KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - Bob Coleman remembers when there were crop remains in the football field at the new North Callaway High School.
"The football field still had corn stubble in it," he said. "When we played, there were still corn stalks. Not many, but there were some."
Now that football field is 50 years old. A diamond anniversary of sorts will be celebrated Saturday evening at North Callaway High School.
"I will be there on Saturday," said Coleman, who now lives in Jefferson City.
A catered alumni gathering is planned from 5-9 p.m. behind the high school, which is just north of Kingdom City.
"We're celebrating 50 years at the high school," said Patsy Austin, an alumni, teacher and former school board member.
She graduated from North Callaway High School in 1968 with a boy named Dwight, whom she later married.
"The school opened in '66 and then the first senior class graduated in '67. When it opened in '66, my husband and I were both juniors. We were the second class of seniors to graduate, in '68," Austin added.
The school replaced Auxvasse and Hatton high schools, and drew students from all around - including some who formerly would have gone to Fulton High School, according to Leslie Montcalm, chair of the 50th celebration, a 1973 alum and a NCHS teacher for 19 years.
"Our district used to be the third largest in the state," she said. "We had at least seven zip codes in our school district. It brought together people who went to three different elementaries."
Patsy Austin
Austin graduated from North Callaway and then went to Truman State University. She taught kindergarten at Williamsburg Elementary from 1977 to 2002 and served on the district's board of education for nine years.
"I can remember it being built," she said. "I lived in Auxvasse, and my girlfriends and I would drive up and check the progress. Auxvasse High School - it needed to go. It was really quite worn."
She said administrative offices were originally at the high school, and later moved south down the road. Attending school in the new building was special, according to Austin.
"It was so exciting," she said, adding leaving Auxvasse with her friends was no big deal - there were new friends to be made. "We were juniors, so we were only together two years - but our friendships lasted for a lifetime."
Their 50th-year class reunion is next year.
"They're just like family reunions," Austin said. "We just have so much fun. When we moved to the new high school, we just really bonded."
Auxvasse HS didn't have a football field so the new sports complex was very much appreciated by students.
"We had a really good football team; we really did," she added.
Bob Coleman
Coleman was one of those inaugural football players.
"We were the first football team, so we started practice before the school really opened," he said. "I can still taste the metallic taste of the water from the new water fountain - the new water pipes."
Coleman also was prom king that first year.
He said became president of the first senior class sort of by default. The son of a preacher who moved around some, Coleman went to Fulton High School for his sophomore year, then Auxvasse High during his junior year where he was president of the student council.
"The seniors that lived in that (North Callaway) district were given the option of finishing at Fulton High School or moving to North Callaway. The fact that I went to both places probably helped. I was a guy who had connections to both communities."
Coleman remembers details other than corn stubble and metallic water.
"Everything was brand new," he said. "There were windows that covered the whole length of the building. There were new desks. The science area - I peaked in and it all looked pretty modern."
Then there were the manual typewriters. Personal computers weren't invented; electric typewriters were rare.Mrs. Carter taught Coleman to type.
"I particularly remember typing class," he said. "They put metal caps over the keys so we couldn't see the letters. I appreciated that later in life."
After Coleman graduated, he ran for Callaway County recorder of deeds and lost big.
"As a Republican," he said with a laugh. "At the time, there were only 10 or 12 Republicans in the county, so I got whupped up in that election."
But he got hired into the Missouri State Auditor's office under Christopher "Kit" Bond, who later became governor. Coleman worked in a number of state offices until his retirement in 2001 at the age of 51.
His brother was a member of the high school's first freshman class - the first class to send all four years at NCHS. Coleman said his own graduating class had 37 members.
"They say you can't go back again, but the relationships I developed in high school were closer than any others I developed," he said. "I've been back a couple of times for 50th-year events, and a lot of those I went to high school with went on to be very successful (in) business. I'm really impressed by these people."