Naming of BHS Gymnasium Draws Interest

     The Kornerman's last edition mention of the proposal to name the Boone High School gymnasium after Kate Shelley and my personal opinion on that subject has drawn some interest.
     Sounds like classmate Dick Longworth, BHS-53, thinks the Shelley idea is "right on." He wrote, "Many thanks for raising this issue. Sounds like the kids behind the proposal have a better grasp of history than we did at that age. I know there's already a street, high bridge, park and museum named after Kate Shelley, but then she was both a first-class heroine and a local legend. This is more than we can say for some of the other folks whose names are immortalized on various buildings and street signs around town. Who was Page? I went to his school and I don't know. How many people on Story Street can tell you who Mr. Story was? For that matter, Nathanial Boone was mostly a 19th century tourist who passed through town with his dragoons (and I've never been sure what a dragoon is) and didn't even spend the night, but left his name behind. If we're going to name things after people, they should have something to do with the town.The names of Goeppinger, McHose and Herman live on, and properly so. Kate Shelley deserves to be so honored, and the gym is the right place, because her name will be remembered by every boy and girl who shoots hoops there. That it would be named after a woman is even better. We've got a major street named after Mamie Eisenhower, which isn't bad, but, otherwise, everything else seems to be named for dead guys."
     The Kornerman had also questioned the current use of the term "Dors" instead of Toreadors to which Longworth replied, "better we should go back to Toreadors, like Kate Shelley, which has some historical meaning."
     Briefly, what the Kornerman said in the last edition was that, "although I admire Kate Shelley as much as anyone, to me, a high school gymnasium "Kate Shelley Fieldhouse," for some reason, is not a good "fit.""
     The question then arises.......if not named after Kate, who? Perhaps it would be better to just let things stand rather than comparing/arguing this person's accomplishments with that person's. Or, instead, how about coming up with a generic name for the gymnasium area.........Toreador Den or some unique moniker much better than that. 
     Mike Loehrer, BHS-64, offered a "name" prospect, Francis Dale (Hap) Moran. Mike wrote, "I had mentioned to you about two years ago, arguably, the most famous athlete to ever come out of Boone. Yet, I doubt 5% of the people in our town have heard of him. He surely had an impact across the nation."
     Mike provided, via wikipedia, some "ammunition." It seems, although Hap Moran eventually made his name in football, he was better known in high school for basketball. He led the 1920 Toreador basketball team to the state championship as well as participation in the National Interscholastic Tournament in Chicago. He was named both a high school all-stater and an All-American.
     In football, after collegiate play he merely excelled for two National Football League teams, the Chicago Cardinals and the New York Giants.........setting several records. One of his marks, a team record 91-yard run for the Giants, stood for 75 years prior to it being broken in 2005.
     Then too, BHS had a state championship basketball team in 1932 that played in that Chicago tournament and featured some great individual players. Pinky Clifton and Roger Dutton were two of the best Toreador basketball players the Kornerman has seen in 70 years of watching. Should one of them be considered?
     In conclusion, the Kornerman's feeling about the subject is simply this.........slow down, take some time, don't rush it. Its something that warrants serious discussion far beyond this initial proposal. And, in the long run, sometimes, no decision is the best decision.
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     Boone Connected Deaths: John C. Sherer, 73, Mesa, AZ. Born in Boone...........LaVerne Wailes, 94, Boone. Worked for the Boone Community School district in the Food Service Department. Boone area survivors include sons, Larry and Rick, both of Boone..........Lloyd Gregory, 84, Kerrville, TX. Retired from the United State Air Force, then served as an employee of the United State Postal Service in Boone for 23 years. Survivors include his wife, Trudy, and a daughter.
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