by Bill Felber, Executive Editor
Larry Norvell didn't create the music program at Manhattan High School or the Manhattan Municipal Band program.  But over his long tenures as director, he infused both with statewide distinction.  The most prominent figure in music here for the past half century, Mr. Norvell died at Mercy Regional Health Center Thursday.  He was 86.

His death comes just a few days before the Municipal Band takes the stage for another of the July 4 concerts that became his trademark.  Anyone who attended the Independence Day concerts at the City Park band shell over Lawrence Norvell's 45-year term as band director — and thousands did — felt the passion he brought to the occasions reverberate throughout City Park.  So widely recognized was his role in the community's musical culture that when the city dedicated its new band shell in 2004, there was little consideration given to naming it after anybody except Larry Norvell.

Born Jan. 13, 1920, in West Medford, Mass., Mr. Norvell came to Manhattan in 1949, accepting an appointment as the new music teacher at Manhattan High.  He didn't have much to work with.  "I told my wife (after the interview) I was afraid they were going to hire me," he said in a 1985 interview.  A teacher at tiny Moran High School at the time, he actually left a larger band than the 55-person aggregation he inherited at MHS.  "The program was at rock bottom," he said.

From that core of 55, Norvell built the MHS band up to something more befitting one of the state's larger schools.   "He had a wonderful interaction with the students," observed John Boyd, an MHS alum who rose to become a college director of bands.  "He cared for everyone."

Mr. Norvell retired at age 65 in 1985, his students having won uncounted awards and recognitions.

Even then, though, he continued to pursue his second musical career, as director of the municipal band.  He had come to that position essentially as a direct outgrowth of his status at MHS, recruiting musicians over the years from the ranks of his former students for the series of summer concerts.

His philosophy was simple, "play for the people," and that's what he did.  Norvell-led concerts were heavy on popular favorites, show tunes and patriotic fare. That was at no time more true than in the July 4 concerts, which at mid-season often drew the largest crowds.  Hundreds would haul lawn chairs to surround the outdated enclosure in City Park and listen to renditions of "Stars and Stripes Forever," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and other staples of the Norvell program.

Frank Tracz, the current municipal band director, said the program for Tuesday's 6:30 p.m. concert would be modified as sort of a tribute to the long-time director.  Among Norvell favorites that will be added: "The Navy Hymn," "America the Beautiful" and "The Larry Norvell March," a tribute written by pupil Steve Easterday.  The concert will be at CiCo Park as part of the city's holiday observance.

When he retired as municipal band director in 1994 — after 45 years — even Norvell had to marvel at the gains he had overseen.  "It's become such a tremendously professional group," he said at the time.  Even though he left as irector, he kept a promise to return periodically as a guest conductor.

Mr. Norvell received his degree in education from Emporia State Teachers College in 1942, then joined the Navy and became a sonar officer in the South Pacific during World War II.  He received the Silver Star and five Bronze stars.  He was inducted into the Kansas Teachers Hall of Fame in 1997.

Irvin Parkview Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Manhattan Mercury article by Mark Janssen, Sports Editor
The record is sure to improve from 9-0 to 15-0, the heroics will be magnified, the yardage gained and touchdowns scored multiplied two-fold.  And for sure, a ton of fun will be had by life-long friends Friday when the Manhattan High football senior class of 1961 stages its annual get-together.  "We grew up together playing football on the sandlots," said Tim O'Hara, a two-way performer at end for the Indians.  "Then we played together in junior high, and then into high school.  We were just close friends.  My best friends today are members of that football team.

"We had 19 seniors and I think we'll have 18 with us Friday night," O'Hara said.  And all four coaches are expected: head coach Dick Towers, assistants Earl Gritton and Roy DeWitz, plus scout Brent Yancey. 

"One of the reasons they won back then is because of the closeness that they continue to demonstrate today," said Towers.   "These guys started by going undefeated at the junior high level under coach Gritton, went undefeated as freshmen, and again undefeated as seniors.

"They had a unique closeness.  They were good athletes and they were good students," said Towers, who coached the Tribe from 1958 through 1963 when he became the head coach at Hutchinson Community College.  "It really was a special bunch."

On successive Friday nights, five on the road and four at Griffith Stadium, the Indians marched through Lawrence, Wichita Campus, Shawnee Mission North, Junction City, Clay Center, Emporia, Abilene, McPherson and Salina, allowing a total ... that's a total ... of 19 points for the entire 1961 season.

Most historic of the wins was the opening 7-0 victory over Al Woolard's Lawrence Lions, which ended that school's 47-game victory string.  The skunking was the first time in 181 games that the Lions' had been blanked.

"They out-hit us, out-ran us, out-blocked us, and just plain out-played us," Mercury sports editor John Eidson penned in a quote from Woolard.  The score was 7-zip, but as Towers reflects, "It should have been a bigger margin.  We had the ball at their 1-yard line on our first series, but fumbled and they ran it back about 80 yards before we caught them."

The defense did the rest, which included set up the lone score of the game.  That's when defensive lineman Dale Schruben snatched the ball away from Lion QB Dennis Harris and raced it down to the 6-yard line.  Three plays later, Bruce McGehe ran in for the score out of the Indians' Wing-T formation.  The defense held Lawrence to four first downs, and just 89 yards of offense.

The only teams to score on the Indians were Clay Center, McPherson and Junction City, but no team scored more than seven points.

"We played a 5-2 defense and did a lot of stunting," Towers said.  "I think we were good enough to play pretty straight, but we made people think about a lot of things."

On the final Friday of the season, 8-0 Manhattan High faced 7-0-1 Salina High School.  "I don't think the guys felt any pressure.  We had a very dedicated bunch of kids who had the heads screwed on right and played extremely hard," Towers said.   "These were exceptional young men who also excelled in basketball and academics."

The Indians rushed the ball for 234 yards, while holding the Mustangs to just five first downs and 135 yards of total offense.  Ed Dissinger passed to Bill Lowman and Rod Moyer scored from the one to give the Tribe a 13-0 lead in the first quarter.  The final score in the fourth period came on a 50-yard dash by Lloyd Duncan to wrap up the 20-0 win.

In an era prior to the playoffs, Manhattan High was named the No. 1 team in Kansas by the Associated Press.  "Independence (8-0) had a very fine team, but I think most people in the state considered Manhattan High to be the best team," Towers said of his squad that defeated No. 4 and 7-2 Lawrence, No. 8 and 7-1-1 Salina, plus 6-1-1 Junction City during the course of the season.

On Towers' coaching, O'Hara said, "There wasn't a lot of humor.  He was very disciplined and made sure we didn't make many mistakes."

All of this is a good enough story in itself, but as O'Hara said with a laugh, "There will be stories Friday night about us being number 4 in the final USA Today poll, even if there wasn't a USA Today back then."

MHS 1961 Starters

LE — Tim O'Hara; LT — Phil King; LG — Dale Schruben; C — Andy Hemphill; RG — Karl Farris; RT — Stan Pine; RE — Roy Teas; QB — Ed Dissinger; LHB — Bill Lowman; RHB — Lloyd Duncan; FB — Rod Moyer

Most all starters were two-way performers.

The seniors of the '61 MHS team were:
Terry Arthur, Larry Coffman, Jack Dailey, Ed Dissinger, Lloyd Duncan, Mike Duncan, Karl Farris, Andy Hemphill, Clyde Holiwell, Marcus Johnson, Phil King, Art Langvardt, Bill Lowman, Bruce McGehe, Brian Minturn, Rod Moyer, Gary Nelson, Tim O'Hara, Stan Pine, Dale Schruben, Larry Tousingnant, Tim Trubey, Randy Wright

Coaches: Dick Towers, Head Coach, Scott Hayden, asst., Earl Gritton, asst., Roy Dewitz, asst.

Associated Press
MANHATTAN - Harold Robinson, the first black scholarship athlete in what would become the Big 12 Conference, died at 76.

Robinson, a center who joined the Kansas State football team in 1949, died Tuesday at his home in Wharton, N.J., the school said.  A cause of death was not given.

"His story was so compelling and the challenges he faced were so great that we cannot comprehend them," said Ron Prince, the first black head football coach at Kansas State.

Robinson was born and raised in Manhattan, where he made the varsity football team in high school.  After graduation, he tried out for Kansas State's team.  In 1949, there were no blacks on the Wildcats or any of the teams in what was then the Big Seven Conference.

"When I walked on the practice field I was waiting for someone to say, 'Hey, you're not supposed to be here.'  But nobody ever said anything," he told the campus newspaper, the Kansas State Collegian, in 2003.

Robinson recalled that then-coach Ralph M. Graham welcomed him.  Graham, who died in October, had coached black players at Wichita State.

"People have to give him credit for letting black players on the team," Robinson told the student newspaper.  "Jackie Robinson had Branch Rickey who brought him into Major League Baseball.  If it wasn't for Ralph Graham, I wouldn't have been playing at K-State."

After Harold Robinson made the football team, Jackie Robinson -- who was not related -- wrote Harold Robinson a letter of congratulations.

"He didn't know my address, so he just sent it to K-State Athletics," Robinson said, referring to the player who broke baseball's racial barrier two years earlier in 1947.  "I still have the envelope."

When Robinson began playing, the U.S. Supreme Court was still five years away from issuing the landmark Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision that ended segregated education.  Jim Crow laws were commonplace.

While his teammates stayed in hotels during away games, Robinson often was forced to stay in private homes.  He told the student newspaper he missed only one game while at Kansas State.  Memphis State, he recalled, "didn't even allow blacks in the stadium, much less players."

At first, he said some coaches from other schools and some players objected to his presence.

"All these guys who didn't care for me, the next thing you know they were my buddies.  The whole team, they all protected me.  I enjoyed it all.  At the time I didn't realize how important it was.  All I wanted to do was play ball."

Robinson earned first team All-Big Seven honors in 1950, despite playing on a 1-9-1 team.  He was inducted into the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.

Other black athletes followed Robinson.  Among them was golfer Tiger Woods' late father, Earl Woods, who became the first black baseball player in the conference when he joined Kansas State's squad in 1952.

Robinson served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he received a Purple Heart.

He is survived by his wife, Ann, and four daughters, Beth R. Shann, Melanie Robinson, Judith Robinson-Phillips and Sherry L. Robinson.

A memorial service was held Saturday in Wharton, to be followed Monday by a funeral and burial in Manhattan.

Story from The Manhattan Mercury
Many Manhattan High School alumni fondly recall the ceramic mosaic of an Indian head — the school's symbol — that was formerly in the floor in front of the school gymnasium.  Now they're hoping to restore the Indian to its former glory and install it in a place of honor at the school.

The history of when the Indian mosaic was taken out of the floor — and eventually relegated to storage — is a little hazy at this point. But alums say they recall the mosaic as a source of pride — and torment.

"The seniors used to make the underclassmen shine it," said alumna Cam Feltner.  She recalled as well that it was understood that no one was to step on the Indian at any cost.

"It used to be interesting watching the hall during break because you just walked around it," Feltner recalled.  In fact, at one point a small wrought-iron fence was installed around the Indian to keep the mosaic pristine.

The mosaic was installed when the school was built in 1957.  "I know it was considered to be a source of real pride with the students," MHS alumni association president Dave Fiser said.

That wasn't its only role, however.  It also served as a focal point for pranks and hazing.  At one point in the early 1970s, some students brought teacher and coach Earl Gritton's Volkswagen in through the gym and pushed it part way onto the Indian.  Gritton's wife Lois said the students chickened out and ran off before they got the car fully on top of the mascot.

By the time MHS alum Larry McCarthy arrived at the school in 1973, the Indian was protected by the aforementioned fence.  McCarthy heard tales, though, of seniors throwing sophomores onto the fenced-in Indian and making them spit shine it either with their rear-end or a rag.

He said the mosaic was taken out of the floor in 1974.  "They ... put it on the wall in the north gym.  It was a beautiful mosaic," he said.

Removing the Indian apparently didn't stop the seniors.  McCarthy said two blue "M"s remained on the floor after the Indian was removed, so the seniors transferred their attention to the letters.  "One day they pulled my twin brother Gary and I out of class and made us race up and down on our rear ends and clean the M's," Larry McCarthy said.  He recalls the perpetrators being Gary Spani, who went on to play for the Kansas City Chiefs, and Dan Schirer.

At some point, though, the Indian was taken down and relegated to storage.

Alumna Nancy Larson brought the Indian to the alumni association's attention after her foster brother, Sid Hamilton, who works at MHS, recently tracked it down.  MHS principal Terry McCarty has agreed to donate the mosaic to the association and would like to have a ceremony once the Indian is restored.

It may hang on the school wall again, or it may be installed in the association's in-school museum.  All that remains is official approval by the alumni association at its Feb. 24 meeting.

"We're pretty sure we're going to take it on as a project," said Fiser.  "Quite a few of the officers and directors have said, 'let's take this on.'  We think it's a great thing to do to preserve history and tradition for our high school."

Fiser said the association hasn't decided how it's going to pay for the restoration, but he hopes the more than 300 paid members of the association will be willing to help out.  Other interested folks may call Fiser at 537-9123 or go to www.mhsalumniassociation.org."

Published in the Kansas City Star on February 5, 2006
Edward R. Dissinger passed away on February 2, 2006 at the Kingswood Retirement facility in Kansas City, MO. He was born on July 22, 1911, in Eudora, KS.  He had 94 great years.  His legacy will be the many students and athletes he mentored during his career as a teacher and a coach.

Ed graduated from Baker University, Baldwin, KS, in the Spring of 1936.  He also received a Master of Science degree from Kansas State University.  In high school, Ed won the state title as a long-distance runner for the 880 relay and mile.  At Baker, he held the two mile track record for nearly 60 years.  He played football as a lineman at Baker for legendary Charlie Liston.  Ed taught and coached for 40 years at the high school and college levels.  In his first assignment at Buffalo, KS, he met and married Hazel Orr.

He spent 16 years at various high school programs in Kansas, including Lawrence, Atwood, Oberlin, Holton, and Manhattan.   He coached the three major sports: football, basketball, and track.  Ed's teams at Holton won 7 league championships and his Manhattan teams won 6 league championships.  In football at Holton, his team had a 20-game winning streak over two years.  His teaching included algebra, geometry, general science, chemistry, biology, physics, and physical education.

He volunteered in the US Army from 1943 to 1948, where he served in the European Theatre as Lieutenant Dissinger.  In the Army Reserves, Ed served 20 years, for five of which he was the commanding officer of his unit.  He retired as a Major.

In 1955 he joined the football staff at Kansas State University and coached with Bus Mertes and Doug Weaver.  The University of Missouri hired Ed in 1967 where he coached with Dan Devine and Al Onofrio until retirement in 1976.

Ed was preceded in death by Hazel, his second wife Fay, brother Morris, and sister Katherine.  Survivors include his son, Eddie, and his wife, Suzy, Leawood, KS; his daughter, Frankie, Kansas City, MO; stepdaughter, Glenda and her husband Don, Olathe, KS; twelve grandchildren; and ten great grandchildren.

Services will be held at the Parker Funeral Home, 10th & Walnut, Columbia, MO, on Tuesday, February 7, 2006, at 2 p.m.  Visitation will be at Parker's from 12-2 p.m., prior to the services.  Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery, 1219 Business Loop 70 West in Columbia.  In lieu of flowers, make donations to the Baker University athletic department in Baldwin, KS.

Leah Fliter, Staff Writer
If you're a Manhattan High School graduate who's pining for the good old days at MHS, you're in luck.  The nine-month-old Manhattan High Alumni Association has plans for your very own alumni center and museum, which will soon be in place at the school's east campus.  Organizers hope the association and the center will improve communication and pride among alums. Association president Dave Fiser, a 1957 graduate, is president of the association, which was officially incorporated last November.  He's looking for MHS graduates, whether recent or long-past, to join the group, whose purpose is — according to its articles of incorporation — to "communicate with alumni and friends of Manhattan High School, to promote Manhattan High School to students, graduates, and friends; and, generally advance awareness of the quality of education within Manhattan High School." The alumni association's pet project at the present is the alumni center and museum, which will be in rooms 112-113 at MHS-East.  Fiser credits alum Don Pady, class of 1955, with coming up with the idea for the museum, which Fiser hopes will open in the next few months.  He says it will include memorabilia, "a wall of fame" and possibly a couple of computers for alumni use.  "We're just getting started," he said.  Anyone who wants to donate memorabilia may call Fiser at 537-9123 or e-mail him at dfiser1@cox.net. MHS principal Terry McCarty is in charge of the wall of fame.  He envisions it "as a way of bringing together all the different areas of the school to support the school."  McCarty said he's still doing research, but "I know Manhattan High School has produced some outstanding individuals, whether it be in fine arts, performing arts, athletics, (or) academics. For more information, visit the association's website: www.mhsalumniassociation.org.  It has links to past classes and other information about membership and activities.