By Ralph E. Moore Jr.,
Special to the AFRO
There is something bold and inspiring about the wall that has been up at Loyola Blakefield, a 170-year-old Catholic middle and high school for boys in Towson, Md. The wall, named “Black, Blue and Gold,” combines the school’s colors—blue and gold—with the race of the African-American alumni it honors.
The tribute is eye-catching and informative. It is a beautiful display that is located in Knott Hall, a heavily traveled campus building that contains the school gym, the dining hall and administrative offices.
The idea for the African-American commemorative display was first proposed five years ago with the site and content discussed and debated by a committee of Loyola High School graduates.
It was the president of Loyola Blakefield, Anthony Day, who appointed Chair Bernie Bowers, of the class of ‘78. Bowers, 62, has served as Blakefield’s director of diversity and is a graduate of UMBC. The planning committee members who volunteered: were Carl Stokes, ’68, Wesley Wood, ’88, Brant Hall, ’98, Bernard Justis, ’80 and Brandon Floyd, ’09. I served as an ongoing consultant and advocate for the project.
The wall contains colorful portraits of the first four African Americans admitted to Loyola: Ken Montague in 1954, Tim Porter in 1960, Cliff Pugh in 1962 and Carl Stokes in 1964. Summaries of their successful careers accompany each picture. Each man was the only African American in his class and each spoke of noticing no explicit incidences of prejudice and discrimination from students, teachers or staff. Seeing their pictures is worth the trip.
The class of 1969 is not yet displayed, but two of the three men of color in the class were outstanding student-athletes. Reggie Boyce played football (offense and defense), Basketball and baseball; Amos Hall played football; and Dolan Garrett became a lawyer.
The iconic picture of Vic Thomas, Chris Foreman, Erich March and I with the caption explaining its uniqueness is also worth a trip to see the wall.
Foreman was elected president of the Loyola student government. Vic, Erich and I, working with our Jesuit faculty advisors former Father Frank Fischer, Fathers Bill Watters, Jack Martinez, Charlie Costello, Brother Paul Cawthorne and our fellow Black students, started the first Black Student Union at a private school in the area.
Speaking of Fischer, who left the priesthood and married the wonderful Jeanne Bur, it was he who worked with the Jesuits to create a scholarship fund to facilitate inner city Black boys coming to Loyola High. His smiling picture is featured prominently in the display along with quotes from Ronald E. Richardson, an attorney from Loyola High School’s class of 1971, and Erich March, a prominent Baltimore funeral director. They all sang Fischer’s praises.
We give him credit and love for getting us awarded Bishop John Carroll Scholarships to the school. He solicited funding from the Jesuits and some funding from Leroy Hoffberger, who owned the Baltimore Orioles at the time. Five of us entered in 1966 and four of us graduated in 1970. There were 11 African Americans who entered Loyola High School in 1967. Among them were Michael Guye, Charles Matthews and others recruited from the inner-city by Fischer. They spent summers of remediation in a Jesuit program called the Higher Achievement Program.
The class that entered in 1968 was pretty large; Loyola Hall of Basketball Famer, Morris Cannon, Leroy Bryant, Keith Bridgeforth, Charles Davis and Bobbie Walker –who became a Rensselaer educated engineer– were just a few of the stellar men recruited by Fischer. The Black, Blue and Gold tribute is as much an honor to him as it is the brothers who forever changed Loyola Blakefield.
When asked about the wall, Bowers said it “this will be an ongoing project at Loyola to research and publicly acknowledge the history of Black alumni since the 1956 admission of Ken Montague through the present. It will tell the story of African-American alumni through multiple mediums, i.e., portraits, busts, written narratives, archived documents, a documentary and in other mediums.”
“We will continue working through various avenues, working with committees, alumni and our History department,” Bowers continued. “This will provide Loyola and the at large community with the opportunity to learn and appreciate the history and contributions of Black alumni associated with Loyola. It will provide information on alumni as students as well as accomplishments achieved post Loyola.”
Bowers said there are often ” questions from both students and faculty to get more clarity and information about the history which has drawn interest.”
Bernie continued, “I am not sure, but do not believe any other schools, Catholic or Independent have anything to this magnitude. None of the other schools have such a large display [if any] to visually narrate the history of African-American alumni.”
The final comment goes to Day, president of Loyola Blakefield, “Our mission calls us to the margins,” he said. “It calls us to make a Loyola education, and the full experience, accessible to all.”
Day added that the institution aims to go much further in diversifying the student body, as well as faculty and staff.
“That’s an institutional commitment here at Loyola.”
Plan a visit to Loyola Blakefield on Nov. 12 at 5:00 p.m. for the annual Frank Fischer Benefit Scholarship Dinner. The virtual guest speaker will be Adam Jones, former All Star Center Fielder for the Baltimore Orioles.
Tickets are $125 and sponsorships will support inner city African-American boys in receiving a Loyola Blakefield education, along with all the experiences and fraternal relationships that come with it. Go to www.loyolablakefield.org for tickets and come see this most unusual wall of history.
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