Richard Baker Archives

From The Missourian: Sylvester Johnson, Cape Central’s football and basketball standout, fulfilled one of his greatest dreams – to wear Principal Dallas Albers‘ suspenders – at the recent basketball homecoming dance.

Mr. Albers, an inveterate suspenders-wearer, noticed Syl admiring the pants-holder-uppers at an assembly one day, so he made a “deal” with him: if the team won the homecoming game with Sikeston, Syl wouldn’t have to worry about his pants falling down at the dance – they would be securely held up by the coveted suspenders.

“Had confidence in my boys”

To make a long story short, Central did just that – and Mr. Albers, is shown here wearing a belt (“because I had confidence in my boys”) pinning the prize on the season’s high scorer.

Beth Barringer crowned queen

Miss Beth Barringer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Barringer of 1012 North Middle, was crowned Central High School Basketball Homecoming Queen. The queen and her court are, from left, Miss Mary Ann Sides, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.O. Sides of 1403 Bessie; Miss Debbie Elfrink, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Elfrink of 1216 Butler; Miss Barringer; Miss Linda Stone, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Stone of 1744 Themis, and Miss Ruth Wilson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Wilson of 527 Amethyst.

Escorts didn’t rate a photo

Serving as escorts were Brad Horky, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Horky of 1447 Broadway; Terry Robinson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Robinson of 1708 Montgomery; Mike Johnson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel B. Johnson of 1301 Bertling; Richard Baker, son of Dwight Baker of 121 North Clark, and Sylvester Johnson, son of Mrs. Lula Mae Johnson of 910 Giboney.

These shots of the Class of 1966’s Outstanding Seniors – or slight variations of them – ran in the 1966 Girardot. Unlike most years, these were taken off the high school campus.

Andy Pemberton, Janet Zickfield and Richard Baker were photographed in front of Academic Hall. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

Bishop, Crass and Wright

From top to bottom, Bill Bishop, Terry Crass and Sally Wright pose in another SEMO building, but I don’t recall which one. I’m sure someone will be able to identify it from the view out the window.

Doughty and East

We’ve talked about Russell Doughty and Bill East’s Girardot photo that had to be cropped tightly to eliminate an inappropriate word. This was an alternative shot. I can’t tell if they are studious or merely sleepy. I notice that both students are sporting their senior rings. This isn’t Central’s library. Was it the public library or Kent Library?

Where did Pat go?

I rembered the photo in the yearbook as having two people in it – John Hoffman and Linda Stone. When I looked at the negative, though, there was a third person in the frame – Pat Samuel. Yes, she WAS cropped out of the Girardot photo.

This was going to be embarrassing. Was Pat drummed out of the Outstanding Club just before the book went to press? It was with some degree of relief that I saw Pat safely tucked into a photo with Joni Tickel, Debby Young and Sharon Trotter. (I haven’t found the original of that one yet.) The photo that ran was significantly more flattering than this one.

A picture of Kitty Garrett and Mike Young, the other Outstanding Seniors, will show up one of these days.

Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, spent half a century in the ink-slinging business for papers in Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida.

He retired in 2008 and has been spending time scanning hundreds of thousands of images because “photos once taken as news have grown enough whiskers that they’ve become history.”

Please comment on the articles when you see he may have left out a bit of history, forgotten a name or when your memory of a circumstance conflicts with his.

(His mother said her stories improved after all the folks who could contradict died off.)

Your information helps to make this a wonderful archive and may end up in book form.

Tag: Richard Baker

Syl Johnson Earns Suspension