“San Dieguito High: Those Early Years”

Two graduates receiving diplomas — 1941 Graduation

Three yell leaders, one holding trophy — The Trophy and Yell Leaders

Four Sailors and a girl in front of the school — The Sailors and the Pretty Girl

Shirtless boy shakes hand with boy in football jersey — The Handshake

Band players march off the field — The Band Marches On

Girls giving a cheer at the game — SDUHS Yell Leaders

Three girls sitting on wall — Girls pose after getting off the bus after the beach

Three boys hold up two surfboards — Ginormous Surfboards

Kids filing off bus and waving — Off the bus after the beach

Man and woman watch band — Parents and/or Staff watch the band come off the field

White gym in background, game in foreground — SDUHS Football game and first gym

Bus drives up, ocean in background — SDUHS School Bus

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Several years ago a reel of 16 mm film landed in the Foundation Office. We walked in one morning, and there it was! No note or explanation of its origin.

We reached out to alumni and former teachers to learn more about it. At the same time we contacted Legacy Digital and asked them to digitize it for us. Unfortunately they found it was too degraded to get anything off of it. They soaked it in a solution to halt further deterioration and sent it back to us (at no cost! They were very kind.)

I was lamenting to Bettie Grice Wolfe (’41) that we had a wonderful treasure on film but it was unviewable. She told me she thought she might have a copy, and she did! Her copy was made on a VHS tape, copied over a game show as I remember, but I was able to transfer it to my hard drive. For some reason the software that I used broke it into three uneven segments.

Most of it is in impressive color. The tape marks I’ve listed are approximate.

Here is Part 1: (4:03 long)

0:00: Scenes of a home football game, including shots of the band, yell leaders, the school (in background), cars parked in the lot, the scoreboard (looks like 67 to 0 at one point, Go, Mustangs!) Coach Eubanks and Claire Jobe, and fans in the dirt bleachers.
1:55: scenes of the faculty and staff driving in and parking in the lot early in the morning. Impressive scenes of the undeveloped area and ocean view.
2:10: The school bus rolls in and at 2:35 the kids start unloading.
2:48: another football game, kind of blurry.
3:50: Scenes of a toddler.

Part 2 (1:26 long)

0:00: Scenes of a young girl and a mother holding a baby. Bettie Grice Wolfe (’41) told me she remembered these were the children of one of the staff, but she wasn’t sure.
0.11: A football game
0:55: Two players shake hands in a locker room
1:01: Coach Eubanks talks with unknown person, scenes of school buses
1:12: The agricultural area of the school, a car pulling up with kids waving
1:23: The start of another game.

Part 3 (16:38 long):

0:00: The football game continues, including a full yell leader cheer. The game gets more blurry as it goes on.
1:15: Scenes of homecoming parade in downtown Encinitas, including the Vista Unified School District school bus, several floats including the Encinitas Rotary Club, the Japanese Association
2:10: Another home football game, this one more clear.
3:30: The yell leaders have the trophy and march away with it, the band files out while playing, scenes of fans, parents and teachers.
3:55: A basketball game in the original gym, with band, scenes of yell leaders and fans.
6:37: What appears to be a letterman’s ceremony. A group of boys sing a song and one of them is carried out on the shoulders of the others (could this be the Macs?)
6:54: Boys receive certificates and one gets a sweater.
7:35: We believe this is the graduation ceremony. Bettie Grice Wolfe ’41 told me their caps and gowns didn’t arrive in time so the graduates wore their best clothes. There are many closeups of the members of the class of 1941
9:15: Scenes of the beach (I believe it is Moonlight Beach), students, faculty, parents and young children.
9:55: Back at school, what appears to be scenes of the junior high.
10:20: Football practice, many wonderful sweeping panoramic shots of the school beyond the field, including the old gym.
11:24: Sweeping shots of the campus.
12:00: More shots of the beach, including the kids lined up in the surf, huge surfboards, an odd ceremony, a volleyball game
12:45: A barbecue scene, looks like it’s on campus. It appears to be a barbecue for the returning kids because we see them coming back on the bus from the beach.
13:25: More scenes of the campus.
13:45: Boys in sailor uniforms with a girl, they salute the flag, which makes me believe this is in 1942.
13:51: A parade in downtown Encinitas with soldiers marching, horses, SDUHS school buses, the SDUHS marching band, parade watchers
14:27: Girls marching into a field, then the marching band.
15:00 The football game starts. This appears to be an away game. At the end we see the scoreboard and learn the team has been playing Vista.