2/27/09

Columbus Dispatch Blog

Simone Sebastian

The spotlight was on Mayor Michael B. Coleman, but the newly renovated East High School stole the show at last night’s State of the City address.

“It’s both functional … and it’s beautiful,” said City Councilman Hearcel F. Craig, Class of 1967.

Craig and First Lady Frankie Coleman shared a laugh over some of the rules that governed East back in the day. Students sometimes were told to take off their shoes on hardwood floors. Mrs. Coleman remembered a test to make sure girls’ skirts were an appropriate length: They’d get on their knees, and their hems had to touch the floor with room to spare.

Mayor Coleman called East High “an incubator of leaders, provider of talent,” and “a cathedral where minds and lives have been shaped since World War I.”

He paid tribute to the late Principal Jack Gibbs and alumni such as writer James Thurber, football legend Bill Willis, actor Phillip Michael Thomas and former professional basketball player Granville Waiters.

In addition to Craig, Congressman A. Troy Miller graduated from East, as well as State Treasurer Kevin L. Boyce and state Sen. Ray Miller.