn a PhD in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. Dr. Rockwell a China Lake legacy, returned to China Lake earning numerous civilian meritorious awards. He summited Mt. Whitney 160 times, as day hikes. Dr. Rockwell served on the SSUSD Board for one term. His son Kurt is a current SSUSD trustee.
The Aulds and the Hoyems shared an old duplex on Dibb Road. Andrew (1953) lived in the A unit. I (1966) lived in the B unit. We didn’t know one another. Andrew Hoyem life’s work is unique. So unique that I traveled to the Presidio in San Francisco to personally observe it. In 1989 Andrew Hoyem acquired and saved Mackenzie and Harris, the oldest and largest remaining book printing foundry in the United States. It was established with equipment displayed at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Andrew created a workshop where all the traditional crafts of bookmaking are practiced under one roof, from making type out of molten lead, to letterpress printing, to binding books by hand. Considered two of Andrew’s most extrodinary works are Moby Dick and the Folio Bible, both found in libraries and museums.
In the mid 1950s enrollment outpaced facilities, especially at the high school level. During the 1955-56 school year, planning was underway for the “Burroughs Change-Over,” the construction of the current Burroughs campus. The Kern Union High School Board of Education recognized that a modern high school would enhance both the recruitment of Burroughs faculty and the recruitment and retention of China Lake’s workforce. The Kern High School Board successfully applied for federal construction funds, augmented by a school construction bond.
Burroughs graduates of the 1950s began returning after earning advanced degrees to teach in the Indian Wells Valley, enjoying long careers. Five 1956 graduates returned to teach in the local schools. Joel Bernard, Diane (Deem) Hayden, Cheryl (Goode) Bernhardi and Ray Thurm would teach in elementary grades, as did Yolanda (Casados) Howard (1958). Suzanne (Hough) Basden (1956) was the first Burroughs graduate to return to teach at Burroughs, followed by Gary Maxwell (1959) and Bob Reseth (1959). Dan Butler (1946), after military service taught fifth grade at Richmond. Dan also served on the Indian Wells Valley School District Board of Education.
Ghita Thome (1957) was Burrough’s first of thousands exchange students.
One of the most remarkable people I have served with is Dr. William Sanson. Bill arrived at Burroughs in 1956. He was raised in Pasadena, the son of a judge, and a Stanford graduate (EdD). Several sources agree that Bill was a clerk/typist in US Army during the Korean Conflict. He sat in on the Korean Armistice Agreement negotiations typing up the dialog for the next day’s meeting. Bill and his assistant, Carolyn Roseth (1959) would partner in the athletics and activities office for the better part of three decades. Before becoming an administrator, Dr. Sanson was a highly respected math and science teacher.
The late 1950s saw the construction of the current Burroughs campus. The core of the campus: C and D wings, administration and the library building were the first priority. The athletic facilities, the multipurpose facility, M and L wings would come online in the early 1960s. In the late 1950s, Earnest McCoy a Bakersfield architect, oriented the front of the new campus north, facing China Lake, the largest population in the valley. That made sense at the time. At that time, most of Burrough’s students would be coming through the security gate from China Lake directly toward the administrative building. By the 1980s much of the China Lake housing was gone and as such, the administration building was then at the rear of the school. The recent DoD funded modernization of Burroughs recognized the need to create a new front of Burroughs facing now the largest population in the valley.
Next up-The 1960s: JFK and The Beach Boys.
