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The Preparatory Department of the University of San Francisco
For many years, SI published a Catalogue (also referred to as the Prospectus, though it bore no official name), offering a listing of the school’s philosophy, organizational structure for the following year and the awards given and student names from the previous year. In July 1951, the document still listed St. Ignatius High School as the “Preparatory Department…
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Academics – The Separation of the Schools
Fr. Edward B. Rooney, SJ, the Jesuit Education Association director who inspected SI in 1938, made a return inspection in 1950. His report praised SI as “unquestionably one of the outstanding Jesuit high schools in the United States … for many years now, it has been building up a fine reputation in the local community…
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Success & Discontent: 1950-1959
The decade of the 1950s saw a period of stability at both SI and in the nation. Fr. William Finnegan, SJ, took over from Fr. Ralph Tichenor, SJ, as principal, and under his five-year tenure the school finally built its gymnasium. He was succeeded in 1955 by Fr. Robert Leonard, SJ, who had served the…
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Chalk-Dust Memories: The 1940s
In 1943, I was in my second year at SI. We had Greek class first period each morning. Mr. Joseph Geary, SJ, then a scholastic, was our instructor. One Monday morning he came to class a bit early and announced: “No matter what I say, do not turn in any homework for the rest of…
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Remembering Saint Ignatius
By J. Hugh Visser ’47 In September 1941, Holy Name School opened with 10 boys and 19 girls in the seventh grade, the highest class. Some three months later, December 7, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and we were suddenly thrust into a new and frightening world. San Francisco, and particularly the outer Sunset, seemed…
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George Moscone & Leo McCarthy
Two of SI’s best known politicians graduated in the 1940s — George Moscone ’47 and Leo McCarthy ’48. George Moscone’s senior yearbook caption included the following: “A devotee to athletics and ROTC, he was mentioned on several All-City basketball selections, having played on various school teams since his freshman year. He won the first year…
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Uncle Frank
Francis “Uncle Frank” Corwin, one of the best loved teachers in the school’s history, began his 44-year teaching career in September 1947. A veteran of World War II, where he served as an MP, Corwin brought to his history classes stories and a demeanor that would frighten, amuse and entrance students (sometimes all at once)…
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A Tangled Tale of Publications
Despite the war, despite the athletic milestones, high school life continued in the 1940s to be filled with the day-to-day events that never seem to change from decade to decade. These events were recorded in The Red and Blue until June 1, 1948, when the newspaper printed its last copy. According to Warren White ’39,…
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“Young Man, Have YouConsidered the Priesthood?”
William Morlock ’49 grew up in the Mission District, the son of an Irish-American mother and German-born father. While he attended dozens of Seals’ baseball games (the stadium was walking distance from his home on 22nd Street between Florida and Alabama), he was not the athletic type. He attended SI and found himself in the…
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SI math teacher Jim Delaney won silver in ’48 London Olympics for shot put
John Pescatore, who coached crew and taught at SI in the 1990s, isn’t the only former member of the faculty with an Olympic medal. Pescatore won a bronze medal in 1988 in Seoul as part of the US team’s 8-man boat, and while at SI, he carried the torch in SF on its way to…