The Indian Leader

The following letter has been received from Henry Roberts, commercial '10, of 1100 Third Street, Pawnee, Okla.:

Through the generosity of my sister, Mrs. Vivian R. Archambault, 1104 Third Street, Pawnee, Okla., one of your subscribers, I had the pleasure of reading the November 13 issue of The Indian Leader, which I enjoyed very much indeed.

Some of the news items contained therein brought back fond memories of the past, when I was a student at Haskell. I noted that The Indian Leader has been published since the year 1897. By coincidence that was the first year of my enrollment at Haskell as a student. I attended Haskell at three different periods, commencing with the kindergarten class at the age of nine and finally graduating from the Commercial Department in 1910.

Mr. C. E. Birch was then the head of the Commercial Department, and Miss Kidder was his assistant.

Aside from my academic activities during my last two years at Haskell, I participated in athletics, such as field sports, basketball and football. I majored in football, playing on the Haskell varsity during 1908 and 1909.

I still have in my possession a group picture of the 1909 team. Maurice Kent, of the University of Iowa, was our coach in 1908; while John R. Bender, of University of Nebraska renown, was our coach in 1909. We competed with such university teams as Nebraska, Denver, Texas, Baylor, Texas A&M, Alabama, St. Louis U., Washington U. of St. Louis, and LSU.

I would say that Haskell's competition was good. I knew Dr. Naismith, who invented the game of basketball and who used to make his presence on the Haskell campus occasionally. I also knew Forrest C. (Phog) Allen, when he played basketball at the University of Kansas, who later became a basketball mentor at that University.

I have often wondered how many of my instructors and schoolmates of Haskell are still living. I read about Mr. C. E. Birch in the above-referred-to issue. We considered Mr. Birch one of the most outstanding instructors on business administration in this country.

Haskell was, indeed, fortunate in having him as an instructor. I am thankful for having acquired my business training at Haskell under Mr. Birch's tutorship. Thanks also to Miss Kidder.

After many years of service, both in Federal service and in private enterprise, I retired from active service April 30, 1958, from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Albuquerque, N. Mex. Our family consists of four children: Mrs. Florence Roberts Alexander, 114 West Cass Street, Prairie du Chien, Wisc.; Henry Roberts, Jr., 11559 Cherrylee Drive, El Monte, Calif.; V. James Roberts, 1445 Fourth Avenue, San Diego 1, Calif.: and Mrs. Edith Roberts Beardsley, Tohatchi, N. Mex. My wife's name is Rose Denomie Roberts, a member of the Chippewa tribe in Wisconsin.

Onward, Onward Haskell.