During the 1951-52 school year, there were 17 seniors, 30 juniors, 48 sophomores and 52 freshmen at Round Rock High School – the district’s only high school at the time. Senior, Dick Mayfield served as editor-in-chief of the first yearbook.
Our class turned out a great group of graduates due mainly to the guidance of a great group of teachers! We started the morning off with our Homeroom teacher, Miss Martha E. Cooper. She taught us English and made us look forward to going to college. Other teachers included Mrs. Idella Rylander, Miss LaJaun Authur (Social Studies), Mrs. Allen Rodgers (Home Economics), Mrs. Geneva Whitlow (Language Arts), Mr. N.G. Whitlow (Vocational Agriculture), Coaches Bill Hamrick & Brooks Dozier. Mr. O. V. McDaniel was our Principal, one of the top educators in Texas. Our leader was Mr. O.F. Perry, Superintendent of our school district.
“When they approached Mr. Perry, he dismissed our idea as “only a way to look at the girls’ pictures.”‘
Dick Mayfield and I agreed that a great way to remember our fellow students’ accomplishments would be in a yearbook. RRHS had never had a yearbook. When they approached Mr. Perry, he dismissed our idea as “only a way to look at the girls’ pictures.” Principal O.V. McDaniels originally said no to the yearbook idea, but later called us back into his office with a compromise — if we could sell $250 in ads in one hour, then we could have a yearbook.
Determined, we set off to sell ads. Dick took the north side of Main St. and I took the south, stopping at Henna Motor Company first. When Mr. Louis Henna overheard my sales pitch to his secretary, he promptly purchased the first full-page ad for $50. He then offered to contact every merchant on the south side of the street all the way to Nelson’s Hardware to buy ads. He also agreed to contact Mr. Elmer Cottrell at the Cheese Factory. Within an hour, we had sold $300 in ads for the first-ever Round Rock annual – $50 over what Principal McDaniels said was needed! When “The Dragon” yearbook was published, a tradition was started! (And both Dick and I later had successful careers in sales.)
Considering this class had five teachers during our fifth grade year, the 17 classmates dubbed themselves as the “class no one wanted.” We ended up being very successful in many ways including sports and academics! This was the first year that the High School had a new indoor gym. Our team went to Region in football, winning 11 games with 2 losses. It was also the first time that the kids from Texas Baptist Home walked our hallways
Franklin Anderson
Round Rock HS Class of 1952
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