Judge’s first grad class
raises a toast to 50

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

Unlike the young characters in the story Peter Pan, Rick Schlegel never showed his fear about walking the plank.
For Schlegel, the daily activity took place not on a pirate ship but at Father Judge High School during its opening year in 1954. At the time, the school was so new that it was still undergoing construction, which meant that scaffolding abounded. It also was in an otherwise undeveloped section of the Northeast.
"I thought it was the woods back there," said Schlegel, now 67.
But much like the characters in Peter Pan, Schlegel and his classmates still managed to transform from boys to men despite the challenges they faced. In 1957, they became the first class to graduate from Judge.
Those men, now in their mid-to-late 60s, relived their boyhood days during a 50th high school reunion gala held Saturday at the Frankford-Torresdale Country Club.
More than 100 alumni from the 400-student Class of 1957 came to reunite with their old friends and faculty.
"I can’t believe it’s been fifty years. It’s really great to see everyone," said Joseph Fluehr, one of the event organizers.
Fluehr, an associate broker with Coldwell Banker Diamond Realtors, said the first graduating class produced a successful group of men. He refrained from pointing out the accomplishments of any one alumnus, choosing instead to applaud the entire class for its achievements.
"Guys came from across the country today," he said. "It isn’t just the local guys who hung around. It’s quite a diverse group of people."
Students comprising the Class of ’57 came to Judge as sophomores, many of them from North Catholic High School. Before their high school career commenced, they developed the school’s mascot and coat of arms, several sports teams and a foundation for excellence that survives to this day.
They also nurtured some lifelong friendships.
"He’s still my best friend," said Joseph McFadden, 68, as he draped an arm around classmate Leonard Kazmiroski, 67.
And Kazmiroski is still the quasi-troublemaker of the pair.
"I’m here practicing to be a dirty old man," he said with a grin.
The two were able to go on a tour of their old stamping ground on Friday. Both were impressed with the current Judge, which recently built a fitness center on campus.
"I think it’s fabulous," said Kazmiroski. "It’s beautiful."
Schlegel, a retired sheet-metal journeyman who now lives in Chalfont, Bucks County, was excited to see the faces of old friends at the reunion.
"The experience just to come here, I couldn’t miss it," he said.
Schlegel and his wife Joan grew up across the street from each other in Oxford Circle, and two of their closest friends, Ronnie and Bill Mahoney, grew up next door to each other. Both couples have been married for more than 40 years, and both women graduated from St. Hubert High School.
The group, attired in suits and evening dresses, chatted excitedly as they flipped through a faded blue Judge yearbook from 1957. They spotted one picture of their posse hanging over some bleachers. In another, Rick Schlegel posed in his football uniform.
"We were the big cheeses for all those years," he said with a smile.
One of the men responsible for teaching the big men on campus was Tom Boland, now 75. He taught biology at Judge during its opening year.
"I didn’t take any baloney," Boland said of his teaching style. "But they were all good kids. The ones I’ve seen here, it’s great to see them."
In the 50 years that have passed, about 70 graduates from the Class of ’57 have died. While Judge has more graduates — 27 in all — who died in the Vietnam War than any other private or parochial school in the country, it doesn’t appear that anyone from the Class of ’57 was part of that number.
More than 1,200 students now attend Judge. Some of the school’s distinctions include its Model United Nations team, which won a world championship last year, and its athletic coaches, three of whom are among the all-time winningest coaches in the Philadelphia Catholic League.
The Rev. Joseph Campellone, Judge’s president, said he witnessed similarities between the current graduating class and the Class of ’57 during tours of the school last week. Alumni will walk with the Class of 2007 at their graduation June 6.
"The similarities went on back in ’57," he said. "The upperclassmen still joke about a pool on the fourth floor."
Campellone believes that the men serve as role models for current Judge students.
"It’s neat, because you look at when the school first started, we look at the pictures of those men coming through the door and actually walking on wooden planks when they came in," Campellone said. "You look at how many success stories are out there and the love and passion they have for the school. It really makes my heart warm." ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com