Mr. Howard P. Spangenberg
1915 – 1995
Who was Spangenberg Field named after and who wrote the CHS Fight Song, you might ask?
Centaurus High School Spangenberg Field was named after beloved CHS history teacher, Mr. Howard Spangenberg. Mr. Spangenberg also wrote the CHS Fight Song, which you can watch being sung with joy and with true-warrior-spirit, HERE.
When we hear these words in the CHS Fight Song, it is as if Mr. Spangenberg sings to us himself, encouraging the Warrior spirit to live on in all of us:
Ring out Centaurus
Sing out Centaurus
Thunder to the sky
C – H – S
Victory Centaurus
Victory Centaurus
Raise your banners high
On the field we will prevail
Let our voices always hail
Our school Centaurus
Best school Centaurus
Dear old Centaurus high-igh-igh
W – A – R – R – I – O – R – S
Hey! W – A – R – R – I – O – R – S
Warriors Warriors Go Fight Win
Per the November 29, 1995 Louisville Times article below, Mr. Howard P. “Splash” Spangenberg was a tough history teacher who inspired kids to learn and to even become teachers themselves. To many students, he was a story teller with lessons extending beyond the classroom.
Buffo said of his former teacher, “He wanted you to look beyond what was in front of you. He used to say, ‘you’re hearing, but not listening’ or ‘you can look at something but not see. And no one questioned his rules,” said Buffo, laughing. “Never use a pencil, never crumple paper, and never chew gum . . . That was just the way it was,” says Buffo, later adding, “So one year for his birthday we all gave him a box with a crumpled piece of paper, a pencil and a piece of gum.”
Mr. Spangenberg devoted 43 years of his life teaching history and before that, boxed professionally and played baseball. Poor health forced retirement in 1984, but before that even with three strokes he went to school everyday with the help of his devoted wife, Dorothy, and teachers who helped him into a wheelchair and elevator. What true Warrior Spirit. 💪💪💪
Thirty years after he left us, we all enjoy his legacy when we walk into the all-American high school stadium with players making a grand exit out of the inflated Warrior Helmet between lines of cheerleaders, to the glee of the announcer and roaring crowd.
A teacher recognized
Mr. Spangenberg felt humbled when told the Centaurus High School field would be named after him. He didn’t say a lot. He was so taken aback; the tears just rolled.
– Dorothy Spangenberg, wife of Howard Spangenberg
Read this October 22, 1994 Louisville Times article below, written by Michelle LeJeune, about how naming the stadium after Mr. Spangenberg came to be.
Mr. Spangenberg’s philosophy rediscovered
Read the May 1, 1991 Louisville Times article below by Michelle LeJeune to get a sense of Mr. Spangenberg’s philosophy. His poetry was packed with wisdom and advice for living – an important requirement for growing into a well-rounded CHS Warrior. Case in point, this poem:
TRUTH
Speak the truth,
Just try it,
First remove your biases,
Eliminate your environment,
Disregard parental and relation wisdom,
Evaluate your formal education,
Consider religion with intellect, rather than faith,
Set aside superstition, folkways, mores, and the rest,
Listen, rather than talk,
Believe in yourself,
Be an individualist among the many,
Be yourself,
Then, maybe, you will approximate
Truth.
– Poem by Howard Spangenberg
In conclusion, we offer Mr. Spangenberg and his students’ own words from the article:
Mr. Spangenberg:
Schools too often teach WHAT to think, Spangenberg says. I was more interested in HOW to think. So I taught these world culture classes without a textbook. There was no sign-up; I chose the students. We went where the subject took us and just said, ‘Let’s see what we can produce and create.’
Such innovations were apparently successful.
Says his student, Buffo, ‘The first college class I walked into, I realized what Howard was doing with that discipline,’ he says. ‘He had a unique way of reaching us. Students very much respected the man. Aside from my parents, he probably had the biggest influence on my life.’
Student, Randy Carnival agrees. ‘He had a winning attitude toward life in general, which he gave to me.’
To access the original articles, please go to Colorado Historic Newspapers HERE.