Rod Stollery ’54

As our principal told us during orientation in 1951, “Tech is a melting pot with a mix of Caucasian, Black, Oriental and Hispanic students.” Oakland, in the early 1950’s and prior, did not have the conflict between different cultures that grew later on. And, nowhere on our campus was this more evident than in school sports. I was student manager of our championship football team and we had players such as John Brodie, Charlie Hardy, Proverb Jacobs, Pervis Atkins and Ray Norton, who all went on to excel both in college and professional football. I also served as sports editor of the Scribe for two years and even enjoyed being “Bobo the Bulldog,” the school mascot, during winter and spring sports.

I was a member of the Key Club, Future Teachers of America and the Block T Society and served as class treasurer my senior year. Our class was extremely active, and so many of them went on to successful careers and were responsible for starting the Oakland Tech Library Fund. I was proud to have been involved in the early days of this alumni group, and we were able to raise thousands of dollars to help rebuild the school library following a devastating earthquake and also provide scholarship funds to deserving students.

To this day, I still keep in contact with a number of classmates on a regular basis through email. Students at Oakland Technical High School, both past and present, should be proud of their school’s heritage. There have been so many distinguished alumni in every field of endeavor who are graduates of Tech.