The High School Named after Bozz-Well

When I was in grade school, there was a kid in my class with the last name Boswell.  He had dark sunken eyes with white eyelashes, which made him look sick all the time. He buttoned the top button of his shirts, wore white socks and "high water pants." And he had gross eating habits, like putting ketchup on potato chips.  Kids made fun of his name, calling him Bozz-Well. Today he seems rather sad, but at age 10, all I could think of was "dork."

Later I learned about James Boswell (1740-1795), the intimate of Samuel Johnson who chronicled their tour of the Hebrides, and wrote his biography. The friendship was apparently not romantic: Boswell had a wife and a number of extramarital girlfriends, plus he was a devotee of ladies of the evening.

And John Boswell (1947-1994), the Yale historian whose Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980) changed the way we think about the Christian response to gay people.

But still, I associated Bozz-Well with "dork."  The name just sounds ridiculous.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that there was a W. E. Boswell High School in Fort Worth, probably so named because it was on West Bailey Boswell Road.

I have not been able to discover who either of those two people were.  I assume not the athlete Bailey Boswell, who is on trial for the murder of a Nebraska woman who disappeared after going on a date with her in 2016.

Boswell High is in the far northwest of Fort Worth, near the town border (it draws students from nearby suburbs), and surrounded by religious fundamentalism: The Table Community Church next door, Eagle View Church next door on the other side, the Lake County Church a few blocks west, Fellowship Baptist Church a few blocks east, the Trinity Baptist Temple on the south side,   Whoa.

1,600 students, no Gay-Straight Alliance, but a Fish Head Mentor Program and a Super Who Lock Club (for fans of conjoined Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock).  The sports team, named The Pioneers, features this cute swimmer.













More Boswell swimmers in speedos.











It's one of the few high schools in the U.S. with a men's gymnastic team.














And men's powerlifting.


















A surprising amount of cuteness, for a high school named Bozz-Well.


















By the way, I looked up my Bozz-Well (on the right). He still has the sunken eyes. He works at a car dealership and wins bowling trophies.  He has never been married.  I wonder if....