The year was 1940, frantic year right before the start of the Second World War. 
St. Louis High School was barely 10 years old, having graduated its first class in
1934. But the time was not too frantic nor the school too young for a fierce 
dedication and pride to be building among the members of St. Joseph parish, and
the parish of boys of St. Louis High School.

As they do everywhere, the men of the parish would congregate and talk about 
their high school's sport teams. It didn't take long for these men to realize that, 
if they wanted their boys to continue to have pride and respect for themselves, 
they would have to do something to help out. So, a group of the men led by 
Joseph Gagne and Raymond Ayotte went to the local parish priest to ask for 
permission to form a group that would support the school by helping to raise 
money to support it.

That priest, Father LaFlamme was on his way to South America for a vacation, 
but he told them to pull their ideas together and they would meet when he got 
back. The first meetings, which took place in Father LaFlamme's absence and 
were therefore unofficial, drew a great deal of interest from the people of the 
parish, and packed the parish hall. Ideas were thrown around and included paying 
members of the committee for doing work for the school. This wasn't what the
men with the original idea had in mind, however, and the meeting was disbanded 
with nothing formalized.

Once Father LaFlamme returned, the organization was finally approved and 
established with set guidelines and dedication toward a purpose, that purpose 
being to instill a sense of respect and pride in the French heritage of the students
of the school. The founders of this organization wanted their boys to know they 
were just as good, if not better that boys at other schools and they were prepared
to do whatever was in their power to help them realize that. And, of course, all 
of the work was to be done by the men of this organization on a voluntary basis.
They did it for the love of their church and school, as well as for the pride of their 
heritage. They did not, however, do it for themselves, but rather for the 
children of the community and that ideal lives on today.  Nearly everything the 
association does is to help the young.

The pride of their heritage was a significant force in keeping the group together 
and was so prevalent among the men of the association that even all the minutes
of all meetings, dating back to the first official one in February of 1940 were in 
French. It wasn't until several years later, quite by accident, that English was first
introduced in the minutes. As the story is told, one man was filling in as secretary 
and took the notes in English. When the faux pas was discovered there was quite 
a row, and a heated discussion ensued. Eventually, the minutes were kept in English,
but it certainly wasn't for any lack of pride of heritage.

Starting with the first meeting, the initial interest in the group was phenomenal. 
The original intention was to start it and let the graduating students eventually 
take over the group. However this plan was sidetracked early as the war soon 
started and the young men were sent away to fight for this country. The group
continued to thrive, however, being held together with members of the parish 
who continued to have a desire to support their local school.

An Alumni council was formed after the first official meeting and just five of the
twelve men of this first council were graduates of St. Louis High School. The first
President was Henri Bonneau with Joseph Gagne as First Vice President. Conrad
Rochefort was Second Vice President, while Aime Lambert and George Loignon 
rounded out the executive committee as secretary and treasurer. The rest of 
the founding council consisted of Paul Petit, John Breault, Joseph Petrin, 
Raymond Ayotte, Arthur Pelloquin, Leonel Pomibrant, and Albert Cantara.

The first order of business was to hire the school's first paid coach, and on June 8,
1940, for the mammoth sum of $10 a Mr. Phillip Nadeau was hired as the baseball 
coach. The following fall for the princely sum of $250, a football coach was hired.
The council also signed a rental agreement at Prospect Park for $5 a week for the 
school to play baseball. All this from an organization that had virtually no money.

The group did everything it could to raise money. They even convinced Father 
LaFlamme to allow them to take up a second collection in church on Sunday to help
pay expenses. This lasted just a couple of times, though, before someone put a stop
to it. The group always seemed to come up with ways to get the money they needed
to provide the boys with the best they could offer. But they could not have done so
much without some help from very influential men in the community at that time, men
like Mayor Bill "Papa" Lauzier.

Lauzier, despite the fact he was a Biddeford fan, as he was the city's mayor, wanted
to see St. Louis High School succeed, and he used his power to help the Alumni 
Association.  The group needed money for one project or another, probably building 
of a new baseball diamond, but they lacked the funds. Lauzier called these eight men
together, and asked if each could spare $1,000 each, an incredible sum in the early 
1940s. They all said yes. You just didn't say "no" to Papa Lauzier since he knew the
men's finances since he more or less owned Pepperell Trust Bank at this time.

Another staunch Biddeford supporter also came to aid of St. Louis, a man respected 
and admired by everyone in the community with a tie to sports, Steve White, who was
then Biddeford's football coach.

White, despite his allegiance, was first and foremost dedicated to helping young people,
and he didn't seem to care what school they came from. It is said he would take his 
team and walk past the St. Louis field as practice was just winding up. As White was 
friendly with many of the brothers, he would often stop and talk. And, if he happened 
to see a St. Louis player without adequate shoes, then the next day he would show 
up with a pair of cleats for that player. He would just give them to him and tell him to 
try them on. Often these shoes would come from Biddeford supplies, but they were 
usually something that Biddeford couldn't use or were getting ready to be thrown out. 
But if they could be of use to someone from St. Louis, then White made sure the use 
was made.

This man, who was later to become the Athletic Director of Biddeford, would also help 
out the St. Louis Alumni Association by ordering their uniforms along with Biddeford's 
because, if he bought more of them at one time, he received a greater discount. This
discount was then passed on to St. Louis, who were grateful, despite their fierce 
rivalry. White didn't seem to see school colors when it came to helping someone in 
need. He is respected to this day because he just did everything for the kids.

Despite the help of men like Father LaFlamme, Papa Lauzier, and Steve White, the
St. Louis Alumni Association still never seemed to have any money in the bank. But 
they always were trying and the lack of funds never stopped them from acquiring 
the best of everything for their boys. For example, St. Louis was the first high school
in the state to have permanent lights on its football field. They were originally
bought from the city of Portland, which was replacing the lights at Portland Stadium.
St. Louis bought the old lights and then coupled them with a big scoreboard and loud
speaker system, both area firsts.

And all this was accomplished without any money in the bank. Some of the ways 
money was raised, other that through Lauzier or the weekly collection, was through
bean suppers, beanos, and charging to use the Westbrook skating rink, which was 
popular in the 1960s. And of course, the Association was frugal. They knew the 
interest that surrounded the sports teams and made sure to take advantage of that 
interest. Not only did they charge fans to get into the games, but they also covered 
the fences surrounding the fields with sheeting so that no one outside the fence 
would be able to watch for nothing. Everyone wanted to see the team play had to pay. 
Radio broadcasts of the games were even prohibited for years for fear that the fans
would listen to the games rather attend in person thereby paying admission.

The gate from these sporting events raised significant money for the time. For example,
St. Louis and Biddeford split the gate for one football game in the early 1940s with 
the St. Louis portion coming out to more than $96.

All the money that was raised was put to good use, and never sat around collecting 
interest in the bank. When looking at the bank accounts from the 1940s you have 
to wonder what magical strings were pulled because, for most of the year, the 
Association had no money. Yet they still managed to spend over $35,000 on 
projects supporting St. Louis High School.

Lauzier continued to be a force in helping the Alumni Association attain its goals as 
the years went by. It wasn't too long before St. Louis was ready to buy its own fields
and the perfect spot was the potato field next to the school. Well, some local doctors
had already targeted the area for a new hospital, the Notre Dame hospital and had 
started working out the details for the purchase. Lauzier got wind of the intended 
purchase and not only did he advise them to build their hospital on the Pool Road, 
but he also hit them up for a $1,000 each to benefit St. Louis High School. The school 
really benefited in the deal.

Father LaFlamme was also very important in the acquisition of the new fields, for he 
bought the first field with money from his own pocket, and it wasn't until years later
that the Association purchased the field from him at a terrific rate.

Despite their diehard interest in the sports teams at St. Louis, the Alumni Association 
also sponsored other events like the band, cheerleaders and even a local Boy Scout
troop.  The group even paid to have a telephone installed at the school and assumed 
responsibility for the monthly bill. And although everyone naturally would rather win 
than lose, the emphasis was not place on winning but rather presenting yourself with 
pride and respect.

To show just how much conviction and faith many of the St. Louis followers had, you 
only have to look at a record of the church mass in 1946. For, at the end of football 
season, a Mass of Thanksgiving was said, not to thank God for a winning season, but
rather to thank Him for the few injuries suffered by the football team during the 
season.

Without many, many people from the community to help out, though, the Association 
would not have been successful as it was, and continues to be. There are many 
examples of the community's dedication to help the cause. One the best is of Mrs. 
Potvin, who had two sons attending St. Louis. She would always take pains to make
sure her sons' uniforms were cleaned after each game and they didn't have any 
holes in them. The Potvin boys' uniforms looked so good that other team members 
asked if she would wash their uniforms. By the next year, St. Louis had made a deal
with Mrs. Potvin to clean and sew all the team's uniforms, which she did for $300
and two passes to the games. When she couldn't sew the shreds of a jersey any 
longer, she would call the school and tell them, they would tell her to save it and use
it for patches.

This continued for a couple of years until the school decided they were paying her 
too much money and took away her passes. Mr. Potvin didn't like this idea and put 
an end to the whole business, but the Potvins continued to be fans even though 
Mrs. Potvin's feelings were hurt because her season passes were taken away.

Not everything was given to the boys. Although they had the best fields, and as 
good if not better uniforms than any other teams, some alumni like to tell tall tales 
of hard times beset them during their school days. One of these fictitious stories 
says that because the team could not afford to eat oranges at half time, they 
ate raw potatoes instead. An even more interesting fable says that the basketball 
team could only afford five athletic supporters so, on every substitution, there had 
to be a huddle to get everything "straightened out".  St. Louis grads would like to
have you believe everything they tell you, but some stories are just a lot of fun.

One story that is true however, is the story of Dr. Alfred Demaris, "the great imposter,"
who posed as a physician and became the team's doctor, taping players' ankles, 
and giving advice on potentially serious injuries. This infamous man made a living
traveling from one place to another under aliases, always disappearing just when 
he was on the verge of being caught. A motion picture was made of his exploits 
entitled, "The Great Imposter", and this story does actually have authentic roots.

The sense of community spirit that surrounds the association still abounds as it 
did when the school was still open when, it is said that some parents of students 
became as, if not more, proud of the school than the kids. With the closing of the
school, the St. Louis Alumni Association has become more or less a community 
organization that through 1990 donated over $1,300,000 to youth and civic 
programs. In addition through 1990, $45,000 in scholarships have been awarded 
to graduating seniors for college expenses.

Steps have been taken to ensure that the group will always be known as St. Louis 
Alumni Association. The original athletic field on West Street which Biddeford schools 
now use will forever be known as "St. Louis Field", which according to the deed 
given to the city upon sale of the field to the city. It will state the tradition that 
St. Louis High School stood for and will be carried far into the future. The name 
that stands for community involvement, pride and respect. And, more than anything,
it's the dedication to the youth of our society. It's for the kids that the Association
continues to thrive.