Look Ma, no mouse!

An early shot of a tired computer programmer at Brockport in the 1970s; no mouse, no screen, just a keyboard and a printout...

Early Brockport Football

The earliest reports of a Brockport football team are from 1889. It was a popular sport, but in the WWI era with widespread concerns about the number of injuries and even deaths in collegiate football, and a growing shortage of male students here at Brockport to play, the team was discontinued as of 1915. After WWII, with a great increase of students, including more men to play, and changes to the game having made it safer, the sport was reinstated. Bob Boozer was the coach for the team, which first played in the fall of 1947.

The newly revived team played on a field in between the village middle school and what is now Special Olympics Stadium. Pictured here is a player from the early days of Brockport football after WWII, Ed Burke, '51.

Professor Burlingame's Cubical Blocks

Herman Burlingame was a professor at Brockport Normal School from 1868 - 1891. He was in charge of mathematical instruction, and also served as librarian for a number of years. One interesting product of his time here was the set of blocks that he designed and sold to aid in the instruction of doing cube roots. Such sets were common in the 19th century, as a way of helping visualize the process with the use of the blocks.

Shown here is a set of Professor Burlingame's "Cubical Blocks" which are part of the collections of the Alumni House.

The Grateful Dead

In November 1981 Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead played in the Tuttle North gymn. It came up today when a researcher working on an encyclopedia of places where the Grateful Dead played contacted the archives about this event. A scan of the 11/11/1981 Stylus article and an image of Tuttle North were emailed back to him; the image here is from that Stylus article. You never know where Brockport's history will take you!

Cannioto '36, First Masters Degree Recipient!

   Alexander Cannioto '36, pictured here, was the first person to be awarded a Masters degree at Brockport, receiving the Masters in Education in January 1950. He was a 1936 graduate of the old Brockport Normal School, which then was a three year program giving a license to teach, but not a bachelors degree. He finished the work for a bachelors and received that in 1945. At the time he received his masters degree, he was teaching in the East Rochester school district. This is a great example of the rapid changes happening in Brockport in that era, when within a few years the school had gone from being a Normal school to a Teachers College granting the bachelors to giving masters degrees starting in 1950.

   In his Normal school years Alexander had been very active. He was in the Phi Alpha Zeta fraternity, Magpies (the drama group,) Blanket Tax Committee (forerunner to the student government of today,) he was on the baseball team, managed the basketball team and was class president.

William Lennon

  

William Lennon, pictured here about 1875, was a science teacher at Brockport, and later the vice-principal (i.e. vice-president) from 1869-1911. A native of Rensselaerville in Albany County, he was born in 1838, went to high school in Binghamton, and attended Genesee College in Lima NY (which later became a part of Syracuse University.)

   He was a keen meteorologist and maintained a weather station at the school for many years; thus the meteorology program of today has a long history at Brockport! He had many other scientific interests, and was mentioned in the local paper in 1901 as demonstrating "wireless telegraphy equipment." Lennon was a member of several scientific associations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Today's Lennon Hall is named after him.

   He was close to the students; in his obituary from 1913 it noted that "No interested student, no matter how backward, was refused assistance, and no teacher more thoroughly enjoyed the innocent pranks of pupils than did Professor Lennon." He maintained close ties with alumni as well. The beginnings of today's Alumni Association go back to several different groups, for example one that met in the New York City area, and another which was for those in western New York. Lennon was a regular and sought after visitor to the annual meetings of both groups.

   Just today a brief history Professor Lennon wrote of the school in 1907 was placed in our Digital Commons.

Memorial Day: "To The Boys In Service"

From the 1944 Saga yearbook. Pictured below are three of the young men on the page; you may visit the digitized version of the 1944 yearbook to see more. 

To The Boys In Service: Those were tense, exciting days when you left our class for the Armed Forces. But through your letters and occasional furlough visits, a loyal part of you has remained at B.S.T.C. You are marching, now, in uniform. Soon we who stayed behind will march in cap and gown. Together we are marching toward the inevitable victory.