The first day of School the Class of 1965 would officially claim the Senior Circle as its own for the 1964-1965 school year. No one before or quite probably forever after will ever do it more dramatically  than did four 1965 Seniors. Their names were Jeff Neale, Barry Waugaman, Forrest Neale and Greg Oddison. Now after 43 long years of speculation they have chosen to set the record straight. Here then is the true story of the tires.



 

 

The idea for such a clever caper actually was planted by the Mr. Jim Regan, who at the time was the CHS Cross Country Team’s coach. He read about it being done at another school and felt it was both ingenious as well as funny. He shared this with Jeff James,one of his Xcountry runners. just as the summer vacation of 1964 summer  was about to begin.

 







Jeff and another Xcountry runner Barry Waugaman decided this sort of caper was something they’d like to carry out. The first thing they had to do was to begin collecting the tires they would need to reach clear to the top of the flag pole. To determine the number required Jeff first measure how tall the flag pole was. Then he measured the thickness of a single automobile tire to find out how many tires it would take to reach the top of the flag pole. This came to some 40 tires.

The tires were gathered throughout the summer of 1964 by Jeff James and Barry Waugaman from not one place but many. Gas stations and filling stations are always trying to get rid of old tires so they had no problem finding tires. As the tires were accumulated they were stored in Jeff's backyard. All during the summer this stash of tires grew. Also, so their graduation class would be immortalized,  silver "65's" were painted on all four sides of each and every tires. This was also done by Jeff James and Barry Waugaman.

 
Before the summer vacation of 1964 even began they knew exactly how they were going to get the tires on the flag pole. The conventional theory for years was that first all the tires would have to be transported to the gym rooftop. From there they would be slid down a rope that had been attached to the top of the flag pole. But how in the world could all those tires get to the roof top? According to Miss Aparton alias Mrs. Jensen, the Class of 1965’s Faculty Advisor, this was done by a lift truck. She was told Jack Purcell, who was the 1965 Class President, had acquired this lift truck from his father who was a building contractor.

There are three very important reasons why this wasn’t done by “The Tire Stackers”. Number one there was a huge golden ball mounted on the top of the flag pole which would have made sliding the tires down and onto the flag pole from the gym roof impossible. Secondly the noise created by a lift truck putting the tires on the roof would have certainly aroused some very unwanted attention. Thirdly there was a bright moon that night and they would have been dangerously visible on the gym rooftop.
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Now here’s the real story. First the tires had to be gotten on campus and rolled to the Senior lawn. By this time two other cross country runners were in on the caper. Forrest Neale and Greg Oddison, like Jeff James and Barry Waugaman, were in for the whole dangerous ride. A few other friends were willing to help transport the tires to the school. But as soon as the tires were over the fence by the swimming pool that’s as far as they were willing to go. Once over the fence the tires were rolled to the Senior Lawn. This in itself was no easy task.

Now comes the ingenious part. One day while walking by the school gym Forrest Neale saw the head CHS custodian changing light bulbs mounted in the ceiling of the school gym using the school’s  “Cherry Picker”. Here was the solution for stacking the tires on the flag pole. Upon further investigation he learned it was kept stored in the school’s boiler room.

A"Cherry Picker was basically an extension ladder that had a platform at the top with a railing surrounding this platform. It was on wheels and when moved into the desired position, legs were ended out to stabilize the extended ladder and its platform at its top. Even when used on the gym floor, a firm and level foundation, one sensed a very uncomfortable swaying when standing on the platform. The grass foundation on the Senior Lawn was instead both uneven and slippery. Add to this to the early morning darkness and the person very high at the top of the Cherry Picker manipulating tires over the top of the flag pole truly had a daunting task to perform.

I know what you’re thinking. The “Cherry Picker” was all locked up safe and sound in the boiler room. No they had no key. In later years sometimes students would acquire master keys but not in 1964. Look at the photo below. This was a tunnel that early on in the construction of Cupertino High School was dug to be used as an electrical and plumbing conduit. I (Mr. Boggie) have been in this tunnel. You have to crouch when walking in it. Directly above this tunnel is a sidewalk that runs completely across the campus. The tunnel begins where the metal shop once was. There is a manhole entrance here to the tunnel as well as one where the entrance to the school library once was” The tunnel ended right, very conveniently, under the boiler room. Today the boiler room has been replaced with a dance studio and the old entrance here no longer exists.








The question is how did they know about the tunnel and how did they get access to it. Forrest Neale once he knew the “Cherry Picker” was stored in the Boiler Room, began closely monitoring the coming and goings from it. He soon observed a janitor ascending from the floor inside the boiler room and was told he was coming from a tunnel. Then by asking seemingly innocent questions, Forrest learned of the two outside access points to that tunnel.









Once they had the “Cherry Picker “ in place this was procedure they followed to get the tires stacked onto the flagpole. A tire was hauled up using the rope from the “cherry picker” and then taken off the rope and  dropped over the flagpole. After the tire was dropped down the pole, the rope was pulled through the tire, and a new tire attached.   It took a long time to do that. There was no fast, easy sliding of the tires down a rope onto the flagpole. It was one tire at a time painstakingly hoisted to the top of the flag pole over and over again.

When they got finished hoisting all the tires into place to their disappointment the tires did not reach the the top of the flagpole. Remember  Jeff James had figured the length of the flagpole, divided by the thickness of the tires, for the number of tires it would take.   What he didn't count  on was that the tires would flatten under the weight of them selves.   But with this disappointment suddenly, out of no where, came the inspiration to top the flagpole with a garbage can. That wonderful crowning touch would have never happened had their been enough tires to reach the top of the flagpole.

With Jeff Neale heading the task he and his three Xcountry teammates Barry Waugaman, Forrest Neale and Greg Oddison arrived on Sunday around 11:00 PM , the night before the 1964-1965 school year was to begin. Little at the time did they realize the legend they would create that night. They would not complete their task until some 5 hours later. But you could say this was but the tip of the entire endeavor. It took them all summer to gather the tires and also many hours to inscribe ´“65” in silver paint on all four sides of each and every tire. When they came to school the next morning they must have reveled silently in their accomplishment and felt rewarded for all their work.

 











That next morning the CHS Vice Principal Warren Bryles is remembered as spewing “Fire & Brimstone” during a special Senior Assembly called that morning because of the tires.
"This was not the way to start the school year and those who were responsible would be severely punished." Jeff James, Forest Neale, Greg Oddison & Barry Waugaman were never suspected let alone caught. This was their only caper at Cupertino High School so unlike many other 1965ers they were not considered when the “ usual suspects were rounded up”.  Those were the 1965 Water Polo players who had been involved in the submarine in the CHS pool prank the year before as Juniors.

 

Coach Regan, who had first mentioned the tire stacking caper  began the 1964-65 school year not as their Xcountry Coach and a P.E.  teacher but as the Dean of Boys. The “Tire Stackers” never knew if he knew they did it. Let me (Mr. Boggie )interject here. Knowing Jim as I did as a teaching colleague I would bet that he did know and I’m sure he was very proud of “his boys” for pulling it off.  Fred Neale says “Something inside of me tells me he did know it was us. It  was a harmless prank and the cross country team were his boys. We all behaved after that.” The Varsity Cross Country Team in 1965 had only 6 runners and 4 of them were the legendary 1965 Senior “Tire Stackers.

 

All four of the “Tire Stackers” went on to graduate from college. Dr. Jeff James lives in Tasmania where he still competes in International Age Group Iron Man Triathlons, Greg Oddison graduated from Harvey Mudd University, Barry Waugaman lives in the Palm Springs area and owns a trucking company and Forrest Neale lives in Las Vegas and has university degrees in Economics, Electronics and Computer Technology.

 








To quote one of the Tire Stackers: “It was a cool prank with no damage or vandalism. We wanted to make our mark as the Class of 1965 and we did and we’re proud of it. I thank you Mr. Boggie for keeping the memory of our prank alive, I’m sure the others thank you as well. It is our prank and it belongs to us with an honorable mention for our Cross Country Coach Mr. Reagan. That’s how the stacking of the 1965 Tires  was truly done.”

To prove to those who did this dastardly did that crime doesn’t pay the powers that be at Cupertino High School billed the Class of 1965 the cost of the janitors removing the tires as well repainting the who entire flag pole. The Class of 1965 appealed to all those who enjoyed this clever caper to help defer this cost. According to Gail Aparton Jensen, the Class of 1965 ended up paying $250 to restore order to the Senior Lawn. But whatever the cost was, I'm of the opinion that, the Immortal Stacking of the Tires was truly priceless.

Mr. Bill Boggie