The Highs and Lows of Central: Ferrell Greene on Casketball and A Cappella

By Ferrell Greene

When my family moved to Aberdeen in the fall of 1964 I wondered what kind of high school Central would be. It was my third high school in a year.

I was pleasantly surprised at Old Central as it was a very impressive school plant. The two things that impressed me the most were the Civic Arena and the Civic Theater. Basketball and theater were never the priority in the South, so this edifice was indeed a pleasant surprise. Couldn’t believe how large they both were. 

Well so much for the pleasantries!

Since I wasn’t involved in any extra curricular activities during our junior year, I finished that year with two outstanding memories of both places — neither one very good, or at least I thought so.

The only thing that I really remember about the theater was the many all-school lectures by Mr. Ellis on the proper etiquette of a Central High School student. And of course, being the young impressionable teens that we were, we were never guilty of any indiscretions! Ha. 

Now for the arena. This place for us in gym class could have easily been called the house of pain. I think the coaches stayed up at night trying to figure out so-called games or exercises that would come as close to killing us as the law would allow.

At the reunion, the minute I looked up and saw those steps, both of my knees started hurting. What about that tepid little game of “Casketball.” On the days that we played that, we kept the hospital busy, as many of you know.

And who could forget “king of the free throw lane”? Fifty kids crammed into that thing and the winner was the last one left standing without anything broken — like bones. It wasn’t good being very skinny and weighing only about 125 pounds. I thought that I had joined the circus as I flew through the air with greatest of ease, until I hit the floor.

I can still remember looking over and seeing the coaches laughing their heads off. So much for Midwestern hospitality!

Things got much better in our senior year, at least for me. Although the lectures from Mr. Ellis continued and that cursed gym class still was there, probably my favorite memories of high school were in that theater/music room complex and even the arena.

Ferrell Greene, second from the left in the second row from the top, in the dark-rimmed glasses.

My whole world would change about the second week of school in our senior year when Mr. Aman had a case of selective tone deafness and let me fill the “100th seat” in the A Cappella chorus. I’ve always loved music and being in that chorus with Mr. Aman was a dream come true for me. What a sound that was.

Ferrell Greene with Jean Losacker in CHS Radio Club.

Terry’s blog about the building of the complex brought back such happy times spent there. The A Cappella chorus opened a door that I probably would never have gone through: that was getting shanghaied by Mrs. Pratt to be in the musical “Wonderful Town.” I learned then that even some of our beloved teachers didn’t exactly tell the truth. We were told that she just needed some people to sing and that we wouldn’t have to stay at practice very long.

That theater became home for about three months or so, including most every weeknight and Saturday mornings. Though most of us that were “drafted" into that play from the chorus weren’t the stars, Mrs. Pratt, in her infinite wisdom, had some kind of delusion that we were actors and dancers. None of us tried out for that play, but we were captured, so the adventure carried on.

The lovely Evenson sisters in "Wonderful Town."

And what red blooded teenage boy was going to turn down an opportunity to sit in a dimly lit auditorium with some good looking girls? It would have really been great if any of you had liked me, other than being a friend, but getting to spend so much time with many of you made that theater an absolute place of joy for me.

Faye Smith, chemistry teacher

When you throw in practicing for the all-state chorus, being on the “Voice of Central Radio staff, practicing with Rick and Rochelle for the Eaglean Follies, what delightful memories that place holds for me. And since the choir room, theater and arena have changed very little since then, the only thing that had really changed was us. My closing memory of the arena was the A Capella Chorus singing at the graduation “I believe” and “Climb every mountain” and from some of what I’ve learned from many of you, you did believe and tried to climb every mountain. 

But all that fun, at least for me, came at a price. I had time for everything but studying! I came very close to being a proud member of the class of ’67! I still believe that Mr. Smith, in chemistry, just wanted to get rid of me and fudged the scores a few points. It was that close. However, I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I wouldn’t have changed a thing in our senior year. Thanks to Terry for calling me and seeking out my memories, as a kind of a foreigner, of what the Aberdeen Civic Center and Theater meant to me. I hope that many of you will share your memories for all to enjoy. We can’t live in the past, but we can surely look back with great fondness of what it was like to be a member of the Central High School class of 1966.

Ferrell Greene

My Story: From the Mississippi Gulf to Aberdeen, South Dakota by Ferrell Greene

As my wife Linda and I approached Aberdeen from the west, arriving Friday afternoon just prior to our 50th reunion, I faced a flood of emotions that I didn’t really expect. Unlike most of you, I only lived in Aberdeen a couple of years, so I don’t have

Ferrell and Linda Greene

the history that most you have. Not only that, I was a foreigner!  To Y’all, I was just a tall skinny guy from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, with a somewhat different accent. My father was a minister and had been assigned to a small church there in Aberdeen to build a new church. We moved there a week after school had started in our junior year so I wasn’t able to get involved in much of anything, like the chorus and so on. Probably the main reason that I got to know many of the kids there was because of that “funny” accent. I thought my name was “say something for me”. I soon learned that the girls, in particular, thought that the accent was cute, but the infatuation ended there, much to my chagrin. However, I was able to make several new friends over the weeks and began to make what is now, priceless memories at a neat little town. 

Now that the history lesson is over, I’ll try to stick to the memories. As we drove down the beautiful old streets of Aberdeen, I was able to go to my family's first little house. It seemed just like yesterday, as we all now know that the years have flown by. As we rode around town, so many things were still untouched appearance wise, but some were now empty shells of that which was vibrant back in our day. 

Main Street Aberdeen 1960's

 
Main street is no longer a busy thoroughfare lined with stores that served people within a hundred-mile radius of Aberdeen, but what memories suddenly swept over me as I remembered that street. The biggest thing to do on a Friday or Saturday night was to get a bunch of our friends and “Drag Main Street" from one hamburger stand to the other.

Main St & 8th Ave NE

Rain, snow, sleet, ice and so on, none of that stopped us. It was car loads of guys and gals dragging main and just being teenagers in general. Now I think to myself, why in the world you want to drive up and down main street with a car of guys week after week? It dawned on me, fifty years later, that none of you girls wanted to go out with any of us.


Now to the reunion itself. Like all of you, I had seen the list of those who were attending.

Eaglean Follies: Rochelle, Rick, Ferrell

I looked forward with anticipation visiting those on the list while also hoping that maybe some of my friends would maybe still make it. As I’m sure is the case with most of Y’all, we knew a lot of classmates but some in particular you had a special relationship with. The two that really made my trip worthwhile were were Rick and Rochelle Albrecht.  Rochelle was also a preacher's kid and had not grown up in Aberdeen. The three of us performing at the Eaglean Follies remains an important memory for me. Although we had not seen each other in over fifty years, it was and is a special bond.

As we milled around and talked to each other, it’s amazing how many wonderful memories came flooding over me. I can say without equivocation, looking back, that those two years that I attended Central were the most fun years of my life. Particularly the summer between our junior and senior year and the senior year itself. Being in need of bit of finances to put gas in daddy’s car to drag main, I needed a job. My first job was cranking out cake donuts and glazed donuts at Burckhard's North Side Bakery at 117 North Main Street.
  

Somehow or another I wound up out in western North Dakota for the last month before school started, driving a tractor, a swathing machine and combine! Knowing absolutely nothing about any of those, I got a crash course in operating each. Never been on a tractor since!

A Cappella: All-State Chorus 1965-66

Seeing so many of our classmates at the reunion brought back to me such wonderful memories of our senior year. I figured the best way to get to know people was to get involved in as many activities as I could and boy did I. The A Cappella Choir is where most of my memories stemmed from. Being in that lead to the all-state chorus with many of you.

"Wonderful Town" with Evenson Sisters

It also led to participating in the musical Wonderful Town and the Eaglean Follies with Rick and Rochelle. Since I wasn’t from Aberdeen, these activities and getting to know so many of you would have to be some of my most precious memories.

On the Saturday morning of our reunion, some of us took the tour of old Central, the choir room, the theater and the arena with all those steps we used to have to run! Again, what a flood of emotions because nothing has changed in those spaces in the 50 years since we left. For a few fleeting minutes, it was like we were still there, singing, performing and trying to survive Physical Ed class! To thank of the fun that we had in Mr. Smith’s history class.

Dave Smith: American History

I never forgot what he told us about our country. “A pure democracy within itself will destroy itself”. A foreshadow of what has now begun to happen. As some have written already, can you imagine Mr. Ellis in this day and time! Holy Cow, that would be worth the price of admission. Saturday evening just capped off a weekend, like our lives, that flew by. Walking around sharing many of our special experiences brought back to me such wonderful innocent times. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t want to let go as it was a feeble attempt to turn back time. To those of you whom I was blessed to share time with those two years, I would use the song that Bob Hope used to sing as his theme song. “Thanks for the memories”. 

Central High School 1966

Sunday morning, Linda and I had to get up and leave early for the long drive back to New Orleans, but on the way out, we drove by Central one more time. Took a couple of pictures and headed south. It was bitter sweet for me as I found myself day dreaming about what it would have been like to go back to do it all over again. We all left Central 50 years ago with a spring in our step and joy in our hearts that it was over and everything lay ahead of us. With a heavy heart, I realized that the real joy was that special time that we shared together as the class of “66.


To all you guys and gals who have worked so diligently to host the reunion and now the blogs that will keep us connected, a very special thanks.