Kenneth W. Moore 1949-2009

Kenneth W. Moore 1949 - 2009

Ken was one of my classmates. He graduated with me from Burbank High in 1967. According to Ken's wife Sandy he have been ill for a few years. He suddenly passed away in Texas on November 9, 2009 when his heart just stopped. According to a fellow classmate Don Ray that Ken was a great guy. This is what Don Ray had to say about his good friend:
Those of us who attended Joaquin Miller, John Muir and Burbank High remember Ken as a big, tall boy with a gentle heart of gold. I must tell you that Ken sent me hundreds of e-mails of encouragement and inspiration. He served in the military as an assistant to the chaplain. He last worked as a dispatcher for the trucking firm in Texas that he had driven for for many years.

A Box of a Veteran's Mementos

Burbank resident Robin Leslie looks through a chest filled with her father's equipment from World War II at the Howard Museum on Monday. It was shipped to her grandparents after he was shot down and captured by the Japanese. (Roger Wilson/News-Press)

Daughter of a World War II POW donates a box full of his war keepsakes to the Burbank Historical Society.

By Joyce Rudolph, Burbank Leader
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Robin Leslie was only 15 and just getting to know her father, Jack R. Lewis, when he was killed in a private-airplane crash in Newhall in 1962. Leslie knew he had been a prisoner of war, but her father never spoke about what he endured in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. “I never heard the story, but I knew he had been in the POW camp, and that he had been tortured,” the Burbank resident said. It wasn’t until she went through a wooden box filled with his mementos that she found a letter Lewis had written for the Navy, recounting his experience with the enemy.“From the sound of his stories, he was lucky to be alive,” Leslie said.

Lewis, a 1943 graduate of Burbank High School, was an aviation machinist mate in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He joined the Navy in January 1943 and after training, served on the Bombing Squad No. 124 beginning on April 9, 1945. His bomber was shot down on July 7, 1945. “When I came to, I was underwater still in the plane,” he wrote in the letter. “I made my way to the surface.”The life raft had split and sunk, so he grabbed a tire and strut, he said, and that’s when he realized he had lost feeling in his right leg and arm.

After he was captured, he struggled to walk, and when his legs gave out, the Japanese soldiers beat him, he wrote. He was fed dry biscuits and no water.“I had no idea how it had been in reality,” Leslie said. “It was an eye-opener to finally read the story about his capture. Burbank should be proud of him. He is special for who he was and what he went through.”He was liberated on Aug. 18, 1945, and discharged in September 1945. He returned to Burbank, finished his education, got married and started a family.

After his death, the box remained in the garage, Leslie said. A few months ago, she went through it, and decided to donate it to the Burbank Historical Society. But she kept his Purple Heart.“It seems like the time is right,” Leslie said. When volunteers at the historical society’s Gordon R. Howard Museum told Mary Jane Strickland about Leslie’s phone call, Strickland remembered she and Lewis were classmates.

Strickland created a display with the box and its contents, pictures of the veteran, and a shorter version of the letter. Her husband, Harry Strickland, has suspended a model of a bomber jet over the display.The salute to a Burbank sailor was perfect for Veterans Day, Mary Jane Strickland said. “I think it’s nice to bring it to people’s attention again — what these guys went through,” she said. “You didn’t know what was happening to them at war. You would only see pictures in the newspaper or if you went to a movie and saw it in a news reel.

”Leslie wondered what a moment it must have been when her father was liberated from the enemy camp.“They were living minute-to-minute, not knowing how long anyone would last,” she said. He seemed to realize what a gift it was to be able to come home, Leslie said, because he made an effort to enjoy life.“He was a sports guy,” she said. “He rode a motorcycle, flew private planes, did scuba diving and spearfishing on Catalina.”Lewis even handmade a full body wet suit, she said, and tested it scuba diving in a neighbor’s pool, she said.“I think it might have been that what he went through in the prison camp gave him this real joy of life and he wanted to do everything he could.”

Burrough's Memorial Field

I have been attending some of Burbank High's home games at John Burroughs Memorial Field and the field and stadium is in pretty bad shape. But I believe in the spring of next year (2010) Burroughs Memorial Field will get a new face lift just as Burbank High got their new field. They will add artificial grass to the field and redo the bleachers to make Memorial Field into a state of art field. All Burbank and Burroughs home football games will be played probably at Glendale High School. Below is a photo of the rust in the bleachers.

Joshua Daniel Nesbitt 1988 - 2009

This was a tribute to Josh that appears in the Burbank vs Burroughs Football Program.

The photo is from his myspace page. He played at Glendale CC.

Former Burbank High football player, 21, is remembered for leadership.

Joshua Daniel Nesbitt, remembered by family and coaches as a warm-hearted man who harnessed his popularity as a high school football standout to shepherd young teammates to church, shot himself to death Wednesday at the Firing-Line indoor shooting range. He was 21.

As a senior at Burbank High School, Nesbitt served as a team captain, earning first-team All-Foothill League and All-Area honors at linebacker. He later participated in the East-West All-Star game at Birmingham High, intercepting a pass and returning it 29 yards for a touchdown.

The Frederick, Maryland, native graduated from Burbank High in 2006 before going on to a successful freshman season at Glendale Community College, starting every game for the 9-2 Vaqueros and racking up 22 solo tackles and 48 assists to earn All-Western State Conference Southern Division second-team honors on defense. His team went on to win the Western State Bowl against Santa Ana College.

“He just had so much passion to play the game,” said Glendale Coach John Rome, who recruited Nesbitt as an assistant. “I just feel blessed we were able to have him in our program. ”But deep bouts of depression came in May. In July, he was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder, a mental condition that causes a loss of contact with reality and mood problems, his dad, Craig Nesbitt said. He spent time in a mental hospital, where the family believes he was overmedicated, he added.

“[Josh] was in misery as a result of the medication,” he said. But this week his family began to see signs of “the old Josh.” While out Thursday with his mother, he requested they visit the gun range for target practice, said Noelle Nesbitt, his sister. “The next thing you know, Mom saw him drop to the ground,” she said. He died at the scene, authorities said.

Despite taking requisite safety precautions, the range has had a deadly history. A 64-year-old Burbank man in June shot himself to death at the firing range. And last year, a 25-year-old Glendale man used a rented handgun to kill himself at the same site.

Nesbitt is survived by his father, Craig; mother, Michele; brothers Nathan, Justin, Troy and Craig Jr.; and sister, Noelle. He also had a step-mother, Yvonne Nesbitt; and four step-siblings, Ryan Burger, Casie Burger, Whitney Burger and Erick Burger.

A public viewing is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Sunday, with the service to follow at 5 p.m. at Media City Church, 269 E. Providencia Ave. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations for the service be sent between 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday by calling (323) 769-7372. Or contact Media City Church at (818) 842-2186.

This is from a Florida Newspaper:

Joshua D. Nesbitt -Burbank, CA - Joshua Daniel Nesbitt a former Satellite Beach H.S. football stand out passed away suddenly Wednesday, November 4, 2009 in Burbank CA. Joshua was born March 8, 1988 in Frederick MD. He was also a scholar athlete and all- star football player at Burbank High School and Glendale Community College. He was known as a warm hearted young man who harnessed his popularity as a high school football MVP to shepherd young team mates to church. He is survived by his father, Craig; mother, Michele; stepmother, Yvonne; brothers, Nathan, Justin, Troy, Craig Jr.; his sister, Noelle; four step-siblings Ryan, Casie, Whitney, and Erick Burger; grandparents, Joyce and Bill Blentlinger, eight uncles, seven aunts, 25 cousins, and many loving friends. In addition to a memorial service which took place on Sunday, November 9th there will be a graveside service Tuesday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, CA. In lieu of flowers the family is requesting donations for the service be sent to Forrest Lawn Hollywood Hills by calling 323-769- 7372 or Media City Church at 818-842-2186

Pasadena stuns Burbank, 45-41

SGVN/Staff Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz)

From the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper:

BURBANK - Pasadena High School quarterback Aaron Simpson connected on a 45-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Wells with 10.8 seconds left in the game to help the Bulldogs pull off a stunning 45-41 upset over Burbank on Thursday night in Pacific League action at Burroughs High.
Pasadena (5-4, 4-2) clinched a spot in the CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division playoffs while also knocking rival Muir out of playoff contention.
Burbank (7-2, 5-1) had one final chance with 1.7 seconds left and attempted five laterals before several flags were thrown, including one for a forward pass. That ended the game and sent the Pasadena crowd into a frenzy.
The Bulldogs were back at their own 32 with 1:20 remaining. Simpson, faced with fourth and 2 at his own 40, found an Eugene Tripling for a 15-yard gain and a first down.
On the next play, without any hesitation and his eyes focused on the end zone, Simpson threw a pass to Wells, who had three Burbank defenders on him. Wells caught the pass, prompting the Bulldogs players, coaches and administrators to rush the field.
Pasadena turned to the Muir football players watching from the visitors stands and yelled, "You're next." The Bulldogs were assessed with an unsportsmanlike penalty, but the damage was done.
Burbank's loss put a damper on next week's showdown against rival Burroughs (6-2, 5-0), which also had players at the game.
The final two minutes of each half were interesting, to say the least.
With less than two minutes left in the second quarter, Burbank's Ulises Ochoa returned a punt 72 yards for a touchdown to even the game at 23. But there was a flag thrown on Burbank's sideline, and many thought it was going to be called back for a holding. The flag, however, was picked up by a Burbank bystander. He pocketed the flag and walked over and gave it to the sideline official who threw it.
Pasadena coach Mike McFarland, athletic director Tony Brooks and Pasadena principal Derek Evens marched onto the field for an explanation.

At halftime, the head official indicated the flag was a sidelines warning on Burbank.
Pasadena's Charles Hendricks scored two touchdowns on runs of 18 and 13 yards, and Nick Escoe added two, including 65-yard kickoff return.
The Bulldogs were shut out in the third quarter and trailed 41-30 before mounting the unprecedented comeback in the fourth. Hendricks' 10-yard score with 5:55 left pulled the Bulldogs to within 41-38.
"This by far is the most unbelievable game and finish I've ever been a part of," McFarland said. "I can't say enough about our kids and how resilient they are. I don't know what to say. I'm at a loss right now."

Sad Day In Burbank

Yesterday November 5, 2009 was a sad day for the City of Burbank as it was the funeral of Burbank Police Officier SGT Neil Thomas Gunn Sr. funeral and graveside services. I did not attend the church services as it was out in Porter Ranch. I did attend the graveside services at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. I sat off in the distant as I was in shorts and not dressed for a funeral. There were several Burbank High grads there as some are Burbank Police Officers and my classmate Cathy Coyle BHS 1967 attended both the churh and gravside services. Burbank Mayor Gary Bric BHS 1970 was also in attendence along with many Burbank City Officials. Below are some of the photos that I was able to get.

Burbank Police Officer SGT Neil Thomas Gunn Sr.

The Police Motorcycle escort to the grave site.

The bagpipes are being played while the casket is escorted to the grave site.

The gathering of family and friends and fellow Burbank Police Officers gather at the grave site to pay homage to their comrade.


Burbank Police Officer plays Taps with a BPD police car in the background.

A Final Salute!


Burbank Mayor Gary Bric BHS 1970 attends the services.


The flowers that were left near Gunn's casket.


An overall shot of the the mourners at the graveside services.


Officer Gunn's widow Tina carrying the American Flag that is escorted back to the car after the graveside services.

Just One More Victory Each

That’s what it will take for the Burroughs and Burbank football teams to get the opportunity to face one another for the Pacific League championship.

The Bulldogs (7-1, 5-0 in league) will play Pasadena at 7 p.m. Thursday at Memorial Field. The Indians (6-2, 5-0) host Crescenta Valley at 7 p.m. Friday.

Burbank — ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division — has to defeat Pasadena and it will be playing for their first league championship in 35 years. Burbank hasn’t actually won a league crown in 37 years, when it was a part of the Foothill League.

The Indians — ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division — have one more stumbling block in the Falcons before they can play with a league championship on the line next week. Burroughs won a Pacific League title three years ago.

The Big Game between the cross-town rivals will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13 at Memorial Field.