1954 School Colors and Mascot

by Mike Reynolds '60

The the very first month of school in 1954, right after the school opened, the student council, of which I was a member, selected Kelly Green and White as the school colors for no particular reason other than they looked good and no other Tulsa High School was using those colors. I think that one of the Ivy League colleges was using green and white and that was mentioned in the student council meeting. The name Eagles was selected by a school wide vote. The two choices presented for the vote by the student council were Edison Eagles and Edison Rebels. I believe the vote went about 2/3 Eagles and 1/3 Rebels. The school horn honk EDI SON EAG L ES came out of nowhere that first year. "Tommy Eagle" come sometime after 1960.

The most fun that ever happened immediately after the school opened was "Operation Sod." There was no grass around the brand new school so every homeroom class was assigned a plot of dirt near their classroom to plant grass. Every homeroom was in competition to get their grass planted over about a weeks time and to see which class had fastest growing grass. I swear some homerooms must have had private sod company help. <G>

The school added prefabs almost immediately after the school opened as a junior high. The were so many students we went to split schedules. One group of students early and one late. The cafeteria was a zoo even with tighly regulated access times.

Many students rode the Tulsa Transit charter buses to school and back. The cost was .50 cents a day.

A classmate buddy of mine got the very first pink slip at Edison the first hour on the first day. I got the second pink slip at Edison in the second hour on the first day. Our punishment was swats with a wooden paddle administered by the assistant principle.

The school had a 15 minute intercom show during first hour just after the school opened in 1954 complete with rock music. I was the DJ. That show lasted about a month or two before the plug got pulled.

During those early years there were no drugs in the school but there were some obvious pregnancies, especially in the high school years. NO ONE was allowed to wear blue jeans.

Edison had the best high school auditorium in Tulsa in the late fiftys. Will Rogers H.S. put on one of their plays in the Edison auditorium around 1958 or 1959. The play was "South Pacific" and the Will Rogers high school student who starred in this play was Anita Bryant.

One of my classmates, Larry Mizel, a very shy, unassuming kid in my group at Edison went on to become a multi-millionaire in Denver.

Mike Reynolds
Class of 1960 (the first class to go from 7th to 12th grade at Edison)

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