Sam Enlund
Contributing Writer
WGHS continues an almost century long tradition with plans to throw the Friendship Dance with Kirkwood. The dance has been celebrated since 1939 and has taken place every year except the years affected by COVID-19.
The dance was started after the rivalry between the two schools took a turn on Nov. 3, 1938, when fighting broke out between the two rival schools at Westborough Country Club. Students from both schools went to the country club armed with weapons and had to be subdued by police from Webster, Kirkwood and Glendale, and was not a single event, but one of many.
A Webster student was placed in a Kirkwood police squad car causing students to react to the event by lifting the rear of the car off of the ground. Thankfully there were no reported injuries, but the fighting was enough to force administration to say that if it ever happened again the game between the two teams would be canceled permanently in the years to come, according to the Webster/Kirkwood Times article “Friendship Dance Marks Its 75th Year.”
Webster Groves athletic director Jerry Collins said, “There were seven or eight years where we did not play Kirkwood on Thanksgiving. We actually played other schools. Time heals and things relaxed. The Friendship Dance was part of that in actually bringing the schools together. It started off being the night after or the weekend after the game, and the dance was a way to chill out after. It was a way to bring the schools together after the hard fought game, but then over time it was moved forward and has been the first weekend in November.”
Bud Leonard came up with the idea for the combined dance whose purpose was to try to mend fences between the schools, but also continue a healthy rivalry. As a Kirkwood High School graduate, Leonard used his friendship with Webster to include both schools in one dance.
Leonard had attended Webster schools until ninth grade, and when he transferred to Kirkwood, he tried to continue going to Webster schools but was discovered and was forced to transfer by administrators. Using his connections to both schools he helped create the joined dance, accoring to “Turkey Day Game Centennial” by Shawn Buchanan Greene.
Each year the dance is held by the school not hosting the Turkey Day game. Each school nominates and names royals for the dance, with each school having their own set.
Webster Groves alumna Kelsey Mitchell said, “Back in the day, the Webster-Kirkwood rivalry was a lot more intense and at times even became violent. The Friendship Dance was created to promote positivity between the two schools before the annual Turkey Day game. I really love the tradition because it is so unique. I don’t know of any other public school rivals that host a dance together.”
“When I was in high school (2004-2008), we never referred to it as a ‘homecoming,’ only ‘Friendship.’ It actually throws me off and makes me a bit sad when I hear current students call it ‘homecoming,’” Mitchell said.
Currently, a debate on whether or not to continue the tradition has gone back and forth on what to do.
Kirkwood High School alumna Abbie Enlund shared messages from a Kirkwood Alumni Chat.
The message from Stephanie Hersh said, “The issue with the tradition with the Friendship dance is that not all Kirkwood students are able to get tickets and attend. It sells out too quickly and not all students get them before they sell out. The combo of both schools make it too big for all students to attend. I believe that is the real issue. I would like to see the tradition continue, but not if it means my daughter can’t go to the dance cause it sold out before she got a ticket.”
Not every student gets to go to the dance, and when tickets run out because of how big the schools are, there is nothing the schools can do about it. The limited number of tickets leaves students unable to buy them, and if the tickets for outside guests run out, one school might not be able to bring their dates that are not from Webster/Kirkwood.
Audio Credits: This ECHO Podcast is introduced, outro’d and edited by print/podcast editor Sam Klein.
“Beauty Flow” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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