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http://www.omniture.com --> Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement April 30, 2006 [an error occurred while processing this directive] Mythical student recalls a great hoax Vern Wolthoff couldn't help but chortle when he picked up last Sunday's Mail Tribune. "I never thought I'd see the day Charlie Shibitz was on the front page of the paper," he says. "That was the best, most complete hoax ever at the high school." It wasn't that Wolthoff didn't appreciate the story by Buffy Pollock about the elusive fellow who earned respectable grades back at Medford Senior High School as a member of the 1962 graduating class. Her article kicked off our annual Our Valley edition which focused on myths, legends and ghosts under the title of "Would You Believe?" Pollock made it clear Charlie was the stuff of myth. Her story also kicked off a lot of old memories for Wolthoff, 88, who, beginning in 1949, taught history and other courses for 33 years at the school now known as South Medford High School. Wolthoff, who still lives in Medford with his wife, Anne, was also an adviser for the student paper. The World War II naval officer has a master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. "I don't remember who the guys were — they started when they were juniors," he says. "But I recall that one of the conspirators was my sports editor at the time. They were a bunch of sharp kids having a little fun. I was very much in the middle of it." So was Robert Walker, now 63. The 1961 graduate is a retired police officer living in Phoenix. "A bunch of us came up with the idea," Walker says, noting it materialized on the golf course when the schoolhood chums needed someone to blame after making a bad putt. The surname was a takeoff of a 1930s song by Tom Lehrer, he notes. "It kind of flowed as time went on," he added. "Everyone knew Charlie existed but no one could put a face on him. When a teacher would call Charlie's name, someone in the back of the class would say, 'Present!' Charlie was very polite. He never did anything malicious. It was just clean fun." Shibitz became famous during football games when a team member gave the announcer a list of players which included Charlie, Walker recalls. "The announcer would say 'Charlie Shibitz' and everybody would start cheering," Walker recalls. "It was a fun game that was passed on with each class." After Charlie bought a dozen roses for Josephine Kirtley, a matronly dean of girls at the school, she joined the small cadre of folks in the know. "She had a good sense of humor," Walker says. "There was also a couple of coaches who appreciated Charlie. And the English Lit teacher went along with it." But he agrees with Wolthoff that many in the faculty didn't know they had a real nowhere man in their midst, so to speak. "Back then, everybody had to have a passing grade for remedial math and English," Wolthoff says. "He had those. He also had a Red Cross card." Charlie developed a decent transcript along the way. "He got an A in first-year French, although there was no evidence he took second-year French," he says. "He also made As in chemistry and physics. But he had problems in biology. It seems to me he didn't do too well in that class." Students surreptitiously took tests for Charlie, Walker explains. "We always tried to get someone who would do well," he says. "We wanted Charlie to have good grades." The Shibitz collective paid for his SATs and sent one of their best to take it for him, Wolthoff says. "I recall Charlie's score was a few points higher than his own," the retired teacher says. "He was pretty unhappy he couldn't swap the score." In May 1962, Eric Allen, then managing editor of the Mail Tribune, holding his tongue firmly in cheek, wrote an editorial endorsing a facetious student proposal that a new football stadium planned for the school be named the "Charles Bradford Shibitz Memorial Stadium." Fortunately, it was named after a deserving coach in Fred Spiegelberg. "Charlie is a remarkable student," Allen wrote. "He has been on the honor roll, is a member of the honor society; and yet leads the entire school on the absentee list." Allen noted that Shibitz was listed in the student directory with a home at 1101 Red Bluff Way, telephone SPring 3-8111. There was no Red Bluff Way in Medford then. Or now, for that matter. A quick check of the 1962 phone directory reveals no such name or number. But Allen persisted in his spoof. "He will graduate this year, and if his name is not called out for the presentation of a diploma, it will be a sad disappointment to many," Allen observed. They were not to be disappointed, Wolthoff says. "The final caper they were going to pull off was to give Charlie's diploma to the class president," he says, noting he, with Kirtley's giggling approval, stuffed the appropriate diploma with Shibitz' name. But a snafu in the lineup resulted in a "little blond girl" stepping forward when Shibitz' name was called, Wolthoff says. He gave the real diploma to the class president afterwards. Later that summer Wolthoff was in the school office when the telephone rang. "The driver's ed teacher who answered it said it was a small college in Eugene, not the University of Oregon, who wanted to find out more about Charlie Shibitz — they wanted to offer him a scholarship," he says. "I gather they weren't too pleased when he explained that Charlie didn't exist." The pranksters had apparently wanted to take the academic charade to the next level. "It was all a lot of fun," Wolthoff says. "Nobody got hurt except that little college in Eugene." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] . Advertisement s Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy