The Ugliest PE Uniforms Imaginable

Ann Wilson Redford

Class of '65

John Scales wasn't kidding when he said the LHS girls had the ugliest PE uniforms imaginable! Here's proof! So, why in the world did I save this thing? I guess it was because I loved PE and the sweet memories I have of that class. I really liked Ramona Jones, our PE teacher, who made PE fun and who called us by our last names.

(Editor's Note: I know I kept my high school PE T-shirt for many years. It finally disappeared after one of my moves in the Air Force. If you remember those days, with Lee being a brand new high school there were few school-related things you could buy that identified Lee. For the boy's PE uniform, we had blue shorts and a blue T-shirt with white letters. And I do remember the gym being divided in half for PE classes - girls on one side and boys on the other. I only took PE for one year in high school, and took an ad-hoc journalism class the other two years. Not being very athletic, I felt I was picked on in some ways. I remember I was selected to wrestle one of the school's toughest kids during one phase of the class. I was probably 20 pounds lighter and a foot shorter than my opponent. My ace-in-the-hole was that no one knew I had earned my brown belt in judo while in the Scouts and I was able to pin him, much to the surprise of everyone watching - especially Coach Godsey.)

So, while we are remembering our uniforms, how do you rate the uniforms of our cheerleaders back in high school. Below is a photo of one of our cheerleaders and her uniform taken from the 1964 Silver Sabre yearbook. How would you rate those uniforms?

The Wayback Machine

"Be True to Your School" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1963 album Little Deuce Coupe. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, it was issued as a single on October 28, 1963. There are two versions of this song: the album version, and the single version, which added cheerleader yells by the girl group The Honeys in between verses. The song features the melody of the University of Wisconsin's fight song, "On, Wisconsin!", although it is a tribute to Hawthorne High School, which the Wilson brothers attended. 

This single, with its B-side "In My Room", made it to 6th place in the list of U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

I'm hoping some of you will make some comments on the various uniforms worn by groups at Lee. I only covered two of them and will feature any others which you remember - both ugly and beautiful. 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, 

And Comments

Don Blaise, LHS ‘64, "John, the article was well written and brought back many good memories at Lee, thank you."

Barbara Hood Diamond, LHS ‘66, "I greatly admire you Tommy, John and my fellow Lee high alums for sharing your memories. They help rekindle memories for me of what is otherwise a black hole of high school life. I was surprised to see my name mentioned regarding a prank in physics class - dare I ask what it was? I do recall being sent to the principal’s office in junior high for a prank with a co-prankster, I think it was Bucky Hoffmeyer, putting a tack on Randy Greenpasture’s seat."