First Posted: 9/10/2014
Win or lose, they went to the steps. Win or lose, they sang the Alma Mater.
Bill Yeomans and other alumni from the West Pittston High School will open their vocals for one last time, and sing the school’s Alma Mater on Sunday, Sept. 21 on the steps of the old high school, which is now the Montgomery Elementary school.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday, a mass of former students of West Pittston will gather on the steps to sing. This comes in conjunction with the WVIA-TV production of “Our Town: West Pittston.” West Pittston will be the second Luzerne County town — Luzerne Borough was the first — to be featured on the “Our Town” series. The town’s show will be aired in early 2015. WVIA’s cameras will be rolling for the event.
Anyone interested in participating may show up on Sunday. In February, when the show airs, classmates will be asked to, once again, sing the Alma Mater for live television.
“I thought this would really make WVIA wake up and see what can really happen,” Yeomans, a 1954 graduate, said. “I saw the Luzerne one, it was nice. I saw the Montoursville one, it was nice. I saw the Towanda one, it was nice. But I don’t think anything can compare to what West Pittston has to offer.”
At a meeting earlier in the year, WVIA asked residents share stories about West Pittston. That’s when Yeomans got the idea to recreate a Friday night football game at West Pittston High School.
The story goes, after every football game, students and fans would gather on the steps of the high school and sing the Alma Mater. It didn’t matter if the team won, or lost, they sang the Alma Mater. After wins, the players would ring the Victory Bell, which has been recently located to Anthony “Jake” Sobeski Stadium, home of Wyoming Area.
“After every game there was a bell on the porch of the high school,” Yeomans said. “We all marched back after the game with the band, cheerleaders, majorettes, and the football team. We rang the bell if we won. Then we sang the Alma Mater. That was happening well before me. It was tradition.”
When West Pittston High School was in its prime, it was a different time. It was a special time, according to Yeomans. The school was known for its education.
“The school gave each student a very special education,” Yeomans said. “West Pittston was known for good speech and good English. It was very important to all the teachers.
“We had students coming to West Pittston paying tuition. We had them from all over the (Greater Pittston area).”
Sure, the school was known for its football, especially during Yeomans years in the mid-1950s. School revolved around all extra-curricular activities, Yeomans said. Not just football.
Whether it was track, football, band, student council or gymnastics, West Pittston took it serious.
“Sports, band, chorus and any other activity was very special,” Yeomans said. “They made it special to be part of an extra curricular activity. Everything was equal.”
But in 1954, West Pittston had an unprecedented 33 seniors on the football team. Twenty-two of those seniors went on to higher education, many of them playing college football. Yeomans himself went to Bucknell, and later coached there and at East Stroudsburg.
The team in the mid-1950s was special. In 1954, the team scored 487 points, that’s 48.7 per game. In ‘53 and ‘54, West Pittston went 19-1. But it was a Thanksgiving Day game in 1954 that Yeomans remembers the best.
“Thanksgiving Day,” Yeomans said. “Your last game. We played Exeter. You could see the tears.”
Yeomans said renewing that school spirit would be a great way to begin the one-hour documentary. West Pittston High School opened in 1926 and Yeomans said his father-in-law, the late Clifford Melberger Sr., graduated in 1933 and he often talked about the tradition.
“That’s why so many neighboring students wanted to come here,” Yeomans said. “They knew we had an outstanding education and they knew we had an outstanding athletic department.”
Yeomans hopes to have the steps full at the old high school. He’s making phone calls, handing out the words to the Alma Mater, just like a coach does. Some of the oldest residents of West Pittston will be there, some of them more than 100 years old.
Yeomans lives on Montgomery Avenue, across the street from his former high school. He said there were 88 students in his graduating class and about half of them have passed away. But he does expect many of them to be on the steps on Sunday.
The last class to graduate from West Pittston High School was 1966. So, some of the youngest people there will be in their mid-60s. The town district then became part of Wyoming Area School District.
And the Alma Mater will bring all of those people back together. Next weekend is also the Class of 1954’s reunion. Students from West Pittston will never forget those days. Thanks to Yeomans and WVIA, they’ll have the opportunity to fire the tradition back up, and relive the glory days.
If you don’t know the words to the Alma Mater, don’t worry. Yeomans has handed out more than 200 copies of the lyric, which was written by Jasper Brittain in 1923. The tune of the Alma mater is ‘The Orange and the Black’ by Princeton. Plans are in the work for a small organ to be present as well.
“For all the teams for all the years,” Yeomans said. “That’s why we are getting all these classmates to come back. Bring your voice.”
For more information on the event, call Yeomans at 570-655-8163.
