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…

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…

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…

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)…

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,…

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…

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…

When Kevin O’Shea was leading his team to the city championship, he was doing it, in part, for classmate John Brophy ’43, who died that February. As a freshman, Brophy developed a serious illness, and doctors had to amputate his leg. He regained his health and took part in the Sodality, Sanctuary Society, debate team…

Everyone who went to SI in the 1940s knows the name Kevin O’Shea. The great basketball player, who died in 2003, made the All-City Team in his junior and senior years, helped SI earn a number-one ranking in California and led SI to a 1-point victory over Lowell for the AAA title in his senior…

Eddie Forrest ’39, who died in 2001 a month shy of his 80th birthday, was one of the original members of the San Francisco ’49ers. Forrest graduated from Presidio Middle School before coming to SI, where he excelled in basketball and football. At 5-feet, 11-inches and 215 pounds, he wasn’t the biggest linebacker SI had…