Mr. Paschall grew up in St. Louis and attended LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee. He entered the Army following graduation in 1942, and after some overseas tours, ended up at Fort Sam Houston teaching at the Academy of Health Sciences before retiring in 1972. He came to Judson shortly thereafter, first as a substitute, and then went full-time in 1976. Practically everyone at Judson at that time had had him at some point as at least a substitute teacher, and everyone sensed the presence of a person who truly loved everyone he came in contact with, no matter how briefly. Someone who always made you feel good, and someone who seemed to remember you, no matter how long ago or how briefly you had been with him previously. I met him again in 1984, for the first time since my Senior year, and I sensed that he still even remembered the first time we’d met when he was substituting for the German Class I was in during my Freshman year, when he gave me his car keys to go and get some old newspapers he had brought for the Ecology Club’s recycling effort.

He introduced the "HEY!! HEY!!" cheer to us at the Pep Rally for the South San game my senior year (1977-78), and it caught on immediately. It may have singlehandedly helped score 21 points in the 4th Quarter in the game that clinched our District Title that year. The cheer was one that was used at Vashon High School in St. Louis in the 1930’s (in some ways his voice, gentle demeanor and ability to leave you feeling good reminds me of many of the rappers to come out of St. Louis in recent years, and to a certain extent Mr. Paschall in his own way---given how he was good at ad-libbing/ the latter part of the HEY! HEY!---would probably make a pretty good freestyle rapper). Here’s perhaps a perfect example of how some things are just as good and effective today and tomorrow as they were yesterday. Timeless, in other words. Perhaps taken from or fed by the same Ultimate Fountain of Youth and Wisdom and Life-Giving Love from no less than the "Heavenly Offices." The type of youth that can keep someone forever young, as Mr. Paschall was and, I trust, still is.

Many times, when things were looking bad, all that was needed to put a little life back into the crowd and the team was for some students to start chanting "Paschall…..Paschall……Paschall…" And, almost invariably, his "HEY!! HEY!!" his "D!! D!!!!…(defense!), and his "attitude checks" from Mission Control helped turn the game around. It was very effective, what with several thousand Rocket boosters saying "HEY!! HEY!!"" following each stanza, or DEFENSE!! Following Paschall’s "D!! D!!." None of this would have been as effective were it not for the heart and soul of the man doing it. That was what made the biggest difference, as proof positive that Rocket Pride was not just about winning games. It’s about the kind of persevering love necessary to carry on in Life when things get tough, or things seem hopeless, and time is short. The times when being "forever young" in heart and soul is necessary, lest you Die the Death of the Soul.

NOTE
A plaque about Mr. Paschall with the words of the "basic" version of the HEY! HEY! is located in the lobby of the Bldg. 600 Main Gym at the Red Campus. Efforts need to be taken to ensure that this plaque is recovered from that location prior to the demolition of that facility when the new replacement facility for the Red Campus (to be located at the existing site) opens in 2010. Either that same plaque (refurbished) or a new plaque needs to be put into the new facility in a comparable location and prominently displayed for all students past, present and future to see, and let us see (and hear) a full-scale "Rocket Pride Renaissance" take place as the renaissance of the overall Judson HS facilities gets underway.