Virginia Sokolowsky Toolson - Class of 1973

As a Varsity cheerleader for East High School for seasons 1971-1973, I have a different perspective of East High basketball than perhaps the players did. As a freshman cheerleader for the team that would eventually win the State Championship, I became spoiled to cheer for a winning team. The wins were one thing but beating almost every team by many points made it even more expected.
During my sophomore year (1971) I was privileged to be selected as a member of the varsity cheer squad. This was my first introduction to Coach Eathorne and his high expectations and standards. These standards carried over to the cheer squad as well. During warm ups the band would play and we would dance to the songs while the pep club would be chanting “Beat’em” or “Go East, beat West". The noise from the band and the crowd was exhilarating. This would go on until the introduction of the team. We loved the introduction of the team with the lights out and the Knight dressed in his armor. When the starters were introduced each received their own cheer. Then Mr. Stelson would announce, “Would the audience please stand for the National Anthem, Now sing it!” The memories of holding the flag and singing loudly the National Anthem still stays with me today. During away games we would stand and cheer right by the team. This would be the times we would get the full flavor of Coach Eathorne. He was intense in his instructions to the team yet he would always finish with an encouraging, “you can do this.”(Perhaps a bit more colorful words were used.) Sometimes he would motion to us to move away from the team a bit because we would start talking to the players. Some of our duties included, making run through signs, painting signs for the cafeteria, decorating the players’ homes, and once a year we would kidnap the team for breakfast. The first regional playoff game against Curtis was an eye opener. After being introduced the Curtis players would shoot a free throw and each ball would go in. Their fans packed the gym and wore decorated painters hats. We lost the game and Curtis went on to win the State Championship. We learned that we needed to step things up for the crowd during play off games.
Junior year (1972) had many moments to remember. Cheering at the old West High gym always was difficult because we had no room, but we were loud. That was one of the best things about being an East High Cheerleader; I always had a front row seat. Beating South by Richard Arena’s half court shot was unbelievable. The picture in the paper said it all, we were ecstatic. It was the first time that we had charged onto the court. Making it to Regional’s this time around the fans were prepared with a supply of painters hats (Parker Paints). Beating Curtis by one point was a surprise to everyone, especially arrogant Curtis. We never would have thought that the next weekend we would be in the UPS gym playing for State berths. We had a huge pep assembly that Friday. Team members from West and Central piled into my Corolla that I drove onto the gym floor. (I had to drive on black mats as not to mark the floor). They wished our team luck and told them to “Give them Hell”. (Back then, it was bold to say that in an assembly). The State game against Ellensburg was crazy. The crowd was huge and it seemed that the whole town was there. It was a disappointing loss but we loved our team. The team bus was met by over 100 cars. In the front of the Caravan was a fire engine and perched on top was Larry McDonald wearing the Knight armor. Inside the gym were about 1000 fans. The band played the fight song and we cheered for our team. We finally filed out of the gym about 12:15 a.m. During this year I was a class officer and Mr. Eathorne was our advisor. I got to know him on another level. He would tell us goofy stories and he never planned anything for us, he let us do the work. This proved to be a great training ground for my leadership the next year.
Senior year was met with great anticipation. I was selected to be the Head Cheerleader and we had a great squad. The Cheerleaders and the basketball players were all friends. I don’t remember anyone bad mouthing another team member, which I feel contributed to the success of the team. The team managers, Kurt Spitzer and Lynn Matz were every bit a part of the team as the players. I remember Coach Eathorne saying that he didn’t want to work them too hard for fear that he might ”Mess them up”. (They did look stylish in their wide bottom, plaid pants and wide ties.) Our pep assemblies were always attended by everyone. The competitions between the classes were fierce. It did seem that the seniors won most of them. At the beginning of the season the cheerleaders were allowed to ride the bus with the team for the Lincoln game. We sat in the front of the bus and had to look forward and not talk at all. I was amazed at how quiet it was. Lincoln was rated pretty high in the AAA polls. Our team really gave them a close game. We lost by 6 but Lincoln was very upset about how close it was. This was to be the only loss for our team. Lincoln’s administration had to escort all of us back to the bus. (It was pretty scary!) The team then started winning all the games by many points. As cheerleaders we then had to entertain the crowd. I remember when Port Angeles played us in our gym and how they stalled for over 3 minutes each time they got the ball. I loved it when Cliff McKenzie then stalled on them by holding the ball and yawning. During the second quarter we scored 2 points and Port Angeles scored 0. Our school had great school spirit and we would usually have a couple of buses full of students go to the away games. Of course the championship game was the ultimate game for all of us. I couldn’t watch the last minutes of the game; I turned around and hid my eyes. Larry Knapp and Rick Parker kept telling me to turn around but I didn’t and I never saw Richard Arena’s last shot go into the hoop. We went crazy with everyone kissing everyone. The caravan back to East was even longer than the previous year. Again we did cheers and the fight song. It was bitter sweet to think that my cheering at East High was over and I would not be wearing my uniform anymore. I still hold sweet memories of my years at East and even though it was 35 years ago that the Knights were the Champions, it seems just like yesterday. 1973 was also the year that Mr. Scheyer retired as the school Principal. Clifff McKenzie and I took the ferry over to Seattle to purchase a new sword for the Knight. The original sword was then given to Mr. Scheyer as a retirement gift from all the students that had the privilege of having him as our Principal.
Virginia Sokolowsky Toolson M.Ed.Clark County School District, Las Vegas, Nevada