Growing Up in Bandera

There always seemed to be something going on involving activities on the schoolgrounds in town. Back when all three levels of education, elementary, middle and high school were all located on one campus in town it drew our attention even when classes were not in session.

I always looked forward to the fall season when football games were played at Bulldog Stadium on Friday nights. As a kid it meant having our own style of football game behind the visitors stands. Then on Saturday morning it was a race to beat John Rico to the stadium to gather the loose change that had been dropped in the pea gravel around the concession stand. When we lived in Mrs. Davenports rent house it was just a half block run for me so I had a big advantage.

In the time of my school days, graduation could be held in the gym because of the size of the classes. Sock hops were held in the gym as well as the band hall. When I was a cub scout we even had our Pinewood Derby Race in the gym when it was newly constructed. Thanks to my mom I still have my second place finishing car. My classmate Louis Reininger won the top honor.

Some of the unofficial activities occuring on the school grounds included things like running a dead skunk or other undesirable object up on a flag pole that had been greased to make recovery more difficult. I recently heard a tale about an old wagon that was disassembled by some high school boys well before my time. They reassembled it on the roof of the old school building. Seems Mrs. Gray who was custodian Doc Gray's wife observed the goings on and reported it so the same boys got in some more experience in disassembling and reassembling a wagon.

Back in the day it was a bit more difficult to get away with pulling a prank in town. If you were spotted during the act you were busted because everyone knew everyone. There was a pretty good chance they knew your parents and where you lived too. If it involved the school it was a good bet that the high school principal Joe King would get a call as well.

What people say they miss about the Bandera of earlier times will vary greatly depending on the age of the individual commenting. For me and some older folks it will usually be about losing the personal connection with just about everyone in town because you went to school with them. Or maybe you went to school with their kids. Everyone was somehow connected back in the days of my Growing Up In Bandera.