Fun Memories of high school memories in New Orleans between De La Salle and Jesuit ... intertwined with attire differences, hazing and best friend fun!
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As a 'Yat who graduated from De La Salle (DLS) in 1977, I've always enjoyed the digs given to our nemesis, Jesuit High School. And us DLS Cavaliers got to enjoy some fun and safe hazing bantering that the Jebbie Blue Jays did not!
One of my best N'Awlins friends, Scott, went to Jesuit after we had both attended Holy Name of Jesus, where we wore those khaki uniforms, which Scott continued to wear as a Blue Jay while I, as a Cavalier, could wear avant garde and stylish casual wear to better attract the pretty Uptown Dominican and Mercy gals.
When Scott and I both attended LSU, you could tell how those Blue Jays didn't quite know how to coordinate their attire ... with some of those hilarious mix-matched sights!
Homecoming Week for us DLS seniors and freshmen Cavaliers was greatly anticipated for. Being a freshman, we all began to hear stories from sophomores, juniors and especially seniors about what lay ahead for us. This taunting was innocent, and the school administration laid down the rules about what boundaries had to be upheld - whether for freshmen or seniors.
Freshmen were obliged to do simple tasks like carrying books for a senior for half an hour before and after school. And silly things like dancing with another freshman student while singing the school's fight song were pretty common.
Another Homecoming attribute for freshmen that was embarrassing involved having to dress in an odd manner during Homecoming week - beanie hat, a long sleeved shirt, short pants, and a tie! I would get many riders on the Street Car laughing as I would get on and off to school.
So after the first four rough but fun days of Homecoming Week, we looked forward to Friday, the day of the Homecoming Football Game. But what we really looked forward to was Kangaroo Court and "The Line." Any freshmen who were caught not doing any reasonable requests from seniors that week had to go in front of the whole school in the gym that Friday morning for a Kangaroo Court!
Basically, the court was made up leadership form the senior class who would quickly, in front of the whole school, make a proclamation like, "Billy Bob has been found guilty of treason and is sentenced to ...." One freshman was shown live worms in a container and then, after being blindfolded, has to eat candy worms in a switched but similar jar. Another friend was tied to a chair and had honey poured on him and then had marshmallows thrown at him by the court members!
All of the pranks were done in jest, and never was the victim in any way forced to do something against his will or done anything to in an inappropriate manner. Also, the school's administration were monitoring all of these events.
My real favorite memory from that week was "The Line." After Kangaroo Court, all freshmen were gathered in the Gym locker's area and told to put on the junk clothes that we had brought for the event. Essentially, the street between the school and the next property was closed off to traffic and a straight path was made in the street with rope holders.
Every senior had a large plastic garbage can filled with flour and water in it - 1/2 of the flour that seniors brought to school was donated to a charity. About 10 feet separated from where the seniors were roped off from the freshmen line.
So the freshmen started walking down the roped path slowly and were inundated with hand thrown chunks of flour paste. What could we do? Simple pick up some flour paste and hurl it back at the seniors which is what we all did. Teachers helped keep the line moving and seniors from getting out of hand, but that didn't mean that they weren't fair targets!
After we all made it through the line and had a blast, other teachers were positioned on ladders near the Gym to hose us all off! Unfortunately, I forgot to put some Bryl creme or Vaseline on my hair before going in the line, so I had a very hard time combing out the dried flour!
While all of us freshmen had initially hated the thought of Hazing week, it actually turned out to be a real school unifier. Sure, some seniors and freshmen did get out of hand, but they were the minority and had many detentions to show for it.
The vast majority of us freshmen really were psyched up as we went to the Homecoming Game that Friday night. We could all come together for a cause and had gotten to know each other so quickly - with all the class levels.
My only regret is that when we became seniors, we still could do the weekday interrogation stuff to freshmen, but "The Line" was taken away by the school administrators. The freshmen really missed our on some special fun!
So even though us Cavaliers enjoyed great fashion attire and hazing gun, Scott, the Blue Jay and another Beatles freak, helped me to complete an assignment for my DLS Freshman History class that Brian Altobello had taught: "The Beatles: The Biggest Break-Up Since The Roman Empire!"
What grade did I get? A+, like the Fab Four!
Thanks Scottie … but still, I gotta share the ole chant: “Fly away, Blue Jay, Fly Away!!!!”
Keith John Paul Horcasitas, LCSW, 1133 Knollhaven Drive, BRLA 70810, khorcasitas.yahoo.com, June 27, 2019.
I thoroughly enjoyed your description of your school days. I can see you are quite adventurous writing that paper on the Beatles. I can also see why you got that grade.
We had Catholic schools in Wausau and Marshfield during my school days. I was grateful that I did not have to go through that religious dogma as part of my education in public school. The University Wisconsin has more freshman rituals than South State University that I attended. We were given a week long orientation that helped cement us. And, we were placed in a group of other freshmen and required to take the same courses for the first semester. With all of us having the same classes we got to know each other much better that first year. I still have good memory of many of my college acquaintances. The only place there was hazing like you describe was with the fraternities. I never joined. And I'm so glad I didn't have to wear certain clothes that I could not even afford, even a beanie or wearing school colors.
Something that solidified my freshman class of 1961 was the local hangout out on the lake, Pete's Pine Point Lodge, had refused our black football players access. We joined the seniors and the rest of the school in boycotting Pete's by going to another country bar, Alcatraz, totally unprepared for the throngs of college students coming to dance Chubby Checker's twist and other rock 'n' roll hits of the day.
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