Athletic training begins in the grade school, and El Paso's heavyweight grade school teams of 1953 and 1954 under the coaching of Dean Poling have both qualified for the state grade school meet by winning the sectional championship. In 1953 our boys lost their first game in the state meet, but this year the 1954 team has won 17 out of 18 games, and hope for better luck in the state championship "sweet sixteen" meet at Lincoln. The following boys make up this team, the best grade school team El Paso has ever had: Cryer, Mool, McHugh, Garrels, Rinkenberger, Tipler, Kendall, Vogel, West and Blackmore.
El Paso possesses a wealth of talent capable of entertainment from hillbilly plays and western music to Handel's "Messiah." El Paso musicians have been members of the finest Peoria and Bloomington musical organizations, Dorothy Curtiss and Max Smith currently playing with the Bloomington-Normal Symphony.
1947 the Corncapades made its first appearance. Produced with the avowed purpose of providing funds for the biennial Corn Festival,
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