Ken LaCrosse was my US history teacher in the 1963-64 and briefly my basketball coach.
He was very intense and mostly serious, as I recall. However, he must have been an interesting teacher because I recall him as my favorite at Capuchino High School (Cap) in San Bruno.
Here are some of my recollections:
* I was in a Catholic seminary for my first two years of high school, transferring to Cap at the end of my sophomore year. I was really hot to date once I had left the seminary. But dating took money. So, I had an after-school job. Then, I decided to try the ‘10s basketball team. Ken was the coach. Early on, he had each of us practicing free throws. He instructed us to shoot until we could sink ten free throws in a row. For me, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. So, for that reason and because I was also juggling a job, I dropped basketball.?
* His wife had a baby in ’63 or ’64. He came into class the next day and exuberantly described the whole process to us 16-year olds. Remember, I had been in a seminary and I knew nothing about childbirth. I remember him describing how he got his wife into the car and then her water broke. The water was all over the car. He commented something like, “I thought, is that all there is?”?
* He took a trip to New England - not a bad place for a US history teacher. He came back and shared a story with the class. He said that there was a Revolutionary War pub that served a drink called Ramfusion. As I recall, it was beer plus ginger ale. That’s all there was to that story. Then, some weeks later, on a midterm exam, he had a multiple-choice question that went something like, “Who won the battle of Bunker Hill? Washington, Cornwallis, Ramfusion...”. I did remember his story about Ramfusion, chuckled a little and then ruled Ramfusion out as an answer.?
* We were walking to your class on November 22, 1963 when we started hearing rumors that JFK had been shot. It was in Ken’s class that the principal came over the PA with the sad announcement that JFK had been killed. Of course, we were all shocked. Ken appeared to be devastated. He put his head in his hands and sat at his desk for what seemed like twenty minutes. (I suppose we were all talking quietly amongst ourselves.) Then, after that long delay, he looked up and said something like, “I cannot teach this morning. I don’t know if any of you are religious, but it might be a good time for a prayer.” I don’t know if he was so affected because he loved JFK, because he feared for our democracy, because JFK was championing the cause of civil rights (or all three), but he was really shaken.
I expect that Ken LaCrosse is in a good place right now and he is contented in that he knows he did a good job as a teacher and a molder of young minds.
Richard (Dick) Holmboe Capuchino, Class of 1965