ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL (LOS ANGELES) LIST OF NOTABLES

This link is continually under construction. Information about our notables will be included as time permits. We have already compiled information and it is only a matter of transferring it here to this page.
Please check back once in a while to see the progress. Thank you for your patience.

● Rodolfo Acosta, W’39, actor, motion pictures
● R. Vivian Acosta, W’57, PhD, professor emerita - City U. of New York's Brooklyn College, research scholar and author of Title IX - gender equity in sport
● Gregory Ain, S’24, architect
● Walter Ames, S’29, journalist, Los Angeles Times writer
● Herman Gene Brito, 1943, football, NFL-Washington Redskins
● Waldo A. Brown, 1946, criminal attorney
● Robert Bush, S’62; journalist, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, California Press Secretary-President Jimmy Carter, founding board director-Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation
● Dr. Linette C. Calvo, 1980,MD, General Emergency Medicine
● Robert Cannon, Cannon Electric Co.
● Anita Contreras Cano, Teacher-LHS, founder-Ballet Folklorico Estudientel , professor-CSU-Long Beach
● Eddie Cano, S’45, Afro-Cuban jazz and Latin jazz pianist
● Simon A. Carfagno,  W’24, American composer, violinist
● Louis Robert Carno, thoroughbred horse trainer
● Gaylord Carter,  W’24, organist
● King E. Carter, S’66, College professor, author
● Robert Ernie (Bobby) Castillo, 1973, MLB pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers
● Harold Charnofsky, W’49, baseball, USC, New York Yankees, Sociology professor, CSU Dominguez Hills
● Stanley Charnofsky, W’49,  baseball, USC, minor league manager, NY Yankees, professor, CSU Northridge, Educational Psychology
● Sal Chico, W’51, Musician, Sal Chico Band
● Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther Party leader, author of “Soul on Ice”
● Josephine Serrano Collier, S’42, 1^st Latina LAPD officer
● John Conte Jr., S’32, actor
● Manuel De La Torre, artist, muralist
● Daniel D. DeLuce, W’28, journalist,  WW II correspondent - Associated Press; Pulitzer Prize
● John Doucette, S’40, actor
● Ellis A. Eagan, S’18, Los Angeles municipal court judge
● Moctesuma Esparza, W’67, motion picture director, producer
● Charles Fata Jr., 1954, Entrepreneur,  Charlie’s Trio Restaurant, professor, UC Irvine
● Emilio Garcia, W’58, teacher-LHS, Principal-Huntington Park H.S.
● Maria ‘Jesse’ Gomez Franco, W’58, teacher, Principal-Garfield H.S., Assistant Superintendent-LAUSD
● Paul Gatonni (Paul Stevens), S’42, actor, TV, motion pictures
● Harold (“Skip”) Giancanelli, W’47, football, NFL - Philadelphia Eagles, educator, LHS football coach
● Dolores Guerrero, W’66, artist, painting/printmaking
● Libero A. (Lee) Guttero, S’30, basketball –NCAA All American @ USC; USC Athletics Hall of Fame
● Judithe (Judith Elena )Hernández, W’66; artist
● Reymundo Hernandez, W’65, KCBS cameraman, CBS TV Los Angeles; Emmy
● Harold (Hal) S. Hopper, W’30, singer, songwriter, member of The Pied Pipers vocal group
● John Huston, (did not finish school), director/actor
● Frank Jenks, S’20, character actor, musician
● Kenneth Kahn, S’58, comedian, attorney, motivational speaker, author –“The Carny Kid: Survival of a Young Thief”
● Fidel LaBarba, W’25, boxer & sportswriter, 1924 Olympics gold medalist, flyweight division
● José Limón, S’26, dancer, choreographer /Jose Limón Dance Troupe (NY)
● America Lopez, 2009, cyber technology innovator
● Penelope Lopez, 2009, cyber technology innovator
● Richard ‘Scar’ Lopez, S’63, singer, musician-Cannibal and the Headhunters, “Land of 1,000 Dances”
● Chuck Lowry, singer, member of The Pied Pipers vocal group
● Frank John Lubin, W’27, 1936 Olympics gold medal - USA basketball;  Godfather of Lithuanian basketball
● Alfredo Martinez (Fred Martinez), 1974, MLB pitcher for California Angels
● Dr. Velma K. Montoya, W’55, UC Regent 1994-2005, PhD.- UCLA, educator: Chapman U.  School of Business Management, Pepperdine U., Cal Poly- Pomona, UCLA, Rand Corp.
● Suzanne Morales, S’63, graphic design artist, illustrator, author, Walt Disney Imagineering, Emmy
● Carlos R. Moreno, W’66, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, U.S. Ambassador to Belize
● Rudy Moreno, 1974, actor, comedian
● Sadao S. Munemori, S’40, Medal of Honor recipient (WWII)
● Joe R. Nevarez, W’30, journalist, L.A. Times writer, founder-California Chicano News Media Assoc.
● Donald D. Newman, M.D., 1939 (1922-1976), two time LAUSD board president and longtime El Sereno leader, Chief of Staff at San Gabriel Valley Hospital (1967-1968)
● Jeanette Nolan, S’29, TV, motion picture character actress
● Dr. Ramon M. Ortiz, S’73, MD, Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente
● Alex Perez, W’31, L.A. Times cartoonist
● Curtis Popps, W’60, Recording industry - management productions/LA Rap Records
● Robert Preston (Preston Meservey), W’35, stage & screen actor, “The Music Man” –Tony Award, Oscar nominee
● Victor Rocha, S’61, biology professor -UC Santa Cruz, co-founder of Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
● Dr. Raul Rodas, 1974, neurosurgeon
● Isaac Ruiz, 1961 actor, motion pictures/TV
● George J. Smith, S’24,  education, Lincoln High School principal
● Joseph I. (Joe ) Salas, 1924 Olympics silver medalist, featherweight division, 1^ST Mexican American Olympian
● Rudy Salas, W’67, musician (Salas brothers) Tierra band
● Steve Salas, W’69, musician, singer, song writer (Salas brothers) Tierra band
● Leodegario (Leo) Santa Cruz, AKA ‘Teremoto’, professional boxer- bantamweight title
● Dr. Juan (John) Silva, 1988, MD, Family Medicine - White Memorial Hospital; Mosaic Family Care Med Grp
● Max Uballez, W’62, singer, songwriter, musician, author, producer, Chicano East Side Sound, CEO -Xela-Co Media, LLC
● Kenneth (Kenny) S. Washington, S’36, football, UCLA All-American, NFL-Los Angeles Rams; actor /LAPD
● Dr. Robley Williams, S’29,  biophysicist, virologist, 1^st President of Biophysical Society
● Robert Young,  S’26, actor, motion pictures, television, Emmys –“Father Knows Best,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.”
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● Ethel Percy Andrus, Administrator, 1^st female principal of a California high school, LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL: 1917-1944, founder of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons)
● Jim Tunney, Administrator, Boys Vice-Principal, L.H.S., coach, NFL referee /“Dean of NFL Referees”, motivational speaker
● Sal Castro, L.H.S., teacher, mentor who played a central role in the 1968 student walkouts.

ON THIS LIST ARE:
10 ACTORS
2 JUDGES
4 JOURNALISTS
3 OLYMPIC ATHLETES - 2 GOLD, 1 SILVER MEDALISTS
9 EDUCATORS (5 PROFESSORS, 3 HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS)
3 NFL PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS
2 MLB PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYERS
5 DOCTORS
5 ARTISTS
11 MUSICIANS
6 AUTHORS
3 BOXERS
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Biography:  (from AARP’S ANDRUS TIMELINE) 

CALIFORNIA’S FIRST WOMAN PRINCIPAL OF A MAJOR URBAN CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL

In 1916 Ethel Percy Andrus was named Vice-principal of Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles.  In 1917, she became the first woman principal of a major urban California high school.  She would serve in that position for the next 28 years.  Dr. Andrus pioneered many programs now standard in California’s high schools, including vocational education, school assemblies, cheerleading, student government, community service, ROTC, and adult education.

Dr. Andrus used school assemblies and student government to break down cultural and racial barriers at Lincoln High School; she used community service programs to instill a sense of independence, dignity and purpose into her immigrant students.  Dr. Andrus taught her students to take pride in their family heritage.

“My goal was to bring each student a sense of his own worth by treating him with dignity and respect, by honoring his racial background not as a picturesque oddity, but as a valued contribution in the tapestry of American life.”

Dr. Andrus would later apply what she learned about breaking down social barriers among adolescents to her work freeing older Americans from the social and psychological barriers that isolated and limited them.

1916: Appointed Vice-Principal at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles after teaching at Manual Arts High School (Los Angeles).

1917: Appointed Principal at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles; first female principal of a major urban California high school; Supervisor, United States Army Training School at Lincoln High School.

1918:  Ethel Andrus helps found the California Association of Secondary School Principals.

1920:  Executive Secretary of American School for Girls in Damascus, Syria, from 1920-1933; Christine Essenberg, American Oceanologist is principal.

1927:  Advisory Board, Los Angeles County General Hospital from 1927 to 1937.

1928:  M.A. in education from University of Southern California.

1930:  PhD. in education from University of Southern California; one of the first women to earn a doctorate in education at USC.  Thesis:  A High School Curriculum for Girls.

1933:  Chair, Lincoln Heights Coordinating Council; responsible for re-naming East Los Angeles, “Lincoln Heights.”

1935:  Dr. Andrus elected President of California Association of Secondary School Principals.

1944:  Ethel Percy Andrus retires after 28 years as Principal of Abraham Lincoln High School.

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Gale Encyclopedia of Biography:  Ethel Percy Andrus (1884 - 1967)

The image of retirement as the end of a productive, contributory life has been considerably altered by the efforts of Ethel Andrus (1884-1967), founder of the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Although Andrus was dedicated to the improvement of living conditions and to the education of her students and their parents, her most significant achievements occurred after her own retirement from teaching.
Ethel Percy Andrus was born in San Francisco, California, on September 21, 1884. She was the younger of two daughters of George Wallace Andrus and Lucretia Frances Duke. The family moved to Chicago when Andrus was a baby so that her father could finish his legal education at the University of Chicago.

Served the Community
Andrus spent most of her youth in Chicago, graduating from Austin High School. She taught English and German at the Lewis Institute (later, the Illinois Institute of Technology) while continuing her own education. She earned her B.S. from the Lewis Institute in 1908. Andrus was active in the community; she did volunteer work at Hull House and at the Chicago Commons, both settlement houses. Her urge to serve the community grew out of the example set by her father. She believed that we must do some good for which we receive no reward other than the satisfaction of knowing that we have provided an important service.
In 1910, Andrus returned to California with her family. She taught classes at Santa Paula High School for a year, and then taught at Manual Arts High School and Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles. Among her pupils were actors Robert Preston and Robert Young, and General James Doolittle. She became principal of Lincoln High School in 1917, the first woman in California history to hold such a post.
During her 28-year tenure at Lincoln High School, Andrus had many notable achievements. Her urban high school faced problems of juvenile delinquency as well as cultural, ethnic, and racial conflict. Andrus was determined to improve the quality of life for her students, their parents, and others in her community. She strove to instill in her students a sense of pride in their own cultural heritage and an appreciation of the cultural life and values in the United States. By encouraging her students to conduct themselves with self-respect, and by treating them with dignity, Andrus helped to lower the rate of juvenile crime. Her desire to achieve harmony in the neighborhood extended to the parents of her students as well as to the community at large. She established the Opportunity School for Adults, an evening program designed to assist immigrant parents of her pupils. The popularity of the program eventually led to its expansion into a full-time evening education institution through which people in the community could earn a high school diploma.
The contributions made by Andrus led to a substantial drop in juvenile crime and earned the school special citations from the juvenile court in East Los Angeles in 1940. Lincoln High School was selected by the National Education Association to be featured in its textbook Learning Ways of Democracy.
While working on behalf of her students and the community, Andrus continued her own education, earning her M.A. in 1928 and her Ph.D. in 1930 from the University of Southern California. Her doctoral dissertation promoted the establishment of a high school curriculum for girls that would be based on their nature and address their needs. She spent her summers teaching courses at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Stanford University.
Retirement Led to Second Career
Andrus retired from teaching in 1944. It was then that her second career as an advocate for the retired and other older Americans evolved. Although she had her own income, the meagerness of her state pension, $60 per month, aroused her interest in the quality of life enjoyed by her fellow retired teachers. As welfare director of the southern section of the California Retired Teachers Association, Andrus began to examine pensions and other benefits provided to retired teachers across the country. Her research led her to believe that a national organization was needed to address the needs of her peers. She founded and became president of the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) in 1947.
AARP Founded
As president and founder of the NRTA, Andrus devoted herself to improving the living conditions of her fellow retired teachers by lobbying for benefits such as affordable health insurance for persons over age 65, increased pensions, and tax benefits. She won a major victory in 1956, when she persuaded the Continental Casualty insurance company to underwrite a program for NRTA members-the first group health and accident insurance plan for retired persons over the age of 65. The popularity of the insurance coverage for retired teachers brought requests for Andrus to help other retired people to receive comparable benefits. In response, she established and became leader of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) in 1958.
Her continued concern for the costs of health care faced by retired people resulted in the creation of a nonprofit mail-order drug buying service in 1959. The service made it possible for members of AARP and NRTA to purchase prescription medicines at prices at least 25 percent below retail prices. Mail-order centers staffed by licensed pharmacists were established in California and in Washington, D.C. Prescription drugs were delivered directly to the doors of AARP and NRTA members. In announcing the establishment of the program, Andrus explained that the service was motivated by extensive research which revealed that "Americans over 65 years of age spend approximately ten percent of their average annual income for drugs and medications.
In July 1959, Andrus appeared before Congress to express her opposition to a health care bill based on an added payroll tax, as proposed by Representative Aime J. Forand, a Rhode Island Democrat. Instead, she proposed a nationwide system whereby the U.S. government would deduct from social security benefits the cost of premiums for those people who chose the plan. Administration of the plan would be handled by a private board of trustees. Andrus opposed the Forand bill because it denied freedom of choice. She appeared before Congress again-in December 1959-to protest the actions of Parke, Davis & Company of Detroit in cutting off sales to a distributor supplying discount drugs to retired members of the AARP and the NRTA.
"Creative Energy is Ageless"
Andrus promoted the belief that retired people should remain actively engaged in life. She was opposed to mandatory retirement laws and advised people considering retirement to take up a second career. Andrus heeded her own advice: her second career evolved when she became an enthusiastic promoter of a wider range of opportunities for older people. She worked for the right of retired teachers to work as substitutes; encouraged older people to perform services such as tutoring children, working with the hearing-impaired, and becoming involved in church work and city planning; and organized a travel program through the AARP.
During a visit to New York in 1959, Andrus explained that both the NRTA and the AARP are based on the belief that "creative energy is ageless." In an interview with Time, in 1954, she said, "As it is, when you leave a job, they often just give you a gold watch and all you can do is look at it and count the hours until you die. Yet think of all the grand things we can do that youth can't. Think of all the things we already have done. Some day, the retired teachers in this country will have the dignity they deserve."
Andrus deplored the lack of wider job opportunities for older citizens. In 1963, she founded the Institute of Life Long Learning to provide classes and seminars focused on the needs and interests of retired people and other older Americans. Additional branches of the Institute were established in California and Florida. Her efforts received national recognition and she was asked to serve as a member of the national advisory committee for the White House Conference on Aging in 1961. She also worked as executive secretary for the American School for Girls in Damascus, Syria; and as a member of the advisory board of the American Association of Homes for the Aged. Andrus edited four Association journals, including Modern Maturity, the monthly magazine of the AARP. She helped to establish Grey Gables, a retirement home for teachers, in Ojai, California, in 1954. She was named National Teacher of the Year in 1954.
AARP Work Continued After Her Death
Andrus died in Ojai, California on July 13, 1967. She, and her work, were not forgotten. In 1968, the AARP Andrus Foundation was established. Its mission, as noted on the Andrus Foundation website, was "to enhance the lives of older adults through research on aging." In addition, the University of California, the AARP, and the NRTA established the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center in 1973. Another honor came 25 years later. In 1998, Andrus was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Andrus's belief in and commitment to promoting the interests of older Americans continues through the work of the AARP and the NRTA, both of which have become powerful lobbying forces composed of more than 30 million members. Whenever there is an opportunity to improve the quality of life through education, employment, or advances in healthcare coverage, the AARP and the NRTA are there to continue her work. As noted on the AARP website "This remarkable American leader served as a role model at a time when women were not highly visible in public life." She "exemplified her legacy of service to others."

Further Reading
Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes, Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement Eight, 1966-1970, American Council of Learned Societies, 1988.
O'Neill, Lois Decker, Women's Book of World Records and Achievements, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1979.
Sicherman, Barbara, Carol Hurd Green, Ilene Kantrov, and Harriette Walker, Notable American Women-The Modern Period: A Biographical Dictionary, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980.
New York Times, April 12, 1959; July 17, 1959; August 23, 1959; November 5, 1959; December 12, 1959; July 15, 1967.
Time, May 10, 1954, p. 79.
"AARP Celebrates Women's History Month," AARP Webplace,http://www.aarp.org (April 13, 1999).
"About the AARP Andrus Foundation," AARP Andrus Foundation Webplace,http:// www.andrus.org (April 7, 1999).
"What is AARP?" AARP Webplace,http://www.aarp.org (March 7, 1999).

● Photos of Ethel Percy Andrus appear in all Lincolnian yearbooks from 1916 through 1943.
(There was no official yearbook in 1944 due to paper shortages and rationing during World War II.)

R. VIVIAN ACOSTA / PhD Sport administration, professor and author
   
R. Vivian Acosta, W’57, PhD, professor emerita - City U. of New York's Brooklyn College, research scholar and author of Title IX - gender equity in sport.Vivian Acosta (BS ’65, MS ’67, PhD University of Southern California ’74; West Brookfield, Mass.), past president of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport and a professor emeritus of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, was honored with the Bigger Picture of Being a Champion Award by the Alliance of Women Coaches. She has also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators and been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators in America by the Institute for International Sport.

A former president of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, Dr. Acosta served on the Board of Governors for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She received the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and in 2003 she received the Rachel Bryant Award from the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.

Experienced as an athletic director and coach of many sports, including men's teams, Dr. Acosta earned her PhD in sport administration in 1974 from the University of Southern California.

R. Vivian Acosta, Ph.D. and Linda Jean Carpenter, Ph.D., J.D.
Professors Emerita, Brooklyn College collaborated on book, Title IX, (© 2005, hardback, 289 pages,
ISBN-13: 9780736042390) 
Source: http://webpages.charter.net/womeninsport/
Bios of America's Most Influential Sports Educators

R. Vivian Acosta, PhD., has been involved in the Title IX and gender equity issues in sport for more than thirty years. A professor emerita at the City University of New York's Brooklyn College, she has written extensively on the subject and served as a presenter at national, regional and local conferences. Dr. Acosta's well known 27 year longitudinal national study of the status of women in intercollegiate sport, conducted with co-author Linda Jean Carpenter, PhD., has been frequently cited in the media, Congress and gender equity suits.

A former president of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport, Dr. Acosta served on the Board of Governors for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. She received the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators' Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 and in 2003 she received the Rachel Bryant Award for the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.

Experienced as an athletic director and coach of many sports, including men's teams, Dr. Acosta earned her PhD in sport administration in 1974 from the University of Southern California.

Source: http://www.internationalsport.org/sports-educators/honoreebios.cfm

● You can find the graduation photo of R. Vivian Acosta in the 1957 Lincolnian yearbook on page 8

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WALTER AMES / Journalist 
S’29, TV & Radio Editor, Los Angeles Times




● You can find a graduation photo of Walter Ames in the 1929 Lincolnian  yearbook on page 170

GENE BRITO / Professional football - Washington Redskins / Los Angeles Rams

Herman Gene Brito, 1943, football, NFL-Washington Redskins
Gene Brito, born to a Spanish-American father and Mexican-American mother, grew up in Lincoln Heights, a then mostly Italian American neighborhood, located in Los Angeles.  His father was a boxer, and he had two younger sisters. Brito attended Lincoln High School where he was a standout athlete.
Brito graduated from Loyola Marymount University (then Loyola University) as a multi-sport athlete, starring in football, baseball, basketball and track.
Brito began his career as an offensive end, catching 45 passes in his first two seasons before being moved to defensive end in 1953. He was named the NFL Player of the Year by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club after the 1955 season. He played in the Canadian Football League for the Calgary Stampeders in 1954 where he was an All-conference selection in the CFL's Western Conference. In the NFL, he was a five-time Pro-Bowler in 1953 and from 1955 to 1958. He was selected as one of the 70 Greatest Redskins, a list compiled by the Redskins in 2002 to commemorate the 70-year anniversary of the team. He is one of four defensive ends on the team, along with Dexter Manly, Ron McDole and Charles Mann. In 2004, he was named to the Professional Football Researchers Association  Hall of Very Good in the association's second HOVG class.

Brito was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Arm and an Army paratrooper with U.S. forces in the Pacific during World War II.

Brito was elected posthumously to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. He hosted "The Gene Brito Show" which aired prior to Redskins games in the 1950s making him one of the first NFL athletes to host a show and making him the most popular Redskins of his era. He was then-President John F. Kennedy's favorite player. Brito died on June 8, 1965 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 39.

Waldo A. Brown / Criminal Attorney

Waldo A. Brown, S'46
Born:  February 2, 1929
Died:  May 6, 2011
Beloved husband, father, grandfather and well known criminal attorney will be dearly missed. Graduated from Lincoln H.S. in 1946, attended East L.A. J. C. and graduated Cum Laude from Southwestern U. Law School in 1958. His greatest loves were his family, his work and thoroughbred horse racing. He was known for his dapper wardrobe and care of his clients. In lieu of flowers, send condolences by donating to Disabled Jockey's Fund.
(from L.A. Times obituary page)
Law Offices of Waldo A. Brown
Chase Bank Building
100 North Citrus Street
Suite 515
West Covina, CA 91791
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Obituary - Waldo A. Brown / San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Waldo A Brown February 2, 1929 - May 6, 2011 Loving husband, father and grandfather will be dearly missed. He is survived by his wife, Genevieve, son Brian, daughter, Nancy Brown Kail, 6 grandsons and 3 great-grandsons. His family and his work were his greatest loves. He also loved Flamenco music and thoroughbred horse racing. Waldo was born in Seminole Oklahoma and at the age of seven, he, his parents and younger brother Keith moved to Los Angeles. He graduated from Lincoln H.S in 1946, where he was on the varsity football team and was class president. He attended East L.A J.C and Southwestern U. Law School, where he graduated Cum Laude, in 1958. Waldo served in the U.S Army 11th Airborne as a paratrooper. He was stationed in Japan during the U.S occupation there, after WWII, and was discharged in 1949. While attending law school, Waldo worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a yardman. Per an article in the L.A Examiner, "Yardman Rides Runaway Car for 3 1/2 Miles, Shuns Safety by Leap; Lives to tell Story. He screamed at the top of his voice to warn auto traffic ahead and jumped about 15 seconds before the crash that killed a woman and injured 13 other persons. His heroism probably prevented a greater loss of life." Waldo first practiced law with the L.A County District Attorney's Office. He later went into private practice specializing in criminal law. His colleagues often commented on his dapper wardrobe. Per one of his clients, "He always took time for me to make sure I understood what was going on." In lieu of flowers, please send your condolences by donating to the Permanently Disabled Jockey's Fund at www.pdif.org. Waldo had the greatest respect for this profession which brought him much pleasure. There will be a private ceremony for family and friends.

Published in San Gabriel Valley Tribune on May 13, 2011
● You can find photos of Waldo Brown in the 1946 Lincolnian yearbook on page 26.
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Robert (Bob) Bush / Journalist / Press Secretary

Robert (Bob) Bush, S’62; Journalist, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, former press deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, California Press Secretary-President Jimmy Carter, founding board director-Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.

● You can find photos of Robert (Bob) Bush in the 1962 Lincolnian yearbook on pages 24, 27, 69 & 71
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LINETTE C. CALVO / MD, General Emergency Medicine

Linette C. Calvo, 1980
Dr. Linette Christine Calvo graduated from Lincoln High School, Los Angeles in 1980.
Dr. Calvo graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1989. Dr. Calvo works in Santa Cruz, CA and specializes in Emergency Medicine. Dr. Calvo is affiliated with Dominican Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Saint Elizabeth Community Hospital and Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz.

ROBERT CANNON / Entrepreneur

Robert Cannon, Cannon Electric Co.

EDDIE CANO / Afro-Cuban Jazz, Latin Jazz pianist; composer, arranger

EDDIE CANO graduated from L.H.S. in S’45
While at Lincoln he was in dance band, R.O.T.C., member of Squires, football band and orchestra.

The following is from Wikipedia:
Edward "Eddie" Cano (June 6, 1927 – January 30, 1988) was an Afro-Cuban jazz and Latin jazz pianist born in Los Angeles, California. He began his musical career with Miguelito Valdés and his orchestra. Cano has worked with many other notable musicians including Bobby Ramos, Les Baxter, Jack Costanzo, Buddy Collette, and Tony Martinez.  He was also first president of the Hispanic Musicians Association.  He also recorded a slew of albums for various labels, including Reprise Records and RCA Records. He also explored boogaloo and tropical music. Eddie Cano died from an apparent heart attack on January 30, 1988.

Cano spent most of his career trying to find the balance between jazz and Latin jazz styles. He found an appreciative audience for a series of albums under his own name released in the '50s and '60s by labels such as Atco, Reprise, and RCA, his following similar to that of vibraphonist Cal Tjader and bandleader Les Baxter. Cano also drew on dance crazes such as the cha cha and the Watusi to promote his efforts. His family was rich musically; Cano's father a bass guitarist, his grandfather a member of the Mexico City Symphony. Cano studied bass with his grandfather and private teachers, also studied piano and trombone, spent two years in the Army beginning in 1945, and then began hitting stages in a group led by Miguelito Valdés.

He soon made a connection with Herb Jeffries, a singer whose forte was balladry and with whom Cano would collaborate off and on over the next decade. The pianist had his own bands going as early as 1948, but continued working with Jeffries, Bobby Ramos, and Tony Martinez. As a composer, Cano came up with a large repertoire, including the tasty "Algo Sabroso," the friendly "Cal's Pals," the wiggly "Watusi Walk," and the thrilling "Ecstasy" -- not to mention "Honey Do," which could be a cross-genre answer song to Carl Perkins' popular "Honey Don't." While many of his peers concentrated on the peerless thrust of Latin rhythms, Cano hardly ignored this component but seemed equally intent on emphasizing the kind of complex, provocative harmonic and melodic structures associated with modern jazz.Cano, Eddie (b 6 June '27, L.A., father Mexican, mother Mexican-American; d 30 Jan. '88, L.A.) Latin jazz pianist, leader, composer, arranger. Infl. by Noro Morales and Errol Garner, he developed an inimitable rhythmic style, drive and ability to "lift" a band. Often in his numbers he'd switch styles from Latin (with Latin rhythm section) to straight jazz (accompanied by drum kit). Began classical piano studies at age five; played bass in junior high school and trombone in high school, where he became interested in jazz and decided to turn pro; an uncle introduced him to Duke Ellington's music; started working in local nightclub bands '43, playing both Latin and American dance music. Joined US Army '45, assigned to various military bands and completed a course in six months at L.A. Conservatory of Music '46. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Allmusic
References:  Jump up ^ Los Angeles Times Obituary

Jump up ^ Yanow, Scott (2000). Afro-Cuban Jazz. Miller Freeman Books. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0-87930-619-X.

To see Eddie Cano's discography, go to: https://www.discogs.com/artist/301704-Eddie-Cano

● You can find photos of Eddie Cano in the 1945 yearbook on page 8.

SIMON A. CARFAGNO / American composer, violinist


Simon A. Carfagno,  W’24 (1906–1986) Musician - violinist

Born:  January 8, 1907, Pennsylvania

Died: September 19, 1986 (age 80) in Butte, California

LHS graduate Winter 1924 

Filmography:
Swiss Miss (musician - uncredited) 1938
Out There (special thanks: music) 1976
The following story is from the Associated Press and it ran on April 29, 1987

Gaylord Carter,  W’2

Gaylord Carter was an American organist and composer of many film scores that were added to silent films released on video tape or discs. He died from Parkinson disease.

Gaylord Beach Carter was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, the son of Charles Davis Carter (1857–1940) & Olive Athena Beach (1873–1964). His father was a church organist and taught music, while his mother taught voice. Gaylord was originally to be called Mortimer Preston Carter, and the name Gaylord came about later. His family immigrated to the United States, settling in Wichita, Kansas, where his father opened a conservatory of music and also served as a church organist.

Gaylord displayed the family talent for music at a young age and became a soloist in the church choir, until his voice changed. He also played the organ in another church from the age of ten.  As the "Jazz Age" evolved, Gaylord found himself drawn to the new musical form and dared to try jazz on the church organ. On one occasion this transgression was discovered by the pastor, who then chastised him: "Gaylord, stop playing that high-falutin' music in church!” By the time he was fourteen he was playing at a local movie theater, accompanying the silent films at children's matinees

At 16 years of age, Gaylord enrolled at Lincoln High School in Lincoln Heights.  He found employment at a local theater accompanying movies on the piano and then, later on a new Estey organ. After graduating from Lincoln High, he attended UCLA where, by 1926, he was engaged in pre-law studies. He continued playing in theaters to finance his education.

Carter was playing accompaniment to a Harold Lloyd movie at the Seville Theater in suburban Inglewood when he was spotted by an agent of the Harold Lloyd Company, who had dropped in to see how the movie was doing at the box office. Gaylord would later tell audiences that the agent was there to "see that Lloyd got his proper cut from the box office". Impressed by the description of Carter's playing, Lloyd recommended him to Sid Grauman, who offered the 21-year-old $110 a week to be the full-time organist at his downtown Los Angeles movie palace, the Million Dollar Theatre. Carter accepted the offer and left school. Though he later paid for the college educations of his brother and sister, he never completed college himself. Carter was summoned to the UCLA deans' office and asked if his reason for leaving his law studies was financial. Carter replied, "Yes! I'm making too much money to stay!"

Go to Wikipedia.com for additional information.

From https://www.imdb.com
Gaylord Carter is a world-famous organist, who played music for silent movies at many movie palaces in the Los Angeles area.

He was inducted into the American Theatre Organ Society's Hall of Fame in 1975.

He played "Lili Marlene" in USA.

He appeared on the game show, "To Tell the Truth," and had to feign being a survivor of the Titanic
Known for the following :

Filmography

(Music department | Composer | Soundtrack | Actor)

Music department (5 credits)

 1928 Steamboat Bill, Jr. (musical setting: 1991) 

 1926 Old Ironsides (performer: Film Technology Company's score) 

 1924 The Thief of Bagdad (musician: musical setting - 1975) 

 1923 The Ten Commandments (score performer) 

 1920 One Week (Short) (musical setting) 

 Composer (2 credits)

 1971 Directed by John Ford (Documentary) 

 1921 Little Lord Fauntleroy 

Soundtrack (2 credits)

 2015/I Inside Out (performer: "Grim Grinning Ghosts (Otherworldly Concerto)") 

 1920 Pollyanna (performer: "Rock-a-Bye Baby" (1884)) 
Actor (1 credit)

 1937 Sunday Night at the Trocadero (Short) 
Gaylord Carter Thanks (2 credits)

 1971 Directed by John Ford (Documentary) (thanks) 

 1924 The Thief of Bagdad (thanks: to whom this edition is respectfully dedicated - 1975) 

Self (4 credits)

 1996 Lights, Camera, Action!: A Century of the Cinema (TV Mini-Series documentary) 
Himself

- The Sound of Music (1996) ... Himself

 1989 American Masters (TV Series documentary) 

- Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius (1989) ... Himself

 1980 Hollywood (TV Mini-Series documentary) 

- Pioneers (1980) ... Himself

 1957 This Is Your Life (TV Series) 

- Thelma White (1957) ... Himself

● see photos, 1924 Lincolnian yearbook, pg.16 and 1967 yearbook pg.21

KING E. CARTER / Professor, author

King Carter, S’66 attended Abraham Lincoln High School, from the 7^th – 12^th grade.  He was a 3-year varsity letterman in track & field, a 2-year varsity letterman in basketball, sports editor of the Railsplitter, Senior High Boys Vice-President, and was president of the Pages, the Squires, and the Knights.  He graduated with a major in Science and Foreign Language.  He completed his undergraduate study at the University of Redlands, Sociology, Philosophy, and History (graduating with honors in Sociology). Graduate level studies were engaged at Claremont Graduate University (“Developing Teacher-Leaders Specializing in the Problems of the Disadvantaged”,” UCLA (“Policy Analysis in Education,” and teaching minor certification classes at UCSD, CSULB, and CSUDH.

His teaching career includes Ganesha High School (Pomona), Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles Harbor College, DeVry University, University of Phoenix, and CSUN (California State University, Northridge).  He taught courses in Developmental Reading and Writing, Freshman Composition, U.S. History, African American History, African American Literature, Sociology, Political Science, Ethics, Critical Thinking, Critical Thinking and Racism, and Introduction to Culture.

Administrative positions he held were as Western Regional Director for TRIO Training (Atlanta University), Director of the Los Angeles Harbor College “Program for Accelerated College Education (PACE); after retirement, became Coordinator of the PACE Program.  He served on the Board of Directors for the Mayme Clayton Library & Museum and is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for the Mervyn Dymally Political Institute, at California State University at Dominguez Hills.

He continues to teach online, for Southern New Hampshire University.  He has written, copyrighted, and published 3 books:  Journey and Title Poems, The Weighing Game, God’s Time, and Lessons from Life’s Road: Pondering, Punditry, and Poetic Wisdom of a Traveler I (Volumes II – VII, not yet published).

● No graduation photo of King Carter available from Lincolnian yearbook.
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Robert Ernie (Bobby) Castillo / Major League Baseball pitcher, Los Angeles Dodgers

Robert Ernie (Bobby) Castillo, 1973

Bobby Castillo, a Los Angeles native, pitched parts of nine seasons in the Major Leagues for the Dodgers and Twins. He was 38-40 with a 3.94 ERA, and in 1982 with Minnesota, he went 13-11 with a 3.66 ERA, pitching 218 2/3 innings and recording six complete games, including one shutout.

● See photos of Robert (Bobby) Castillo in Lincolnian 1973 yearbook, pages. 20 & 84

LEROY ELDRIDGE CLEAVER / African American writer / political activist / author
 

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (born 1935), an American writer and a leader of the Black Panther party, was noted for advocating violent revolution within the United States.

Writings:

• Soul on Ice,S McGraw, 1968, reprinted, Dell, 1992.
• Eldridge Cleaver: Post-Prison Writings and Speeches, Random House, 1969.
• Eldridge Cleaver's Black Papers, McGraw, 1969.
• Soul on Fire, Word, Inc., 1978.
  

  Synopsis

  Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, on August 31, 1935, Eldridge Cleaver spent much of his youth in reform school and prisons in California. He began writing while incarcerated. Freed on parole, he joined the Black Panthers and published his prison essays in Soul on Ice. In 1968, he fled the country to avoid a return to prison. Cleaver was 62 when he died in Pomona, California, on May 1, 1998.

  Early Life

  Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was born on August 31, 1935, in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. Growing up, Cleaver witnessed his father beating his mother. Soon after a move to Los Angeles, California, his father left the family.

  Cleaver dropped out of Abraham Lincoln Junior High School (Los Angeles) after his parents separated.

  Reform School and Prison

  As a teenager, Cleaver was charged with stealing a bicycle and sent to reform school. He would return for a second stay for selling marijuana. In 1954, Cleaver was sent to prison for possession of marijuana.

  During his incarceration, Cleaver began to develop his own political philosophy. After his release in 1957, he raped an unknown number of women, both black and white. He felt that his rapes of white women were "insurrectionary" rapes, justified by what African Americans had suffered under a system dominated by whites.
  In 1958, Eldridge Cleaver was put behind bars once more, this time for assault. There, he became inspired by Malcolm X. He also began writing, detailing his continuing philosophical evolution. Though still passionate about rights for African Americans, he rejected the anger that had motivated his rapes. With the help of his lawyer, his compelling essays appeared in Ramparts magazine. His work gained the attention of supporters who pushed for Cleaver's release, which happened when he was granted parole in 1966.

  Joining the Black Panthers

  In 1967, Cleaver joined the Black Panther Party as its minister of information. He became the voice of the activist group, coming up with attention-getting slogans and editing its newspaper. The next year, Soul on Ice, a collection of Cleaver's prison writings, was released and became a bestseller.

  On April 6, 1968, Cleaver was involved in a shoot-out with police that left a fellow Black Panther dead. At first jailed, he was soon released on bail, which allowed him to continue his run for president on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. However, Cleaver was then told he would have to return to custody.

  Exile and Return

  Rather than go back to prison, Cleaver fled to Cuba. During his time as a fugitive, he visited North Korea, North Vietnam, the Soviet Union, and China. Cleaver also travelled to Algeria, where he set up an international office for the Black Panthers before being kicked out of the group in 1971.

  Cleaver next moved to France. He had a religious experience there before returning to the United States in 1975. He then proclaimed himself a born-again Christian, decried the socialist systems he had seen and wrote that "the American political system is the freest and most democratic in the world." Cleaver's charges from the shoot-out in 1968 were eventually reduced to assault and he was sentenced to community service.

  Later Life and Death

  Cleaver's later years saw him shift between different beliefs. He worked with Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, became a Mormon and created "Christlam," which combined aspects of Christianity and Islam. His politics changed as well. After joining the Republican party, he ran for office several times and supported Ronald Reagan—whom he had formerly denounced—as president.

  Cleaver also suffered from an addiction to cocaine. This resulted in several arrests, though he did not have to return to prison. A devastating head injury in 1994—which may have occurred in a drug-related attack—prompted him to recommit to evangelical Christianity. Cleaver died in Pomona, California on May 1, 1998, at the age of 62.

  (No yearbook photos available)

SUZANNE MORALES / Artist

Suzanne Morales, S’63
Awarded an Emmy for outstanding achievement in Graphic Design.  
Computer Artist for television broadcasting.

Architectural Graphic Designer for the theme parks Walt Disney Imagineering.
Author/Illustrator for a children's picture book titled "Tucker the Turtle". 
Bachelor's degree from Cal State University at Los Angeles.

● You can find photos of Suzanne Morales in the 1963 Lincolnian yearbook pages 38 & 95

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CURTIS POPPS / Recording industry / LA Rap Records

Curtis Popps, W’60
At Lincoln High played in the band taught by Mr. Tozier.
Popps later became member of band called "The Showcases" then went on into recording industry management productions /LA Rap Records.



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Robert Preston (Preston Meservey), W’35
Best known for stage & screen leading role in “The Music Man” –Tony Award, Oscar nominee

Born: June 8, 1918 in Newton, Massachusetts
Died: March 21, 1987 in Montecito, California

The following is an article from Masterworks Broadway:

Charismatic American actor Robert Preston (b. Newton Highlands, MA, June 8, 1918; d. Montecito, CA, March 21, 1987) almost never played leading men, but exhibited his irresistible charm on stage and screen playing confidence artists like Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man (1957) or Foxwell J. Sly in Sly Fox (1977). Though he had important roles in nearly fifty films (“I’d get the best role in every B picture and the second best in the A pictures,” he claimed), his greatest impact was made on the Broadway stage midway through his career. For his performances in The Music Man and I Do! I Do!(1967) he won two Tony Awards® for Best Actor, and was nominated again in 1975 for his portrayal of Mack Sennett in Mack & Mabel. He was nominated for an Oscar® in 1983 for his turn as Toddy opposite Julie Andrews in the film Victor Victoria.

Robert Preston Meservey grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a garment worker and sometime minor-league baseball player. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School, training as a musician and playing several instruments, but quit at age sixteen to study acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. He apprenticed in forty-two productions there until landing a contract with Paramount studios. It was Paramount that dropped his surname. Until 1943 he made an average of three movies a year, typically portraying sidekicks, rejected suitors, or villains in westerns and adventure films. Producer Cecil B. DeMille, whose methods the actor openly despised, nonetheless cast Preston in choice roles in Union Pacific (1939), Northwest Mounted Police (1940), and Reap the Wild Wind (1942).

He married B-movie actress Catherine Craig (born Catherine Kay Feltus) in 1940. Their marriage ended only with his death forty-seven years later.

For the rest of World War II Preston served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army Air Force, returning to his accustomed Hollywood schedule in 1947 with The Macomber Affair, The Lady Gambles (1949), The Sundowners (1950), and Best of the Badmen (1951). Having had enough of westerns (and his wife having had enough of B-movies), he moved to New York in 1951 and embarked on a stage career.

Preston’s Broadway debut was a star turn in a successful revival of The Male Animal (1952), which was followed by a series of six flops, or near-flops. At last in 1957 he took on the role that would make him immortal, the shady trombone salesman Harold Hill in Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Robert Preston had never sung in public before. Besides his Best Actor Award, the show won five more 1958 Tonys®, including Best Musical, and ran for 1375 performances. Time magazine in July 1958 ran a portrait of Preston on its cover.

After this triumph, Preston was able essentially to write his own ticket, on screen as well as stage, in serious drama as well as comedy. He turned in riveting performances in films The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), All the Way Home (1963), and the film version of The Music Man, starred on Broadway as Henry II opposite Rosemary Harris in The Lion in Winter (1966) and opposite Mary Martin in the two-person musical I Do! I Do! (1966), for which he won another Tony®. In the 1970s he appeared with Steve McQueen in Junior Bonner (1972), with Lucille Ball in the film version of Mame (1974), and created the lead role in Jerry Herman’s Broadway musical Mack & Mabel (1974), earning his third Tony® nomination.

In 1979 and 1980 Robert Preston was back in westerns, playing patriarch Hadley Chisholm on the television miniseries, The Chisholms. One of Preston’s last starring roles was as a gay cabaret singer befriending Julie Andrews in Victor Victoria (1982). It brought him nominations both for a Golden Globe Award® and for an Oscar®.

Preston died in 1987 of lung cancer. His wife Catherine passed away in 2004.                                                     -LEC

https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/robert-preston/

Stage productions:
The Male Animal (May 15, 1952 – January 31, 1953)
Men of Distinction (April 30, 1953 – May 2, 1953)
His and Hers (January 7, 1954 – March 13, 1954)
The Magic and the Loss (April 9, 1954 – May 1, 1954)
The Tender Trap (October 13, 1954 – January 8, 1955)
Janus (November 24, 1955 – June 30, 1956)
The Hidden River (January 23, 1957 – March 16, 1957)
The Music Man (December 19, 1957 – April 15, 1961)
Too True to be Good (March 12, 1963 – June 1, 1963)
Nobody Loves an Albatross (December 19, 1963 – June 20, 1964)
Ben Franklin in Paris (October 27, 1964 – May 1, 1965)
The Lion in Winter (March 3, 1966 – May 21, 1966)
I Do! I Do! (December 5, 1966 – June 15, 1968)
Mack & Mabel (October 6, 1974 – November 30, 1974)
Sly Fox (December 14, 1976 – February 19, 1978)
The Prince of Grand Street (March 7, 1978 – March 25, 1978, Philadelphia; March 28, 1978 – April 15, 1978, Boston; closed during pre-Broadway tryouts

Filmography:
King of Alcatraz (1938) as Robert MacArthur
Illegal Traffic (1938) as Charles Bent Martin
Disbarred (1939) as Bradley Kent
Union Pacific (1939) as Dick Allen
Beau Geste (1939) as Digby Geste
Typhoon (1940) as Johnny Potter
North West Mounted Police (1940) as Ronnie Logan
Moon Over Burma (1940) as Chuck Lane
The Lady from Cheyenne (1941) as Steve Lewis
Parachute Battalion (1941) as Donald Morse
New York Town (1941) as Paul Bryson, Jr.
The Night of January 16th (1941) as Steve Van Ruyle
Pacific Blackout (1941) as Robert Draper
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) as Himself (uncredited)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942) as Dan Cutler
This Gun for Hire (1942) as Michael Crane
Wake Island (1942) as Pvt. Joe Doyle
Night Plane from Chungking (1943) as Capt. Nick Stanton
Wings Up (1943)
The Macomber Affair (1947) as Francis Macomber
Variety Girl (1947) as Himsel
Wild Harvest (1947) as Jim Davis
Big City (1948) as Rev. Philip Y. Andrews
Blood on the Moon (1948) as Tate Riling
Whispering Smith (1948) as Murray Sinclair
Tulsa (1949) as Brad Brady
The Lady Gambles (1949) as David Boothe
The Sundowners (1950) as James Cloud ('Kid Wichita')
When I Grow Up (1951) as Father Reed
Cloudburst (1951) as John Graham
Best of the Badmen (1951) as Matthew Fowler
My Outlaw Brother (1951) as Joe Waldner
Face to Face (1952) as Sheriff Jack Potter ('The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky')
The Last Frontier (1955) as Col. Frank Marston
Sentinels in the Air (1956) (narrator)
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) as Rubin Flood
Elmer Gantry (1960 film) as Elmer Gantry
The Music Man (1962) as Harold Hill
How the West Was Won (1962) as Roger Morgan
Island of Love (1963) as Steve Blair
All the Way Home (1963) as Jay Follett
Junior Bonner (1972) as Ace Bonner
Child's Play (1972) as Joseph Dobbs
Mame (1974) as Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside
Semi-Tough (1977) as Big Ed Bookman
The Chisholms (1979-1980, TV Series) as Hadley Chisholm
S.O.B. (1981) as Dr. Irving Finegarten
Victor Victoria (1982) as Carroll "Toddy" Todd
Rehearsal for Murder (1982, TV Movie) as Alex Dennison
September Gun (1983, TV Movie) as Ben Sunday
The Last Starfighter (1984) as Centauri
Finnegan Begin Again (1985, TV Movie) as Mike Finnegan
Outrage! (1986, TV Movie) as Dennis Riordan (final film role)

● You can find Robert Preston “Duke” Meservey's graduation photo on page 24 of 1935 Lincolnian yearbook.

KENNY WASHINGTON / Professional football - Los Angeles Rams
First NFL Black Player of the modern era
 
KENNY WASHINGTON, S'36
Born: August 31, 1918 - Los Angeles, California
Died: June 24, 1971 - Los Angeles, California
Graduated from Lincoln High School (Los Angeles, CA)
College: UCLA
Career:  Hollywood Bears (1940-1945)
               Los Angeles Rams (1946-1948)
Career highlights and awards: All-American 1939; UCLA No. 13 retired; College Football Hall of Fame 1956 

Career NFL statistics:
   Rushing yards:  859
   Rushing average:  6.1
   Rushing touchdowns:  8
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Kenny Washington Biography-Completed Bomb as High Schooler, Snubbed in

All-American Balloting By James M. Manheim

Football player
While the path breaking accomplishments of his college teammate Jackie Robinson are known even to casual sports fans, Kenny Washington is not a familiar name even though he was the first African American to play in the modern-day National Football League (NFL). The difference in recognition may be due to the fact that baseball was the undisputed king of sports in the late 1940s, while professional football was just beginning its climb to popularity. But the historical injustice done to Washington was significant: he was one of the top college football players in the United States in the late 1930s, but by the time he broke into the pros he was injury-ridden and past his prime years as a player.

Kenneth S. Washington was born in Los Angeles on August 31, 1918. He inherited his athletic prowess from his father, Edgar "Blue" Washington. The elder Washington played with the Kansas City Monarchs and Chicago American Giants of baseball's Negro Leagues, and also worked as an actor; his small parts included one in Gone with the Wind. These activities kept him away from home much of the time, and Washington was raised by his father's brother, Rocky, whom Washington considered his real father. Rocky Washington was the highest-ranking black officer in the Los Angeles Police Department.

Completed Bomb as High Schooler
Playing football at Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, Washington demonstrated his abilities early on by throwing a 60-yard touchdown pass in 1935. He graduated in 1936 and was admitted to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). At the time, black football players outside the orbit of historically black colleges numbered only in the dozens, but Washington won a place on the squad. Over three years at UCLA he consistently improved. Washington was a left half-back, a position that in the era of the single-wing offense cast the player in the role of both runner and passer.

In 1939, with Jackie Robinson (a transfer from Pasadena City College) as his new receiver, Washington raised his career passing total to 1,300 yards and rushed in that single season for 1,915 yards, both long-time UCLA records. He led college football in total offense, and he completed one pass that traveled 72 yards in the air. His career total offense of 3,206 yards and his six pass interceptions in 1939 were also UCLA records.
Another impressive feat, of which Washington himself was especially proud, was that he played all but 20 minutes of the 1939 season; he took the field on defense as well as offense, as a safety. "Records are made to be broken," Washington was quoted as saying by USA Today, "but when somebody breaks my endurance record, let me hear about it." On top of all these gridiron accomplishments Washington also played baseball, notching batting averages of .454 in 1937 and .350 in 1938. "Next to me, Jackie [Robinson] was the best competitor I ever saw," Washington was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Sentinel. "But when he became a baseball star it kind of shook me. I outhit him by at least two hundred points at UCLA."

Snubbed in All-American Balloting
Soon, overt discrimination marred Washington's career. Although he was certainly one of the top college players in the United States in 1939, he was named only to the second team in the annual official All-American selection. A Liberty magazine poll then asked college players themselves to select an All-American team; out of 664 nominees, Washington was the only one to receive the votes of every player who had taken the field against him. He won the Douglas Fairbanks Trophy, awarded to America's top collegiate player. The six-foot-one-inch, 200-pound Washington was dubbed "the Kingfish."

In the early days of professional football, with small competing leagues scattered across the country, a few African Americans had played for various small teams. In 1933, however, National Football League owners imposed a ban on black players. In August of 1940, Washington played on a team of college all-stars in an annual exhibition game at Chicago's Soldier Field against the NFL champion, that year the Green Bay Packers. Although the Packers won the game, Washington scored a touchdown and played well, inspiring speculation that an NFL owner might try to break the apartheid rule. Speculation intensified when Chicago Bears owner George Halas asked Washington to stay on for a week in Chicago, and NBC radio sports anchor Sam Balter supported his cause. But Halas did not succeed in persuading his fellow NFL owners to lift the ban.

So Washington headed for the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast League, where he was so popular that tickets for the team's games billed them as "The Hollywood Bears with Kenny Washington," Washington's teammate, Woody Strode, told football historian Charles Kenyatta Rose. Washington was paid on a par with NFL players of the day, but part of his salary was diverted to his uncle Rocky to disguise the fact that he was taking home more than his fellow players. He also worked as a Los Angeles police officer on the side. Two serious knee operations slowed Washington down and kept him out of World War II. He played for the San Francisco Clippers of the American Football League in 1944.

Anti-Discrimination Ordinance Led to Signing
After the war, which led to gains for the idea of integration in many areas of American life, Cleveland Rams owner Dan Reeves announced plans to move his team to the rapidly growing city of Los Angeles. A city anti-discrimination ordinance, however, threatened to block the team from using the publicly owned Los Angeles Coliseum. Largely as a result, Washington was signed by the Rams on March 21, 1946. As he prepared to undergo a third knee operation, his uncle Rocky negotiated a no-cut clause for his contract. There was still resistance from other NFL owners—"all hell broke loose," Rams backfield coach Bob Snyder was quoted as saying in USA Today—but Strode was also signed to the Rams, and two other black players, Marion Motley and Bill Willis, joined the new Cleveland Browns. By the time baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson in 1947, pro football was on the road to integration.

At a Glance …

Born Kenneth S. Washington on August 31, 1918, in Los Angeles, CA; died June 24, 1971 in Los Angeles, of circulatory failure; son of Edgar "Blue" Washington, a baseball player and actor; raised by uncle Rocky Washington, a Los Angeles police officer; children: Kenny Jr. Education: University of California at Los Angeles, BA, 1940.

Career: Hollywood Bears, Pacific Coast League, professional football player, 1940-43; San Francisco Clippers, American Football League, professional football player, 1944; Los Angeles Rams, National Football League, professional football player, 1946-48; worked as liquor public relations executive and baseball scout later in life.

Awards: Douglas Fairbanks Trophy, given to top U.S. collegiate player, 1939; inducted into National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, 1956.

With Washington's knees ailing, white NFL players made things worse with physical attacks. "When he first began to play, they'd tee off on him," Snyder was quoted as saying in the Chicago Sun-Times. "They'd drop knees on him." But Washington performed well over three seasons in the NFL, averaging over six yards per carry and leading the league with a 7.4 yard-per-carry average in 1947. He gained 859 yards for the Rams before retiring in 1948, including one thrilling 92-yard run that still holds the Rams record for longest run from scrimmage. In 1950, he still had enough raw athletic ability that he was given a tryout by baseball's New York Giants.

Later in life, Washington worked as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and did public relations work for a Scotch whisky distillery. He also became a skillful golfer. He had one son, Kenny Jr., who played professional baseball. Inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1956 but not, at this writing, into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Washington suffered from circulatory problems in later years. Over a thousand of the many fans he retained in the Los Angeles area turned out for a celebration of his career at the Hollywood Palladium in 1970. On June 24, 1971, he died at UCLA Medical Center. "I'm sure he had a deep hurt over the fact he never had become a national figure in professional sports," Jackie Robinson wrote in a Gridiron magazine essay quoted in USA Today.

Sources:

Books
Levy, Alan H., Tackling Jim Crow: Racial Segregation in Professional Football, McFarland, 2003.

Rose, Charles Kenyatta, Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League, New York University Press, 1999.

Periodicals
Chicago Sun-Times, June 24, 1996, p. 25.

Los Angeles Sentinel, September 22, 1999, p. B3.

Los Angeles Times, January 8, 1956, p. B7.

Sporting News, March 19, 2001, p. 7.

USA Today, September 20, 1995, p. C1.

Washington Post, June 26, 1971, p. B3.

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UCLA teammates: Woody Strode, Jackie Robinson and Kenny Washington
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Kenny Washington facts from 1935 Lincolnian yearbook:

Kenny Washington played shortstop for varsity baseball team which won the 1935 Northern League and City Championship.
He also played quarterback on the 1934 football team that had a league record of 4 –1 – 1.

Team was coached by James Tunney Sr.

Lincoln 14, Belmont 14

Lincoln 6, Roosevelt 19

Lincoln 21, Marshall 0

Lincoln 13, Fremont 7

Lincoln 13, Beverly Hills 12

Lincoln 40, Franklin 0

Kenny Washington facts from 1936 Lincolnian yearbook:

Kenny Washington played shortstop on the baseball team, was quarterback on the football team and threw the shot put while on the track squad.

FOOTBALL:

Lincoln High School won the 1935 City Football Championship.

Coaches:   James Tunney and Norman Duncan

Six Lincoln football players made the All-City squad; Kenny Washington was first string quarterback.  Washington also received All-Southern California honors.

Tigers were undefeated with a record of 6 – 0.

Lincoln 44, Roosevelt 6

Lincoln 25, Franklin 0

Lincoln 25, Marshall 15

Lincoln 27, Garfield 0

Lincoln 31, Fairfax 6

Lincoln 13, Fremont 9

BASEBALL:

LHS baseball team went undefeated in 1936 and won the Northern League crown.  Lincoln was favored to win against Fremont but city interlocking playoffs were abruptly abolished.

Lincoln twice defeated each team to win six consecutive victories.

Lincoln 6, Marshall 1

Lincoln 5, Roosevelt 0

Lincoln 7, Franklin 5
Lincoln 6, Marshall 4
Lincoln 4, Roosevelt 0
Lincoln 4, Franklin 2

Coach: Frank Malette

Kenny Washington was selected All-City shortstop.
● You can find photos of Kenny Washington in the 1935 Lincolnian yearbook pages 103 & 107 also in the 1936 yearbook pages 43, 106, 110 & 112

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Robert George Young, S'26 (1926)