Long underwear and pigskin gloves?
The 1930 Turkey Day Game!
(They are all worth remembering! Yep it was cold!)
A memory from Lester L. Smith, Class of 1931!
Editor's Note- This article is from 1996. Some great memories from our Alumni. If you have any stories to submit, please send them to the Alumni Office.
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Excerpts on Lester L Smith from
Kris Bosworth, Ph.D.
University of Arizona College of Education
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Lester L. Smith, '31 was a Peoria Businessman and entrepreneur in the Peoria Community. In Peoria, Lester was the owner and president of Home Comfort Products, a company that manufactured and sold wholesale aluminum and plastic products for homes. Lester is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Il. and holds an honorary degree from that university as well as from the University of Arizona.
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Although never an educator, Lester and his wife Bobbie were strong supporters of education as a means to help young people make healthy lifestyle choices and steer clear of the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. While in Peoria, Lester helped found the Youth Farm which was a boys’ home. Since living in Tucson, Les and Bobbie initially funded a Smith Prevention Project in the 1980s in conjunction with the University of Arizona College of Education.
Bill Robertson, '78
Lester L. Smith passed away at the age of 90 in November of 2003.
This 1930 PHS Team has some notable characters. Names you may recognize from growing up in the Peoria Area. Three names on the team that are readily familiar are Lester Smith, Ward Eastman and Clarence Hinton. Eastman and Hinton became prominent doctors in the medical arena. Both the Eastman and Hinton families have made an impact on the Peoria area over the years. Lester L. Smith, a Peoria Businessman, also led the way in developing the Youth Farm in Peoria and "The Smith Project", a Drug Treatment Center in Arizona.
PHS 1930 Football Team
Excerpts from "59 Years of Drumsticks and Pigskins: The History of Peoria's Thanksgiving Football Games" by Robert L. Sulaski
