Alumni from the late 1970s to 1990s have fond memories of playing games in P.E. with the giant Earth Ball. It was painted to look like the Earth by the Class of 1978 and quickly became a favorite for many students.

Coach Bob Cutrer was a P.E. teacher at Bright when he purchased the ball, and the tradition was set in motion! This is what he said recently about the Earth Ball:

"My best recollection is that I purchased the Earth Ball in '77-'78 using most of my budget. I had been to a 'New Games' workshop where I saw one, played with it, and thought it would be fun for the rest of the kids at Bright's! It came as a plain white, canvas ball with a rubber bladder that I blew up with Mr. Lowe's shop vac. Thanks to the creative genius of (art teacher) Debbie Phillips, she made it a project for the class of '78 and they did an outstanding job. We (that is me and my clever students) made up far more activities than I originally intended, and it became a fun and purposeful object that we used for all grades.  It did become a fixture in my last few Gym Shows with the exciting Pac Man chase and the 6th grade boys balancing the ball for two of their much smaller, lighter classmates balancing atop in the show's climax - can you tell I miss that!  We did take it on the road to Miller Park, the Nature Center, and several other venues for a few Earth Day celebrations.  Initially we were the only school with one, but as other schools saw how much fun it was they started popping up elsewhere."

After more than 20 years of fun, the Earth Ball was retired.

The photo below is from the 1993 Gym Show held at GPS.