Photos from
Minonk's past

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Beasty buddies of 1957

This picture was taken in New York City where the class of 1957 was spending their class trip. From the left is Mike Gross, Edwin Denson, and the late Bob Veihman.

Mike and Edwin are both wearing their black "Beasty Buddy" jackets. The "Beasty Buddies" was a harmless gang of MDR students in the late 50's who were heavily influenced by the late James Dean and by the movie "Rebel Without a Cause". The name "Beasty Buddies" came from the leader of the gang, the late Gail Cullen whose nickname was "Beast". Mike Gross's nickname was "Cass" and Ed Denson's nickname was "Fang", not to be confused with Phyllis Diller's husband.

Other members of the gang were John Denson ("Craze"), Dave Uphoff ("Parrot"), Tom Guinnee ("Bino"), Jack Cullen ("The Deacon"), Duane Baumann ("Weiner"), and the late John Walker who had no nickname.

The black jackets wore by the group had an orange patch on the back with the profile of a grey wolf to signify a beast. The photo is the courtesy of Jack Cullen.