There WAS that legend of toughness, and worse.
And of course, it was all a complete fabrication.
Harding was a "junior high" school, and a very fine one. Dad taught there for twenty-five years under Principals Virgil Wallace and Robert Miller. That school was run like a fine watch from the top down. As my father's son, I was up there all the time before I became a student there for grades 7-9, because back then, you spent your first "high school" year AT a junior high, hence the name.
Were there some "tough" kids at the "old" Harding? Of course there were. Harding was very much like the rest of Lakewood; a true microcosm of American society at its best and worst.
Harding's "reputation" probably arose, quite simply, because of a perception that...most of the "rich" kids went to Lakewood's OTHER two junior highs, and as we all know, "rich" kids are often thought to be good kids because they are simply rich kids. (smile)
At least that may have been the perception of SOME people.... (bigger smile here)
But...as we as adults know, perceptions in all directions can so often be utter fabrications, as well.
The real truth was that wealthy AND poor children attended ALL THREE of Lakewood's junior high schools, and that ALL THREE of those schools had long standing traditions of excellence in education, as well as very high standards and a real spirit of competitiveness in those days before cooperation began to eclipse competition as a social virtue.
But, all of these points being made, as a former "old Harding" student from nearly a half-century ago, I CAN say...
...yeah, we WERE tough.
Back to the banjo...
good name for a city