July 14, 2011

Part 2: Teachers with long histories at Division Avenue High





Click on pictures to enlarge

This is a continuation of yesterday's post.

* Mr. Howard Pivnick. Coached track at Division in the early days. He was rail thin and always seemed to have a coaching whistle attached to a cord that hung around his neck. "Howie", as the wise guys referred to him, attended the class of 1960's 50th reunion a year ago. He came without his whistle.

* Mr. David Smedley. Interesting last name. Say "Smedley" out loud. It may bring a smile to your face.

* Mr. Richard Erbacher. To quote a blog contributor, "Erbacher was a good teacher, well-respected". Dave Phillips, class of 1967, said of him, "I remember Mr. Erbacher as a brilliant man. He was a PhD."

* Mr. Richard Wright. He should not be confused with African-American author Richard Wright (1908-1960) who is best known for his novel "Native Son". Our Mr. Wright coached the 1960 wrestling team.

* Mr. Robert Danhieux was a science teacher. He was aptly named if he had been a French teacher, unlike Mr. Thaddeus Kalinowski.
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Photos courtesy of Larry Loewy, class of 1975. They appeared in the 1975 yearbook.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wally Linder class of 1961 wrote..

Mr Wright also coached the first Varsity soccer team--1961

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed Mr. Erbacher as well. Great teacher, good friend.
Joan Bartels Signorelli '62

Anonymous said...

David Smedley was my advertising design teacher. His classes were always interesting and lots of fun. He did a great job of preparing us for the regents exam in Art.

Roya Sitkoff Harel class of 61

ktray said...

In later years Erbacher took a legendary turn directing DAHS Broadway Musicals packing the old auditorium and producing a number of fine performers, including my younger brother Eli who went on to win an Emy for Casting.
Danhieux was a unique and creative teacher. On a number of occasions he sang entire biology lectures in a kind of hilarious humming strangely melodic manner. A great teacher! Sardonic sense of humor. Brought a touch of Village bohemian subversion to DAHS.