Memories from SFHS

Memories at Spanish Fork High

At the center of Spanish Fork is a yellow brick building, now serving as the City Offices. It was known as Central School and was completed in 1896. It served its educational purposes for 66 years. The final graduating class from within its halls was 196 students in ‘62. Students there remember lots of stairs to climb between classes.

The current Spanish Fork high school, with its large halls and auditorium, saw its first graduating class in ‘63. In it’s 45 years, the student body and it’s needs has grown, necessitating a 3rd new building, which is now under construction. In those 45 years, many memories were made for numerous Spanish Fork residents. Here are a few of those memories. Perhaps you’ll remember them too!

Memory from the 70’s:

A hugely popular musical was showing at the high school auditorium: Saturday’s Warrior. It was sold out nightly for about 6 weeks solid. The high school stage crew was used to producing the event, so several students manned the sound and light room up in the catwalk high above the audience heads. One night, one of the performers made her way up to the lightroom along the darkened catwalk during the production of the show. Below, the comical cast onstage was singing a song entitled Who Are These Children Coming Down? During this song, the performer up in the catwalk misstepped, and fell. She came crashing through the ceiling, falling about 25 feet, onto the laps of a few stunned audience members below. Because of the song, Who Are These Children Coming Down, most of the audience thought the accident was a part of the play, causing everyone to laugh. Luckly, the performer fell lengthwise across several laps. Other than her resultant broken ankle, no one else was injured. It was not until after the play was over that people realized (through word of mouth) the surprise feature was a genuine accident. The stage crew couldn’t stop laughing at the uncanny timing of her misstep, (grateful it added to, rather than detracted from) the performance.

Memory from the 70’s:

One year, there was an important, live-or-die game against Payson High School. A Spanish Fork student named Mike called into the radio station prior to the big game. On live air, he proudly announced that Spanish Fork would beat Payson “bad.” Luckily, this turned out to be a true prediction. Later that night, at their celebratory Victory Dance, Mike got called up to the DJ’s stand. Because his name had been announced on the radio, some Payson boys were able to identify him. Being sore losers, the boys cornered and informed Mike it was his turn to be “beaten bad.” Fellow Spanish Fork boys could smell a fight brewing and came to Mike’s defense. Moves were made, and the biggest Payson fella was dropped almost immediately by Mike’s good friend, Blake. The message of double-defeat was accepted and Mike was able to return to the Victory Dance celebrations in fine shape with his buddies for the remainder of the night. Good friends are always good to have around.

Memory from 2011:

One ambitious student, having access to a large, heavy-duty, 5-yard, rubber-tired loader, thought it would be funny to pull a prank on his classmates by removing the large rock in front of his school which had stood in its place for 36 years. He planned to hide it in a scrapyard a little ways away. Even with the large, professional equipment, he found removing the big, painted boulder difficult. He managed to dislodge the rock from its cement encasing and move it from its original position when he got caught - by Dad. (And the school cameras.) Dad owned the equipment, and was not happy about how it was being used. (Dad had also been a loyal student at Spanish Fork High in the 70’s, and in fact, had been instrumental in obtaining the school’s landmark rock.) Dad firmly told the boy that was the kind of a prank you pull on a rival school, not your own school. Dad made sure the rock was put back in its original position. The broken cement was replaced with a 10” thick, rebar-reinforced cement pad to ensure no such silliness was ever attempted again. Thus, the most successful attempt at stealing the rock came not from rivals, but one of Spanish Fork’s own.

What memories do you have to share from your days in Spanish Fork High School? Let us know at articles@mycommunityutah.com.