Copyright
© 2005, Amarillo High School Class of
1956
All rights reserved
Our thanks to Ron Slover who was
News Director at KFDA-TV for several years. Ron commented
"that the camera and equipment wasn't at all what it is
today. I was at the scene for 12 straight hours and the
looks of the students and former students was heart
warming. They were determined to get the prized trophies
out of the building, including the trophy cases. Some were
crying and others just had looks of sheer determination as
they entered in heavy smoke and exited from the main
entrance of Amarillo High School.
Jim Sands of the Amarillo Globe
News and myself were walking around the hallway in the
early morning hours. While we and the firemen were still
looking for the source of the fire, an explosion of such
force took place that it knocked both of us up off the
floor."
Ron preserved the film and made
it available to our class. Ron is an active member of the
Reunion Committee.
THE FIRE
In 1970, on
an early Sunday morning in March, a fire raged through the
building. It first began in a second story storeroom,
caused by a overheated boiler below, and soon spread to
damage nearly all of the structure and destroy most of the
property inside. Several courageous, yet foolish students
arrived on the scene first and began removing textbooks,
trophies, class gifts, art pieces and other artifacts from
the burning building. Fortunately, no one was injured in
the fire. The damage was estimated at the time to be
nearly 2 million dollars.
The
approximately 1,700 Amarillo High School students spent
the remainder of the year in makeshift classes set up in
nearby Churches and the undamaged school gymnasiums and
armory. The experience created a bond among the students,
who were grateful not to be farmed out to another high
schools in the area. Renovations in the burned out
building accommodated students for the next three years
until a new high school could be built.
As I
choose to remember...
Amarillo
High School - 1956
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