79) 1917-1918 School Year: Coach 84) September 1921: The first
Jake Weber launches Fordham wrestling
on the University and Prep levels. independent Prep prefecture is created.
80) February 1918: With fitness in
general seen as somewhat of a patriotic
duty during the war years, mandatory
physical education is instituted at the Prep.
1920s
81) 1920-1921 School Year: The
College is broken into academic
departments for the first time. In the
shuffle, the Prep is legally renamed
Fordham College High School. Fr. Michael
Jessup, SJ — then serving as the dean of
Fordham College — becomes the Prep's
acting principal.
The school's first prefect of discipline is
a young scholastic, Mr. Arthur Shea, SJ,
whose subsequent four-decade tenure
would leave its mark on the hearts of
generations of young men.
85) September 19, 1921: As prefect,
Mr. Shea, SJ introduces a new disciplinary
procedure: walking jug — a practice still
employed by the deans today.
86) June 13, 1922: Commencement
Day: Among the graduates is future
Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times
sportscaster, Arthur Daley.
87) 1923-1924 School Year: Tuition
for the scholastic year is $110 with
additional $5 fees for registration,
82) September 1920: Boarding on the athletics and library use. There are also
Prep level begins to be phased out.
Within two school years, the Prep
becomes the day school it is today. $20 equipment and breakage fees for
83) September 1921: Fr, William
Dolan, SJ is the first appointee to the
Office of the Principal of the High School,
an office independent from the
University's Administration. Fordham
College High School (known as Fordham
Prep, colloquially) becomes a
semi-autonomous institution.
physics, chemistry and biology students,
and a $10 graduation fee for the seniors.
Optional piano lessons are available for
$80 per year.
88) January 31, 1924: A fire in the
University's Administration Building
nearly destroys all school records. A good
portion of the files are spared, however,
on account of the heroic actions of
Fr. Jessup, who was severely burned
rushing into the building to save the
records and other valuable items in the
school's holding.
89) Late August 1928: Mr. Harry
McDonough arrives in the Bronx from
Lowell, Massachusetts. Previously, the
Holy Cross grad had been working as an
undertaker at his family's funeral parlor.
McDonough would spend the next five
decades on the faculty.
90) 1928-1929 School Year: First
publication of The Ramkin, the Fordham
Prep yearbook. Among its founding
editors is C. Malcolm Wilson, Class of
1929, future governor of New York State.
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91) 1929-1930 School Year: While
informal aviation enthusiast groups had
existed at the Prep since 1908, the
Fordham Prep Aeronautical Club is
officially launched on December 16, 1929.
The club exists today as the FP Aviation
Club under Mr. Raymond Gonzalez of the
Science Department.
92) 1929-1930 School Year: The texts
used by fourth-year Prep Spanish
students include M. A. DeVitis' Spanish
Grammar and Spanish Reader and the play
Zaragueta by Ramon Carrion and Vital
Aza. At Commencement, John Henrich
and Charles Wichtendahl, both Class of
1930, receive awards for excellence in
Spanish.
1930s
93) March 14, 1930: A debate between
Fordham Prep and Georgetown Prep
draws the largest speech and debate
crowd in school history. Over a thousand
gather to listen as the Prep team takes
the negative side of the topic “Resolved:
that the nations of the world adopt a plan
for complete disarmament, except for
such forces as are needed for police
purposes.” The Prep debaters prevail.