St Ladislas School Building

Part of my position as Program and Physical Director of the Salesian Inner City Boys Club of Columbus, Ohio, was to serve as a physical education teacher at St. Ladislaus School and from the onset I was very popular with the boys there.  At lunchtime, a blur of blue shirted boys could be heard scurrying to where I was sitting as their black oxfords could be heard squeaking across the floors to see who would be seated next to me.

Names like Timmy Flannery, Mike Jones, Mike Myers, and Steve and Whitey Meier were boys that I would come to know.  Over the course of time there I even served as their baseball coach.  I also liked to come early most days to hear the children sing at chapel.  I also remember Sister Andrew Marie (Principal) and teachers Sister Wilma, Mr. Fowler, and Mrs. Douglas (an ex-nun). 

The school lacked a gymnasium so I used a blacktopped area behind the school building for gym programs and in the winter they came to the boys club to use both the gym and pool there.  I have very fond memories of this school that is today now closed down and used for other purposes for the parish.  Sister Wilma, who I used to call the Singing Nun still works there.  She always had a guitar at her ready to break into song.

If any members of this school would care to comment please do so.

Having Fun With Rope Swings at Big Bass Lake

Mike Jones from St. Ladislaus School, and a member of the Salesian Boys Club, offered advise when on a camping trip to our property from Columbus, Ohio, about rope swings.  He suggested that once you swing out over the lake that you let go of the rope or face the impending return trip to the tree from whence you came.  He said that when dressed only in a swimming suit, he return trip would not be as fun as the one where you swung out over the lake.

In other words, as George of the Jungle might say, “Watch out for that tree!”  The other boys took Mike’s advise to heart and always leaped off that rope swing without a return trip to that tree.  There were NO exceptions to that rule thank goodness.

Our rope swing was based at the Pointe and we had a secondary land swing that was an inner tube that you wanted to bounce off that particular tree to get the full impact of the fun.  Not so, though, with the rope swing over the lake.  Where the kids splashed down was in about six feet of water.  However, not all the boys opted for that swing as only a few of the kids on that trip made use of that swing.  Almost every kid used the inner tube land swing as that was great fun in the evening times especially.

St. Lad’s and The Salesian Boys Club

Part of my responsibilites as the Physical Director of the Salesian Inner City Boys Club of Columbus, Ohio, was to direct a physical education program at St. Ladislas, a school from kindergarten to eighth grade. The school had only an outside playground for warm weather and then they would use our boys club facility in the winter, especially the swimming pool.

The children there wore dress clothes to school including shoes so even on gym days they would have to remove their good shoes and put on their tennis shoes as they were not allowed to wear tennis shoes to school. We played the usual games like kickball, basketball, and dodgeball with some exercices thrown into the mix. At the club they could swim.

Over the course of time I also served as their junior high baseball coach. When I left the Columbus area I received a hand written letter from every boy and girl in that school at my new address which overwhealmed me to say the least. That school had become quite important to me and I still treasure the experiences I had there.