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• 1934 Fairview Trojans

Among thousands of other items, the Lauderdale Library contains a battered scrapbook just packed with terrific old photographs and yellowed newspaper articles clipped from the sports pages of Memphis newspapers in the mid- to late-1930s. And I thought I’d share just one of those with you: a nice photo showing the Fairview Junior High School Trojans, which (according to a note scribbled on that page) had won the state championship in 1934. You’ll see they even painted it on the football the player at the right is holding.

I really wasn’t sure of the team’s name until I spotted the little fellow at the left holding the box labeled “Trojans.” I think we can assume he’s an equipment manager or team mascot of some sort, and not the guy who provides the players with, uh, a certain brand of prophylactics.

You’ll notice that the numbering system has changed somewhat over the years. Of course, it’s not a very large team here, but the highest number is 21, and there’s even one player (in the middle) bearing the number 1, which would put pressure on you, I’d imagine.

Recognize any of your relatives in this picture?

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Nowadays I suppose students remember their classmates by the oh-so-clever posts they write on their friends’ Facebook pages, or with Twitter “tweets” and other so-called “social networking” devices.

Things were different when I was growing up. We bought fancy little autograph books, and passed them around, collecting the signatures and sayings of our dearest friends. Sometimes these turn up at estate sales or on eBay, and I thought I’d share one with you because — well, that’s what I’m paid to do.

This much-worn little booklet was once owned by Robert Hugh Murphy, who was age 10 and in the fifth grade. I know this because he wrote it inside the book. A few of his friends wrote “Bloomfield, Missouri” at the top of their pages, so that tells you where the book came from. Now how it ended up in Memphis, I can’t say.

What’s interesting is that in a book whose cover is labeled “My Schooldays Autographs” you didn’t just collect autographs, but you gathered witty sayings from your classmates. Apparently everyone picked out a clever poem or phrase, memorized it as their own, and wrote that in every book they were handed; they didn’t stand there and try to think of something on the spot.

So here are a few of the inscriptions. You’ll notice a certain trend with some of them.

And yes, by our standards they are corny, but you bet they were the bee’s knees back in 1932, which is the date of most of these:

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Oh, what an awful day!

There I was, trying to toast some crumbs of stale bread for my supper. The rat-chewed wiring shorted out, and — once again — the west wing of the Mansion went up in flames. The firemen arrived in the nick of time to quench the blaze. But in a panic I ran outside without my shirt on, and those damn paparazzi who hang out at the gates caught me like this.

I really must cut down on those bowls of Lucky Charms.

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