Page 4 – LIFE

Simply the Best: Kansas High School Football, 1960

August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 by Bill Syken

In the 20th century Lawrence High School in Kansas had a football program that was as dominant as it gets. The school enjoyed 31 undefeated seasons and between 1914 and 1995, and it won 28 state championships. The school’s most notable football alum was John Hadl, who went on quarterback the Chargers.

In 1960 Hadl was gone but Lawrence was still rolling over the competition when LIFE came to visit. Lawrence was on a 45-game winning streak, the longest in the country at the time, and LIFE thought it was a big enough of a deal that the magazine sent two photographers, Grey Villet and Francis Miller, to capture life in and around the team.

The team had been so good for so long that their coach wondered if they might stop listening to him. “I can’t scare them anymore,” coach Al Woolard told LIFE. “How do you preach fear to boys who have never lost a game?”

Judging from the photos, though, Woolard’s ship was plenty tight. Being a Chesty Lion—that was the school’s nickname—meant not only hitting the gridiron but attending regular Bible study meetings. And while the rock-and-roll look was taking root around the country, it had no place in the Lawrence locker room. The coach told his players, “You can wear a ducktail haircut or play football, but not both.”

Before games Woolard had his players lay down on mats in the gym and meditate: “I ask them to think deep down about what they can offer, and if they will pay the price.”

Whatever price they paid, they were rewarded for it. In 1960 Lawrence not only won the state title but was one of two schools that year recognized as a mythical national championship by the awarding organizations. The win streak would be broken the next season, but the Lions would bounce back with three consecutive state championships in 1962, ’63 and ’64.

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team warmed up, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members of the band and the pep squad at Lawrence (Kan.) High School ran back to the building after a practice, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Senior Carol Albers invited football star Chuck Bowen to a party, Lawrence, Kansas, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bob Kimball, the second-leading scorer on the Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team, spoke with friend Janice Salisbury, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence (Kan.) High School cheerleaders, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Members of the Lawrence High football team at a Bible class, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The Lawrence (Kan.) High School football team, on its way to an undefeated season and a state and national championship, meditated before a game, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Football coach Al Woolard addressed his team at Lawrence (Kan.) High, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Chuck Bowen, the leading scorer on the Lawrence (Kan.) High football team, watched his coach review plays during halftime of a game, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Fans watched the Lawrence (Kan.) High school football team, 1960.

Grey Villet/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Lawrence High School football, 1960.

Francis Miller/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bears: Strong, Wise, and Increasingly Among Us

August 15, 2024August 15, 2024 by Bill Syken

The following is adapted from LIFE’s new special issue on bears, available at newsstands and online:

Globally, bear populations are plummeting, with several species designated as endangered or vulnerable to extinction. But in many parts of North America, people are seeing more bears than ever. Since the 1970s, American bears in the lower 48 states have been expanding their territories, and enthusiasts need not travel into dense forests to spot a black bear or grizzly. Many can just look into their backyards. In the early ’70s, there were fewer than 100 black bears in New Jersey; today there are about 3,000 and they have been found in every county in the Garden State.

Over the past several decades, Americans have been cutting down more forests and developing commercial properties on lands that have long belonged to bears. With less space to roam, bears are becoming our new next-door neighbors, taking dips in swimming pools, lounging in hammocks, and rifling through garden sheds. Their hijinks, often caught on camera, attract millions of views on social media and portray bears as approachable and playful. But they are still predators, whose tolerance of humans has its limits. “The victim wasn’t off walking in the woods,” Charlie Rose reported in a 2014 CBS News program about a woman in Florida mauled by a bear. “She was attacked in her own suburban yard.” She survived, with 10 stitches and 30 staples to the head.

Since 1960, Florida’s human population has increased from 5 million to more than 22 million. To accommodate this surge, 7 million acres of forest and wetlands have been destroyed for new homes. So it might have been the woman’s backyard, but to the bear, it was also his.

If you find yourself in bear country, which today could be deep in Yosemite or just off New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway, there’s plenty of advice to avoid conflicts. If you encounter a bear, dispensing a canister of bear spray at the animal is more effective than any air horn or sound. While you’re urged to carry it in certain national parks, the product could be dangerous if not used according to its directions. In 2022, the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation tweeted: “Listen, bear spray DOES NOT work like bug spray. We would like to not have to say that again.”

Most bears will avoid humans if they hear them coming, but if a bear has noticed you, the U.S. National Park Service provides some general tips: Stand still and identify yourself as a human by talking calmly and slowly waving your arms, so the bear doesn’t mistake you for a prey animal. “It may come closer or stand on its hind legs to get a better look or smell,” notes the park service’s website. “A standing bear is usually curious, not threatening.”

Hike and travel in groups, as a collection of people are usually noisier—and smellier—than a lone person. A bear is more likely to notice your group and stay away. And remember that bears get more confident and linger when human food is involved. Keep your fare away and hidden; otherwise it could encourage a bear. If the bear is stationary, move away slowly and sideways. This movement allows you to keep an eye on the bear while avoiding tripping. Plus, moving sideways is non-threatening to bears.

Ultimately, stay calm and remember that most bears don’t want to attack you—they just want to be left alone. A bear woofing, yawning, growling, or snapping their jaws may just be bluffing their way out of a potential encounter. Continue to talk to the bear in low tones, keeping it calm until it leaves. Wild animals are dangerous and can be enjoyed from a distance, and hopefully that distance will widen after decades of encroachment on each other’s turf. And those who live on the periphery of their habitats know that the beauty of bears is worth protecting.

Here is a selection of images from LIFE’s new special issue on bears.

Alatom/Getty Images

Teddy Roosevelt’s act of kindness toward a bear during a 1902 hunt was the seed what would become known as the “teddy bear.”

Getty Images

Brown bears are the most widely distributed bear species in the world, and are found in northern North America, Europe and Asia.

Mari Perry/500px/Getty Images

Brown bear cubs, after being protected by their mother early in life, often briefly stay with their littermates before going on to lead independent lives.

Getty Images

When salmon migrate upriver, bears gather for a hearty meal.

© Gerald and Buff Corsi / Focus on Nature/Getty Images/iStockphoto

For polar bears, climate change is threatening their way of life.

© PAUL SOUDERS | WORLDFOTO/Getty Images

The koalas of Australia look like bears but are in fact marsupials.

B.S.P.I./Corbis Documentary/Getty Images

Bears’ teeth are similar to humans, with broad, flat molars that can be used to grind food.

Irena Anna Sowinska/Getty Images

Seeking Warmth During an Iceland Deployment

August 15, 2024August 15, 2024 by Bill Syken

In the run-up to World War II, Iceland became a hot property. Britain first occupied the country in 1940, getting there before German soldiers and gaining a strategic base for air and naval forces. But Britain soon needed its troops elsewhere, and eventually America took over the occupation beginning in July 1941. This was months before the U.S. had officially entered the war.

The American presence in Iceland was a regular source of fasciation to LIFE magazine. Photographer Ralph Morse repeatedly documented life in this cold and remote outpost.

One of Morse’s shoots was a general study of life in Iceland. Another documented a visit from a theater troupe performing a show called The Drunkard. Yet another shoot showed the U.S. soldiers celebrating Christmas.

For all the wintry outdoor shots, the particular challenges of Iceland life come through most starkly in the indoor photos. The ceilings of the huts many soldiers stayed in were low and curved, and all the rooms look a little smaller than they should be—a side effect of designing buildings to keep the snow off and the heat in. Much of America knows about the experience of winter, but in Iceland it was so ingrained that it changed the shape of the architecture.

In its Nov. 15, 1943 issue LIFE described the troops’ winter experience.

In Iceland these days it is dark by four in the afternoon and by nine in the morning the daylight still has not come. In long winter nights the American troops are comfortable in their tunnel-shaped iron Nissen huts, warmed my old-fashioned pot-bellied stoves. To keep themselves busy they read their ancient magazines, look at 16 mm motion pictures or make shelves and cupboards out of old packing boxes.

Morse’s photos of the Christmas celebration ran in the Jan. 24, 1944 issue (The story noted that the previous year, Morse had spent Christmas with U.S. soldiers in a very different location, Guadalcanal). In writing about the Iceland Christmas, LIFE noted that the locals, who at first had been slow to embrace the presence of occupying troops, had over the course of three years warmed to the American presence. “An Icelandic choir toured American hospitals and soldiers gave parties for Icelandic children,” wrote LIFE. “At a dance in one Red Cross center there was an attendance of 68 Icelandic girls, where before there had never been more than six.”

Like a like of things, the Icelandic winters were easier when people got through them together.

U.S. soldiers in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Men playing basketball in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Life in Iceland for U.S. soldiers during World War II, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Wall decorations helped pass the time in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The United States Armed Force barracks during Christmas in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Soldiers gathered for a Christmas service in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Performers visited a hospital for United States soldiers during a Christmas celebration in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A member of the U.S. military danced with a woman during a Christmas celebration in Iceland, December 1943.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A child carried his sled in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Shopping in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

An artist at work in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A fishing ship off the coast of Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Man picking flowers, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A gymnastics demonstration in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A boxing match in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A visiting troupe performed The Drunkard in Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The play ‘The Drunkard’ was performed at the Herskola Theater, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. soldiers watched the play ‘The Drunkard’ being performed at the Herskola Theater, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A view of a monument dedicated to explorer Leif Erikson, Iceland, 1944.

Ralph Morse/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

LIFE With Ingrid Bergman

October 16, 2024August 15, 2024 by

More than most stars of her rare magnitude, Ingrid Bergman was an actress who went her own way. A Hollywood luminary for decades, from the Thirties well into the Seventies, the Swedish-born beauty acted in films that not only entertained millions but that also satisfied her own, personal need to constantly test and broaden the limits of her craft.

In 1943, for example, she told LIFE magazine, “I am an actress and I am interested in acting, not in making money.” Coming from almost anyone else in her position, that might sound like a public relations platitude. But even at that relatively early point in her career, Bergman had already proven herself a singularly versatile artist, with solid and even iconic performances in films ranging from psychological thrillers (Rage in Heaven) to horror (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) to romance (Intermezzo) to arguably the very greatest of all American movies, the 1942 Best Picture Oscar winner, Casablanca.

Bergman won three acting Oscars during her long career (two for Best Actress, in Gaslight and Anastasia, and one for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1974’s star-studded Murder on the Orient Express), and was nominated four more times. She also won Emmys, a Tony, Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle awards in other words, she proved again and again that she could act as well as star in almost any role, on film, stage and the small screen.

And for pretty much all of those years that she lit up the screen and the stage with her combustible mix of intellect, emotional honesty and sensuality, LIFE magazine covered Bergman’s life and her career. When she was the “hot new thing” in Hollywood (after making a name for herself in her native Sweden in the 1930s), LIFE raved about the “new brand of charm” she brought to the American screen. When, in 1946, she starred on Broadway in Maxwell Anderson’s Joan of Lorraine (for which she won her only Tony), LIFE referred to her deserved “enormous reputation” as Hollywood’s “undisputed queen.” When her career took a hit in the States after she left her husband and daughter, Pia, to live with and eventually marry the great Italian director Roberto Rossellini shocking and angering her American fans who had, simplistically, come to view her as something like a saint LIFE sympathetically covered her life and her work in Europe.

And when, years later, she was again embraced and beloved by fans who “forgave” her her trespasses, and flocked to see her in films like Orient Express and Autumn Sonata and watched, in the millions, her Emmy and Golden Globe-winning turn in the Golda Meir television biopic, A Woman Called Golda, LIFE celebrated her return to America’s good graces.

Here, on the anniversary of both her birth and her death she was born Aug. 29, 1915, and died Aug. 29, 1982, at a too-young 67 after a long battle with breast cancer LIFE.com presents pictures of the one and only Ingrid Bergman as she appeared in LIFE through the years.

Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.

Ingrid Bergman in 1941

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in 1943, around the time she starred in For Whom The Bell Tolls.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in 1943

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman with the painter Alexander Brook, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman as Maria in the movie For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in 1945 with her Best Actress Academy Award for Gaslight.

Walter Sanders/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in 1945

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in the film Arch of Triumph

George Lacks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in the film Arch of Triumph

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman as Joan of Arc praying for guidance during a scene from the Broadway production of Maxwell Anderson’s 1946 play, Joan of Lorraine, for which Bergman won a Tony.

Gjon Mili /Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman dresses as Joan of Arc in the Broadway production of Maxwell Anderson’s 1946 play, Joan of Lorraine, for which Bergman won a Tony.

Allan Grant/Life Pciture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman as Joan in the 1948 movie, Joan of Arc.

Loomis Dean/Life Pciture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman stands on a street as village women stare at her during filming of the movie “Stromboli” on the Italian island of Stromboli, 1949.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman during filming of the movie “Stromboli” on the Italian island of Stromboli, 1949.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman during filming of the movie “Stromboli,” on the Italian island of Stromboli, 1949.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman acting in a scene from the 1956 Jean Renoir film, ‘Elena et les Hommes.”

Thomas McAvoy/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman plays with a child actor between scenes of the taping of John Frankenheimer’s 1959 TV movie, The Turn of the Screw, for which she won an Emmy.

Gordon Parks/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Ingrid Bergman in a special 1961 play on CBS, Twenty Four Hours in a Woman’s Life.

Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Absorbed in conversation, 52-year-old Ingrid Bergman rides through Los Angeles on her way to the theater where she’ll perform in Eugene O’Neill’s play, More Stately Mansions, in 1967.

Bill Ray/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock images

Diving For Abalone: A Vanishing Tradition

August 5, 2024August 5, 2024 by Bill Syken

Modern times have been hard on California’s abalone population. The warming oceans have hurt its food supply and led the shellfish to being listed as endangered. In 2017 California halted its abalone fishing season, and it has not resumed.

The precarious state of the population lends a heavier type of nostalgia to this 1944 LIFE magazine story about the joys of abalone diving.

LIFE photographer John Florea tagged along for an abalone expedition at Point Dume, a state beach in Malibu. The hunting party was a glamorous and photogenic one, as it included actor Peter Coe and actresses Martha O’Driscoll and Ramsay Ames.

LIFE wrote glowingly of the prize they sought: “Of all the seafoods that come from the Pacific Ocean, abalone…is probably most prized by Californians….This is partly because of its flavor, like that of a good scallop, and partly because it is hard to get. The abalone is a big stubborn snail that clings to underwater rocks, has to be pried loose with crowbars.”

As the above paragraph made clear, retrieving abalone requires some expertise. For the LIFE story the group of Hollywood actors were led on their quest by veteran abalone fishermen. And it was a good thing. “The girls spent hours diving, tugging and getting their hair wet,” LIFE wrote. “They finally gave up and let the experts supply the food.”

The actors were able to help more with the picnic. The diving was followed by shucking and trimming and breading and frying. Florea’s photos capture every step in this bygone tradition.

California is working to restore the abalone population and there is hope that its red abalone season could return in 2026.

Actors Peter Coe and Martha O’Driscoll watched the hunt for abalone off the California coast, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Bill O’Connor handing Martha O’Driscoll two abalones that were freshly plucked from the ocean rocks in Southern California, 1944.

John Florea/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actors Martha O’Driscoll and Peter Coe during an abalone dive off Southern California, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

A crew of abalone divers enjoyed the waves off the Southern California coast, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Freshly caught abalone are removed from their shells in preparation for a California beach picnic, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Freshly caught abalone were trimmed and sliced in preparation for a California beach picnic, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

The actresses breaded the freshly-caught abalone in preparation for cooking on a California beach, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actors Ramsay Ames, Martha O’Driscoll and Peter Coe fried abalone steaks during a California beach picnic, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Abalone shells at a picnic at Point Dume beach in Southern California, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Martha O’Driscoll, Ramsay Ames, and Peter Coe enjoyed their sandwiches of freshly caught abalone in Southern California, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Actors Martha O’Driscoll, Peter Coe, and Ramsay Ames during an abalone picnic, Southern California, 1944.

John Florea/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Catalina Island: A California Classic

August 19, 2024July 24, 2024 by Bill Syken

Santa Catalina Island, commonly called Catalina, is a longtime leisure destination off the coast of Southern California. The island can be reached by ferry from Long Beach in about an hour, and the plentiful attractions range from riding glass-bottomed boats to taking tours of the wildlife that populate the more remote sections of its rugged terrain.

Fans of the Will Ferrell movie Step Brothers will also note that the island is the site of the movie’s climactic scene, the Catalina Wine Mixer—which is, in fact, a real event. If you don’t believe it, check its official website, which has a page titled The Catalina Wine Mixer is Real.

The island was a regular attraction for LIFE photographers. Ralph Crane, Peter Stackpole and Martha Holmes all had their turn at documenting what made the island so special.

Stackpole’s photos at Catalina became the basis for a big feature in a June 1941 issue. He followed two starlets, Patti McCarty and Betty Brooks on their adventures around the island, and took photos of them playing beach volleyball, posing with a peacock, and riding a glass-bottomed boat to look at the abundant sea life.

The photo from Holmes and Crane, taken in 1946 and 1959, respectively, capture the same holiday spirit. The final photo in this collection shows the Catalina Casino (not a gambling establishment but a picturesque nightlife spot on the water), which is still in operation today, and is one of the attractions that continues to inspire Californians to take that ferry across the channel.

Actresses Betty Brooks and Patti McCarty rode a motorboat at Catalina Island, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Young actresses Betty Brooks and Patti McCarty played volleyball at Catalina Island, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Starlet Betty Brooks played volleyball during a visit to Catalina Island, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Betty Brooks and Patti McCarty encountered a white peacock at Catalina Island, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

Starlets Patti McCarty and Betty Brooks rode a glass-bottomed boat as part of a visit to Catalina Island, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/LIfe Picture Collection/Shutterstock

On Catalina Island, young actresses Patti McCarty and Betty Brooks return to their hotel for a rest before dinner, 1941.

Peter Stackpole/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock