This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2009, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
South Salt Lake » Organizers of Granite High School's 100th -- and final -- commencement didn't have far to look for a theme.
Student after student took the stage Friday underscoring the irony of how their beginnings mark the end for the century-old school. The event, held on the windy football field according to longstanding tradition, drew hundreds, mostly family of the 76 graduates.
"It's time for not only us, but for everyone to say goodbye," said senior class Vice President Esad Ferhatbegovic. "But even though we're the last class to remember Granite for what it was, we will always remember it for what it has yet to become."
Said Mayra Tiburcio, "Beginnings can be intimidating ... But humans are cowards in the face of happiness ... The secret to life is to have more beginnings than endings."
The newly minted alumni join countless other "Farmers" whose memories and achievements frame a long and colorful history.
Established in South Salt Lake in 1907, Granite High honored its first graduating class in 1909: a singular graduate, Milton "Mickey" Love. At its height, the school enrolled thousands, nurturing the minds of two mayors, two state lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Frank E. Moss, several LDS general authorities, TV and print journalists, prominent heart surgeon Leroy S. Wirthlin, businessmen Fred Lampropoulos and Ellis Ivory.
And let's not forget the late federal Judge David K. Winder -- who, according to the school's resident historian and journalism teacher Pam Carson, "once ran a cow through the school's halls," a stunt that secured Winder's election as student body president.
For school board member and longtime supporter Connie Anderson, the South Salt Lake school's defining moment was a public hearing this spring where scores of people rallied to keep it open.
Budget concerns won out. The school's aging building and small size -- 12 teachers and 300 students -- were unsustainable, decided the board in a split vote.
Backers say the district never gave the school a chance to rebound from 2005 when the board, as an alternative to closure, reconfigured it as a small learning community without athletics, buses or boundaries.
But Jack Airmet, Class of '56, said Granite High's time had probably come. The 71-year-old recalls when Olympus High School opened, siphoning half of Granite's 2,300 students.
"That hurt us from a competitive standpoint in athletics," said Airmet who played football. "But it opened the field to more players."
Airmet lost some of his teeth on that field.
"At that time, football helmets didn't have face guards. I used to get bloody noses and one day got my teeth knocked out," said Airmet. "It was a glory wound. It didn't hurt and after that the whole team came up and praised me. I was just on cloud nine until I went home with a big smile and upset Mom."
The school rebounded, growing in size, but never achieved athletic prominence, even under LaVell Edwards. The decorated Brigham Young University football coach got his start at Granite High in 1954, fresh out of the military. The school had no training equipment, so he asked players to hunt down some old tires.
A day later, one of the players returned with a truckload of brand new ones, which Edwards realized had been stolen. "I told him to take them back."
That same "fierce" loyalty is recounted in a "brief but warm" history written before Edwards' time by the late Frank E. Moss, a Granite alumnus and three-term U.S. senator who served from 1959 to 1977.
Moss describes a bid in 1928 to change the school's mascot to "Wildcats" so students "would no longer be taunted as hay seeds." But in a show of school pride, the old title was retained.
In the earliest years, "students wanted to play in sports, but were so few and so poor, they couldn't afford a coach," wrote Moss who attended Granite in the '30s. So, the principal took on the extra duties, welcoming a girl on the first basketball team, "a shocking and unprecedented mixing of the sexes."
In sum, wrote Moss, "Our school was smaller in numbers than our neighbors which grew up around us. Our economic status seemed to be less. We had no town or village affiliations. We were just us."
Jerry Vo, Class of 2009, said he feels "like an extinct animal."
But the 18-year-old isn't one to dwell on what could have been. He dropped out of school this year to work three jobs to help his recession-battered family make its mortgage payments. They lost the house, but Vo returned to school in time to complete his credits.
"I loved this school," said Vo. "But you close a book and start another chapter. Just start writing."
Granite High School's fight song, reportedly written by a student:
Song of the "G"
When sight and sound of the campus
Fade in the long busy years,
Yet will return in our memories
Echoes of old songs and cheers.
You of the field, track and diamond,
Fighters for clean victory,
You who love the fair, square sport,
You'll hear the song of the "G"
Go it, Granite! Go it, Granite!
Hear the battle cry;
Go it, Granite! Go it, Granite!
Yours 'till we die.
She will remember, you'll not forget her.
Though you are still far away.
She is calling, calling to you ever.
Honor the grand old "G."
The past
Established » 1907
First graduating class » one student, Milton "Mickey" Love
Claims to fame » two mayors, two state lawmakers, a U.S. senator and federal judge
Remake » Reconfigured into small academy in 2005
Ending » Closed by board vote, 2009
The future
Possible remake as community center
Fond farewell
An open house for alumni at Granite High School, 3305 South 500 East in conjunction with the South Salt Lake Freedom Festival from 6 to 8:30 p.m. July 3.