“The Halls of Ivy” was a song published in 1950. It was recorded in the 1960s by The Lettermen. A beautiful a capella version can be heard online by the Notre Dame Glee Club. It is a song most sung at traditional graduation ceremonies each May and June. Some schools around the country even use the tune for their Alma Mater. Ivy, after all, symbolizes “education.”

Since this time of the year is the back-to-school season, most of us have that feeling of beginning another school year in our mental calendars. Time to buy new school clothes and school supplies. Time to go to the beach and the lake one last time. Time to start going to sleep a little bit earlier to get used to the upcoming routine.

Here are the lyrics that often pull at our heart strings– “Oh, we love the halls of ivy that surround us here today, and we will not forget though we be far, far away. To the hallowed halls of ivy every voice will bid farewell, and shimmer off in twilight like the old vesper bell. One day a hush will fall, the footsteps of us all will echo down the hall and disappear, but as we sadly start our journey’s far apart, A part of every heart will linger here. In the sacred halls of ivy where we lived and learned to know that through the years we’ll see you in the sweet afterglow.”

Football season is upon us. Even though it is still a long, hot summer, school begins during the fall semester. The fall of the year always creates a lot of enthusiasm around the city and the county. In the 1960s, students and parents would have to stand in long lines downtown at one of the shoe stores to buy school books for their grade levels. Naturally, new school shoes would be bought as well – Keds and loafers! You were lucky if you could find a used book at a cheaper price. Cheerleaders would be getting their red corduroy flared skirts lined with white satin ready for the big games. “Go back, go back, go back to the woods! You haven’t, you haven’t, you haven’t got the goods. You haven’t got the swing and you haven’t got the jazz. You haven’t got the team that Andalusia has!” A colorful cheerleader of the time comes to mind – Norma Moore Jackson! Yes, Norma – red and white are the real school colors!

New bandsmen back then would be desperately looking to buy used band instruments. In the 1950s a new band room addition to the “old main” was built with a cafeteria in the lower level. That complex is now in use as the AHS Choral room.

An outstanding band student of the early 1960s was Johnnie Vinson. He spent every summer during his high school days at the band room shadowing Director Jim Nettles learning to play every instrument even though his major instruments were the drums. During concert season, he became an expert on the kettle drums. He had a very musical mother, Eloise Bedsole Merritt, who married Glenn Merritt after Johnnie’s father was killed in WWII. Eloise and Glenn taught ballroom dancing when I was about 12 years old– the box step, the waltz, the jitterbug, and even the cha-cha-cha. My mother and my friends’ mothers signed us up. The Merritts lived near the rear exit to AHS on Ray Street where lots of teenagers often frequented their home.

Anyway, Johnnie Vinson went off to Auburn University and majored in music education with the hopes of becoming a band director…and band director he became – the Auburn University director of bands for many years! Even though Dr. Johnnie Vinson is retired now after a 36-year career and is professor of bands emeritus, he still arranges and composes music prolifically for bands which compositions are played in just about every major university in the country. Check out his website! Once when my daughter, Wynne, was a college band student in the University of Alabama “Million Dollar Band,” she was sent her trumpet music package at the end of the summer with explicit instructions to be familiar with and prepared for the first band practices of the season in Tuscaloosa. There it was – “The Star Spangled Banner” arrangement by Johnnie Vinson (Andalusia native son)!

Another AHS graduate and bandsman about the same time as Vinson was Wayne Miller. He played the oboe, one of the hardest instruments to master, but he became fluent in the other instruments of the woodwind, brass, and percussion families. He became a high school band director teaching for many years over in Mississippi. He still plays in community symphonies and ensembles and as a soloist, and is a guest conductor for important occasions. His accolades are many! Miller and Vinson both mentored many a student who became band directors.

“Corn, corn for ole’ Andy High…” We alums tell the high schoolers that the tunes to their fight song, the Notre Dame Victory March, and their alma mater, the Cornell University Alma Mater, “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters,” are the tunes of the most famous and traditional school songs in the nation. We don’t know exactly who chose them, but we are proud to have them!

Elaine Snead Prestwood wrote the words to the AHS Alma Mater on the occasion of her son Roger’s graduation in 1928. Acccording to the Andalusia Star, May 29, 1928, the new alma mater was first sung publicly at Senior Class Night, May 25, 1928, in the East Three-Notch auditorium and also sung at the graduation exercises, May 28. Mrs. Prestwood dedicated her “Alma Mater” to the Class of 1928 and its sponsor, Miss Mildred Striplin, an English teacher. In “A Little History of the Alma Mater” written by Joseph Cecil Wingard, founder of the AHS Heritage Room, he wrote, “It is also interesting that the high school alma mater was written by one who was not a graduate of the high school.” Some of you readers may recall that in 1928, the high school location was at the Church Street School. The present AHS building did not get completed until 1939 and the first class to be graduated from there was in 1940.

All of us baby boomers are glad that the pep song, “Hoorah for Andy,” has been brought back from the golden years of the 1960s! I notice at football ballgames that some schools play that tune for their school fight song.

Here is an excerpt from The Evergreen Courant, September 18, 1950 edition: “The Aggies will play tomorrow night in a stadium that ranks with the best in the state when they go upon the turf of the (new) municipal stadium in Andalusia. The City of Andalusia completed the stadium last spring at a cost of $150,000. No need in telling you that $150,000 is a lot of coin, but from all reports, the money was well-spent. The stadium has concrete seats for several thousand. Temporary bleachers on the visitors’ side of the field will seat several hundred more. Included in the layout, without conflict, are a baseball field, track, and football field. The field is lighted by the newest type system with the light posts back on the stands giving spectators a clear view of the field. The light system is equaled in few of the state’s larger stadia. A number of local fans took advantage of last Friday’s open date on the Aggie schedule and went over for a look at the Andalusia team and at the new stadium. All of them came back raving about the stadium.”

The Covington County Training School, as well as AHS, played football games in the new stadium. I remember one of the yells led by their cheerleaders – “CCTS one time, yeah man; CCTS two times, yeah man; CCTS all the time, yeah man!”

A plaque was afixed on the new City Municipal Stadium in 1950 when it was built. The plaque is now housed in the AHS Heritage Room. It reads: MUNICIPAL STADIUM, 1950, BUILT THROUGH THE COOPERATION OF T. B. WILDER, MAYOR; COUNCIL – J. F. COLQUETT, G. G. DUNN, JOHN G. WRIGHT, C. C. BASS, LAMON FOWLER; SCHOOL BOARD – W. H. ALBRITTON, L. E. BROWN, MRS. C. H. CHAPMAN, J. A. THOMPSON, J. V. BELL; RECREATION BOARD – M. J. NEWBERRY, C. C. BASS, J. A. THOMPSON, EUGENE SHREVE, RAYMOND SHREVE; ENGINEERS – BUILDERS – MCDONALD, HOOPER, AND DEJARNETTE.

The word around town is that there are exciting plans underway to update the stadium and surrounding area off the by-pass. It has been a long time since that 1950 construction and more recent “band-aid fixes.” The loyal alumni will be called on to assist in this project so spread the word! It is good to REMEMBER WHEN and know the history and of our “proud heritage” so we can move forward to the “promising future” that is ahead!