I arrived in Ithaca in the fall of 1933, the day before my registration for entering Ithaca College. I had hitchhiked part of the way and finally took a bus. It was impossible for my parents to make the trip. I was 18, "wet behind the ears," and thoroughly confused. All I had to assist me was a letter telling me when and where I would register.
That night I stayed at the YMCA. The cost of the room was 50 cents. The next morning I met Ray Miller in the lobby and he, too, was an incoming freshman. As we were talking, a member of OEK fraternity came up to us and asked us if we were going to attend Ithaca College. He told us that there were several rooms for rent at the fraternity. From that beginning Ray and I became roommates and continued that for the next four years. We also became OEK members.
Later that morning we found the physical education building and to our dismay and astonishment found out that it had been converted from a former theater. Inside a small gym, one side had bleachers, the other the former stage. This stage area became the apparatus room. It consisted of one set of flying rings, one pommel mount, a buck, one parallel bar, plus numerous old tumbling mats. Underneath there were a few shower facilities and lockers. I must say they were not too fancy.
After a few weeks I found out what else constituted Ithaca College: one dining hall, administration building, the Little Theatre, and a few residential dwellings where some classes were held. A humble start for what it is now.
Tuition was $150 a semester, $300 per year. The books for our courses were mostly second-hand. They ran from 50 cents to a few dollars. I believe my room rent was around $5 a week. For the next four years all my meals were in restaurants --- Jim’s, Home Dairy, and the Monarch. Cost of meals was 85 cents per day: 25 cents for breakfast and lunch and 35 cents for dinner.
Our practice and playing fields were located in Stewart Park next to Lake Cayuga. That was a long way from our phy. ed. building. We either hitchhiked, walked, or rode the trolley to get there and back. And woe if you were one of the late arrivals after practice: you enjoyed a very cold shower.
How did we survive? Many of the fellows became volunteer firemen and were given a room for the year. Some stoked the furnaces of school property, fraternities, and sororities for a room. The girls worked as waitresses or in private homes for a room. Some of the baseball team joined the House of David baseball team and traveled all over the States during the summer months; all had to sport full beards. Some of the football team players would play for a semi-pro town team on Sundays under assumed names. During the local county fairs in the fall four of us performed a tumbling and balancing program on their stages. The most we received was $10.
We were a small school so everybody knew everybody, from the president down to the lowly freshmen. We were on a first-name basis, a very close-knit group who stood together and believed in our college.
I remember the great bands of Walt Beeler and excellent orchestras of Craig McHenry that made many pleasant evenings. That trombone trio of which Rufus Kern was a member. Walt Roberts and his dramatic productions, George Hoerner and his set designs, the musical voices of Henry Enzian, Luke Matz, and Wilbur Boyer. The yearly production of Scampers. The desire of Judd Pratt in dramatics, which paid off in his appearances on Broadway, film, and television series. Our soccer schedule in the fall of 1936 consisting of four games (we won three and lost one). It was great playing with Lou Spiotti, Al Kauffman, and Ed Herendeen.
When my wife, [Betty Stern ’39], and I returned for our 50th and 48th college reunion in 1987, we stood amid the beautiful campus with its impressive buildings and playing fields. My mind returned to what we had in 1933. The change was unbelievable. In those days we had to look up to see Cornell, but now as I looked over the view we were just as high as Cornell and our view of Lake Cayuga was even more beautiful. What a thrill!
I remember to whom we owe all of this. Yes, President Job, we thank you for your dream and vision. You made it possible for all of us to enjoy this "castle in the sky." We are proud of Ithaca College, then and now.
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