In 1939, when there was an Atlantic Highlands High School and teens from Highlands had their choice of going to that school or Leonardo High School on Leonardville Road, now Bayshore School, the Atrecall, the Atlantic Highlands High year book was dedicated to a man whose name and family are still a vital part of Atlantic Highlands. The book also included a tribute to another man whose expertise, experience and lessons of good sportsmanship led the students to thank him for “a greater appreciation of love of sports…”
The class advisor was Everett Curry, the sports figure was Arnold T. Truex.
Everett Curry, who later became Mayor of his home town, was a graduate of Trenton State Teachers College and nine years later was class advisor at the school along with Miss Cecil Brayton, later identified as Mrs. Howard Engelhardt.
In praising Advisor Curry, students wrote he taught them “the art of making raw materials into useful crafts,” and said that since he earned high honors when achieving his degree in Education he was able “to transfer his ability and industry not only to the manual training department” ..but also to being and advisor. At the same time, the teacher was also active with the Sea Scouts.
Students described Curry and admired ”his calm disposition and his congeniality” which they said “are always in evidence. Time and effort are meaningless to him in the execution of a task”, students wrote, and “one often hears it said of him that he never has the heart to say no.” In expressing gratitude for his everyday demeanor, his assistance with everything from the school’s Strawberry Festival to building the scenery for school plays, the students could only say “He’s tops!”
Truex, who was the boys physical education instructor for all four years of the Class of 1939, taught the students “the better evaluation of good sportsmanship and the desire to learn and play the games as near perfection as it was humanly possible.” The yearbook commentary then went on “to prove these efforts were not in vain is only to show the seasons records of those four years summarizing the main high points in their sports.
Truex brought “one of the two smallest high schools in the Shore Conference Group II Division to third place finishes in baseball and football and second place finishes in basketball and baseball in the1936-37 seasons, a tie for first place with Lakewood in football in the next year, a first in Shore Conference basketball and North Central Jersey Championship basketball, and a place in the State Finals, losing to Princeton by one point, 18-17. In the final year, Truex brought his team to a fifth place in football, a third in basketball and a first in baseball. Through it all, students wrote, he was “a Molder of Men.” and wished him luck in his future achievements and success in all his undertakings.”
Among the 45 students in the class of 1939 were Stanley Sorenson, Grandin Paddock, Edward Kwik, Harold Cottrell, Gerard Dempsey, Joanne Banfield, Anthony Carbone and William Black.
Atlantic Highlands High School
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Leonardo is now Bayshore, not Bayview.
Thank you! Correction made!