After the war, Ateneo had the south end of its ruined main building patched up and put to good use. The southwest corner, for instance, was reconstructed to house the school library. Not many know that the inscrutable Mr. de Leon, who worked in the library, was a soldier when the Japs invaded our shores. He was captured but later escaped by jumping from a train that was taking him and other prisoners to a POW camp.

The southeast corner had two open air courts where some could enjoy a game of handball. Adjacent to the courts was an entryway. A few feet beyond, one would find to his left the door to what was used as an auditorium. That's where we filed in for our pre-graduation briefing.

The school washroom was located between the library and the handball courts. Our Quonset huts were just across the road from it. If one were in the southernmost row of Quonset huts and waited until the last minute before he decided he had to go, he'd probably wet himself before he got to the washroom.

Over at the southeast perimeter of the school grounds was an obscure doorway which students were prohibited to use. For those who walked to school and came from a southeasterly area of the city, that door provided a shortcut. From Taft Avenue, one could go inside the Philippine General Hospital, walk through its corridors all the way to the back and find himself in an alley where a few steps away was the forbidden door. Instead of walking farther on to Padre Faura, one could sneak in using the door which, though closed, was hardly ever locked (it was also the shortest way for the Jesuits to get to hospital patients who needed them).

The Dakota side of the campus featured a tennis court. After school hours, our math teacher, Mr. Borgonia, would often be found playing there. Its surface was a combination of sand and crushed shell, a type of surface that has since gone into disrepute.  Today's surfaces are either hard court, clay or grass.

Near the tennis court was the damaged pre-war auditorium. When the late Lamberto Avellana directed a film about the war entitled "The End of the Road", he shot some scenes on the campus. Using the old auditorium as a backdrop and stirring up a cloud of smoke close to it, he asked a bunch of students to run screaming toward the Dakota gate.

A scene was also shot in the gym with Eddie Infante playing Manuel Colayco, an Atenean and war hero. The scene called for Infante to shoot a basketball with his back toward the goal. Ning Ramos, then a player on our senior team, was there to shoot the ball from the foul area to make it look as if the hero made the basket. In a rehearsal, one of Infante's shots actually went cleanly through the hoop!

Inside, a view of the bleachers

Speaking of rehearsals, there was one for a school play which ended somewhat late. Fr. Banayad thought he'd use a car to bring the boys home. Somewhere on Taft Avenue, he was stopped by a cop for speeding. When he explained to the cop why he was in a hurry, the cop decided not to write him a ticket (the more convincing argument must have been the fact that the man the cop saw step out of the car was a priest.).

It was also in our third year when one of the sections held its first dance party. Those were the days when the slow drag was all one would see on the dance floor. And there were certain boundaries to observe - so a girl would daintily place a hand on the boy's shoulder to keep him at a safe distance.

Going into our fourth year, only the vertically-challenged still wore short khaki pants.  When not in class, the taller boys looked groovy with the cuffs of their long pants rolled up, giving a clear view of their white socks and brown, leather moccasins. Some even tied the bottom front of their shirts into a knot and turned up their collars.

Book straps were the favorite way of lugging one’s books and notebooks, which more often than not displayed the blue eagle insignia on their covers. It was easy to carry the heavy load around with the strapped books slung over one’s shoulder. But once in the classroom, loosening the straps was at times a struggle (Velcro was then still an idea in its inventor’s head).

If you examined the names written on the book covers and did some tabulation, you'd find that 12 had "Jr." affixed to their names. There were 10 named Jose and 8, Antonio. The longest surname belonged to Marchadesch, followed closely by Encomienda, Gatchalian and Montemayor. The shortest? - Ng and Uy.

For athletic footwear, the craze was Converse All-Stars sneakers – Nike, Adidas, Reebok and Puma were athletic shoes of the future.

On the basketball court, the two-handed set shot was generally used to launch an outside shot although some NCAA stars had a different way of shooting the ball. Our "Moro" Lorenzo sort of cocked his right arm to make his shot, Mapua’s Kurt Seeberger and La Salle's Sharruf released the ball from above their heads and Mapua's Rafael Roco from between his knees, a type of shot that came to be known as orinola. If you were an avid basketball fan and couldn’t go to the Rizal Memorial Stadium, then the only venue for big-time basketball, you could always turn on the radio and listen to Willie Hernandez’ play-by-play coverage. TV had not yet arrived.

The two types of punishment for school infractions were called "jug" and  "post". "Jug" usually meant writing something several times on the blackboard or a sheet of paper. (I was once told to copy Cardinal Newman’s "The Definition of a Gentleman" on my pad paper.) As for "post", one had to walk down the edges of the parade grounds on a Saturday with a rifle on his shoulder.

The parade grounds

Speaking Tagalog was one clear violation of school regulations. English was the language on campus and the only opportunity we had to speak Tagalog was  when Mr. Paredes or Mr. San Juan came in for our Tagalog class, The late Lucas Paredes parlayed his radio role as the hard of hearing Lolo Hugo in Kuwentong Kutsero into TV stardom.

Fighting was also taboo but at least one fight went unnoticed. It began as an altercation on the basketball court when one boy fell flat on his back after another grabbed the ball from him as he held it above his head. A challenge was hurled and accepted. The fight took place after classes and out of sight in the ruins of the main building. A witness would in later years administer the country's Games and Amusements Board.- RJ