Christina Majerle, Class of 2004
Hibbing High school had an important place in my childhood. When I was a very young girl, I remember watching the southern addition being added on to the school and how excited I was when I was able to swim in its new pool. The thought that the school had been around when my grandfather attended in the 1930s intrigued me as I remember going on walks around the curving sidewalk and looking at details such as the faces on the east and west entrances.  At about the age of seven, I had my first opportunity to perform with my dance team on the stage of the beautiful Hibbing High School auditorium. Even at that young age, I knew I was fortunate to do so in such an intricately designed space. At some point, our dance practices were up on the fourth floor, and the turret shaped room seemed so magical to me. As time went on, I was able to strengthen my swimming skills in the old pool during summer's open swims. When I was eventually a Hibbing High School student, my friends and I usually enjoyed our lunch in the Old Boys' Gym, but once a week we would eat in the cafeteria to have the same dining experience that many students before us did. During those years I again performed on the stage or in the auditorium's aisles with the school's band. Eventually in 2004, I walked across the stage during high school graduation. Hibbing High School will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Timothy Laine, Class of 1982
I had the great pleasure of having Mr. Torrel for Algebra I my Freshman year in 1979 and for Geometry in 1980. I also had Mr. Anzelc for Civics my Freshman year. Their rooms were across the hall from each other, and the occasional back and forth banter between those 2 was very comical!! They would like to yell across the hall from time to time telling the other one to "Quiet down over there!! Since Angelo Fraboni was in both of my classes, Mr. Anzelc would come over to ask when Angelo was going to bring him some sausage, and Mr. Torrel would ask him when he was going to get some blood sausage. Other times, Mr. Anzelc would come over to talk basketball, all the time balancing his pointer stick on the tip of his index finger. Mr. Torrel was my favorite high school teacher!!

Rachel Milani, Class of 2009
I participated in Speech all the way from 7th grade to senior year, so 6 years total, competing in the Storytelling category! I went to State twice – 9th & 12th grade, and was the Speech Team captain in both 11th & 12th grade.  One of my favorite memories of speech (and there are many) took place my senior year in February of 2009 at the Hibbing Heartbreaker meet.  I had finished my draw and was practicing in the hallway before my round on the ground floor of the High School, talking to a locker (as you do).  Because Storytelling is full of fairytales and talking animals, I happened to be hunched over, flapping my arms like wings, and quacking like a duck at a locker, when all of a sudden, the door next to me opened, and I swear every single guy in my senior class walked out of the shop classroom and stared at me like I was absolutely insane. Still hunched over with my arms bent like wings, I just kind of froze, then waved.  I don’t think they ever looked at me the same way ever again – I got a lot of weird looks on Monday, but then the announcements came on the intercom (at the time they announced if a student won a speech meet), and announced that I had won the meet on Saturday. They couldn’t believe that the girl who quacked like a duck at the wall had won, LOL.

I also have a lot of fond memories of making giant tubs of homemade snacks to share on the bus, like caramel corn or puppy chow, frantically trying to change into a pencil skirt in a tiny bathroom stall when the bus ran late, and the various schools we competed at.  Once, I remember we competed at what I swear had to be an abandoned school, and one of my rounds was in a literal janitor’s closet with an asbestos warning over the door!

I also may have once broken our team trophy while walking off stage after a meet…. I can’t remember what place we took, or which meet it was, but one minute I was holding that trophy, and the next it was falling apart in my hands…. My team never let me live that down.

All in all, speech remains one of my fondest memories of high school.  It didn’t make me popular, but it gave me confidence, a place to be totally goofy and whacky, and helped me develop life-long public speaking skills.

Thanks for compiling all of these memories! 

Scott Johnson - Class Of 1980
Some brief highlights

1. Meeting VP Walter Mondale my  sophomore year.

2. Astronomy teacher Dale Gibbs would set up his  telescope on the football field about 930pm and we saw the moon in amazing detail. Anyone present was old enough to have seen the first landing on the moon. Circa 1979.

3. Teachers that brought me out of my shell of shyness were Jan Carey, Donna Milner...both speech coaches and wonderful English teachers. George Peterson's Creative Writing class was a massive break through for me.  I was initially a journalism major in college... Hibbing JC.

4.  I loved Al DeLapointe's video class. Al did the drivers ed program.  I work for the largest private driving school in the state of Minnesota. I could have never predicted that I would work in the same field. 

5. Woodshop. I kept my bedside stand built in 9th grade. I've seen on facebook several alumni post pictures of wood  projects.

6. I don't recall all the details here but it was a great moment.  R.J. Thiel and Rob Demillo were  on stage  doing something like a news cast.  RJ is referencing a story involving a lake or body of water and gave this "quoted" remark from teacher Dan Bergan.... "why drown in it when I can walk on it" RJ...you missed your calling as an SNL writer.

7. During a blast in the nearest ore mine the chandeliers would shake in the auditorium. 

Hibbing High School Auditorium Stories From "The Morning Show" (2022)

Bill Maras
Backstage Memories
Yes, the Hibbing High School Auditorium is one of the finest, if not the finest in this country. And we have had some of the most famous people in the world walk across, or perform on this stage. But behind every show and performance there is a stage crew, and a stage manager.

I was a student of the '70s. One of the greatest pleasures I've ever had was working with a short non-descript man by the name of Mr. Joseph Newman. Joe was the high school stage manager by profession. Every production on his stage was handled as though it was a Broadway show. You see, Joe was a former employee of Parmount Pictures in Hollywood. His (our) green room was wallpapered with autographed photographs of many people he had worked with and known personally. (You will have to forgive my memory—there were hundreds.) Some that I can remember: George Gobel, Mae West, Tyrone Power, Cass Ellott, Lauren Bacall, Humpery Bogart, anyone who was anything in Hollywood in the '40s and '50s Joe had known on a first name basis.

I remember each autograph was written from a friend to a friend. Sadly, Joe and his wife died childless in the '80s. And somebody stole his legacy from our Green Room after he retired. What a wonderful man and friend. Joe would give me passes to get out of study hall (to help him). I would take my books to [the] back of the auditorium, lay on the carpeted floor, and study, or daydream that this was my palace. What great memories!

Thank you for sharing our stage with the rest of this country.
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Courtnay Bot
Winter Frolic Memories
The Hibbing High School Auditorium was not a place I visited often while in my four years of high school (90-93); however, just as I was about to graduate, I had the opportunity to participate in the Hibbing Winter Frolic Competition. The theater holds special memories of this one time in high school where all the girls from my class, coming from all different groups (athletics, drama, etc.), came together to sort of wish farewell to our years at Hibbing High School. Many of us have left Hibbing, and I think this memory of the auditorium lives on in our memories with all the fancy dresses for the competition in this beautiful setting. Special thanks should go to all those who have been active in Winter Frolic over the years and took advantage of this beautiful treasure Hibbing holds.
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Don Nollet
When I brought my family into the auditorium, they were all very impressed. This was put into perspective by my (then) stepson, Brandon, age 15, who commented: "Why would anybody want to put something this nice in a high school?"

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Claire Totten
Castle in the Wilderness
I am delighted to learn The Morning Show will be broadcast live from the Hibbing High School Auditorium. I hope it will inspire many listening across the region to take the time to visit what was originally referred to as the "Castle in the Wilderness." The most impressive part of the auditorium has to be the magnificent cystal chandeliers made in Czechoslovakia. I can remember sitting in the auditorium (in the '60s) waiting for the beginning of the play Bye Bye Birdie and being totally mesmerized as the lights were slowly dimmed. I spent as much time watching the lights changing from white, red, and blue, as I did the play.

Years later, if I came back to Hibbing with out-of-town friends, I would always take them to see the auditorium before going out to the cabin! One year we weren't allowed in the auditorium since the chandeliers had been lowered for cleaning.

The high school auditorium has special significance to me on a more personal level since my father performed in plays there while he was a student at Hibbing High School as well as when I was in grade school. One year my father and I both performed in the community production of The Messiah. He and his twin brother and sister grew up across the street from the high school. It is, therefore, very special to me to realize my two brothers and I walked across the same stage to receive our diplomas as did my father and my aunt and my uncle.
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Mary Shideler
Trying to Stay Awake
As a kid my parents and I used to drive over to Hibbing from Grand Rapids to attend the Community Concert Series. One time a classical guitarist was the performer. The man was not very animated, and did not speak much very much at all. After the second piece, Dad and I fell fast a sleep. Mom said it was a good concert and that we did not snore hardly at all.

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Nelson French
What I did last summer ...
I remember many school and community events at the Hibbing High School Auditorium—including participation in high school choir performances.

A very memorable experience was the Virgil Fox organ concert in the mid-1960s. He was a tremendous artist who really knew how to lay into the Barton organ and make it shake the chandeliers. My parents, who were active in the local Community Concert Series promotion, hosted a reception for the artist at our home following the show, and I remember Virgil as a flamboyant personality decked out in a flowing black cape.

A new experience for a kid growing up in Hibbing.

As an aside, many of us are waiting for Bob Dylan to book a series of shows at the HHS Auditorium—sort of a "bringing it all back home" opportunity.

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Cathy Overland
What I did last summer ...
I have many memories about Hibbing High School as a scrawny little 7th and 8th grader in the early 1960s. My most vivid memory is an onstage performance in the auditorium as part of a speech class presentation.

I was in 8th grade and thrilled to be chosen by my speech teacher to give my humorous anecdote about summer church camp before the entire student body. As I recall, there were a number of us that day, some of us lounging on a couch on stage before a sea of faces. When it was my turn, I began nervously. However when the laughter began, I became bolder. I became hooked as the audience responded. I threw all the excitement and energy I had into the flashlight-down-the-outhouse bit, the Spam food fights—and when it came time to talk about the camp fire sing-alongs I suddenly decided to change the tune. I knew exactly what would play to that house. In my very loudest voice, I exclaimed, "... and we all sat around the campfire singing hymns like ... 'Does everybody here like Fitger's Beer?'!"

It brought the house down. I had no idea what I had done, except make people laugh. It was the greatest feeling in the world to a very naïve and shy little 8th grade girl who knew nothing at all about beer. I basked in the glory of it all until I looked over and saw the horror in my speech teacher's face. I never did find out what the principal said to her afterwards ...

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Elaine Elnes
1964 High School Graduation
I was on the high school ushering staff during my junior year in high school along with my best friend, Linda Goldfine. This "club" would usher for events, including high school graduations. One of the students in the class of '64 was David Zimmerman, Bob Dylan's brother. Dylan was coming to the event, but did not want to attract attention, etc.

Linda (Bob and David' first cousin) and I were assigned the job of "guarding" the area where Bob and his family would sit. We were assigned the back area of the second aisle. A little bit before the graduation ceremony was to begin, we were to close the very large velvet draperies, telling last-minute arrivals to use another aisle. Bob Dylan came in after everyone was seated. Linda and I swept open the curtains for Bob to sneak through, then shut them, not letting late arrivals enter. At the end of the ceremony our job was to make sure Bob was out of the auditorium and on his way before others knew he was there.

Linda and I felt we had very important jobs to do that evening. All went off without a hitch. After the graduation ceremony, we went to the Zimmermans' home, where Bob talked with us and signed our high school yearbooks.

I have many wonderful memories of Hibbing High School and the auditorium. I played in many band concerts from that stage, sat through many plays, concerts, and other events as a student, acting from the stage in speech class, etc. I consider myself very lucky to have been able to go the school at Hibbing High School and be part of the graduating class of 1965.

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Roger Paschke
Performing with Mr. Zimmerman
I performed on stage with Bob Z. in 1957 in the high school talent contest. He pounded three chords on the piano and hollered, essentially, and the crowd laughed and jeered.

I also performed for band and chorus concerts, operettas, and musicals. My uncle helped to install the chandeliers.

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Jayne Niemi
Igniting an interest in theater
Although we have a lovely historic high school auditorium in Chisholm, there were times during my school years that we were bused to Hibbing's high school auditorium for special events. The one that I recall most vividly is a touring production of the Guthrie's Of Mice and Men. It was one of many required (and enjoyed) arts events that we were exposed to as children on the Range. Those events taught us to be a polite audience, if not appreciative! In many of us, it went beyond that, and ignited an interest in theatre, music, and the arts that has enriched our lives immeasurably.

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Nancy Peterson
I beat Bob Dylan in a talent contest.
It was the 1959 Hibbing Winter Frolic talent show. I provided piano accompaniment for my friend Sharon Nelson, who sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." We shared a $25 first prize. Bob and his rock & roll band didn't make it past the try-outs.

(I also remember the first time I heard Bob perform, which was also in the Hibbing High auditorium. He and his band performed at a high school assembly. A couple of our older teachers really hated the music, and they covered their ears. For that reason alone, a lot of us decided that we liked it!)

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Mary Kay Jacobson
Absolutely Magical
My first experience in the Hibbing High School Auditorium was when my father was to begin his tenure as superintendent of schools there. We attended a production of Growing Pains, written by Hibbingite Don Peterson. It was the musical story of the Iron Range—Hibbing, in particular—and it was absolutely magical for a young teenager used to seeing "theater" on the stage of the high school gymnasium in southern Minnesota to see it in this magnificent theater. While my father was superintendent, he had all the ceilings of the auditorium repainted and the seats reupholstered. It remains that way until today. What a treasure!