05/06/2019
In my time at Southern High, graduating in 1960, certain people were school standouts. Most of us, no matter what year we were in, looked up to upperclassmen. For me as a seventh grader, I considered senior John Kingsley “King” Stratton (SHS 1955) to be a man among boys. Likely, he regarded me as termite, if he ever even noticed us junior high peons darting down the hallway. He played football, baseball and basketball and was a major chick magnet. Among the senior favorites, he was voted “Most Handsome” — as if there were any competitors.
In the Class of 1956, Judy Marshall was not only stunningly attractive, but she was a songstress who went on to perform professionally on WHAS TV’s Hayloft Hoedown and in other radio and TV gigs.
As for the SHS Class of 1957, Morris Longacre was Mister Macho Man and could have posed for the Marine poster out in front of the school. He robbed the cradle and plucked one of the poodle-skirted beauties from my own class year as his blushing bride. I ran into Morris and Barbara Sue at Linda’s Café in Shepherdsville a while back.
Among 1958 Southern grads, Jim Haag was just so smooth and versatile, Mister All-around guy. He would have been a great Tonight Show host. He did emcee some of our SHS variety shows.
Juanita Carr was my personal favorite for standout among the Class of 1959. She could really belt out a song, in the manner of Brenda Lee or Theresa Brewer — three little gals with big sets of lungs. “Nini” went on to a career traveling around the country singing on the nightclub circuit.
Among my own peers, the Class of 1960, Johnny Sampson was BMOC, ultra good-looking, fit and with a syrupy smooth voice that reminded me of minister Billy Graham. Johnny, a baseball standout, also sang in the Five Knights quintet. Melves Riggs beat him out, though, for the coveted title of Mr. Southern and a place in the opening pages of The Southern yearbook alongside Miss Southern, Carole Lacefield, who is still a knockout.
Most of us were on the outside looking in at the “in crowd,” but we knew them all, and they signed our keepsake senior annuals with their best wishes or loads of luck to “a swell guy” or “a cute gal.” However, there is a signature few if any of us have; one popular guy wasn’t around when we signed our annuals.
My candidate for the coolest guy at Southern High, you won’t find mentioned in our senior annual, because he ran off and joined the Navy that year, if I remember correctly. His name may not ring a bell. On the other hand, who knows who Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli might be without prompting? Henry Winkler’s Fonzarelli character on Happy Days, best known as “The Fonz,” could easily have been based on Southern’s own Jimmy Frank, my candidate for Mr. Cool.
Yes, that’s Jimmy in the photo, taken during his junior year. I didn’t know him all that well, but the girls flocked to him, and he was a force to be reckoned with at after-school events. Like “Fonzie,” Jimmy spent a lot of time on his hair. This was the Brylcream era. I suspect smoking in the boys’ restroom was his major, since my mental image of him is in a white tee-shirt with a cigarette pack tucked and rolled into his shirt sleeve when not wearing his leather jacket. His rolled up sleeves also showed off his biceps and wiry frame.
Some people call that the “greaser” look, a bad boy look, and all bad boys smoked. Saying “greaser” to his face might have earned you a fat lip or, at least, a hard smack to the back of the head, though. Where is Jimmy Frank now? I have no clue, but I hope he’s still preening his hair and dressed in jeans and tee-shirt; I just cannot picture him bald-headed. You bet, if he hasn’t ridden a motorcycle off into the desert sunset, he’s still cool, even as a septuagenarian.
I’ll leave it to others to name the “coolest” guys and gals of their SHS or Okolona era, but Jimmy Frank is a definite hall of famer in my book.
