ALUMNI HONOR VALLEY'S OLDEST HIGH SCHOOL : ALMA MATER HAS A BANG-UP CELEBRATION FOR ITS 100TH BIRTHDAY.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

With Saturday marking San Fernando High School's centennial bash, hundreds of graduates of the Valley's oldest high school had a reason - not just an excuse - to drag out the old stories and campus jokes.

``We used to call him Jelly Belly,'' said 1953 graduate Harry Acosta, pointing to his former high school football coach, Raymond Bishop. ``He's a lot thinner now.''

But Bishop, who graduated from the school in 1938 and later came back to train San Fernando's Tigers on the gridiron, professed ignorance of the moniker.

``This was only a rumor as far as I was concerned,'' said the 74-year-old San Fernando resident, who coached football at Pierce College after he coached at the high school.

Nearly 1,000 alumni flocked to the San Fernando area Saturday to celebrate the 100th birthday of the school, which opened Sept. 14, 1896, with 26 students in a two-story brick building at the corner of Fifth and Hagar streets.

Most converged on the high school's third site - 33 acres by O'Melveny Avenue in Pacoima - where they chowed on fajitas, posed for pictures and recounted their fond school memories.

Standing with a cluster of fellow '57 graduates, Carol Upton recalled that she was a senior nearing graduation when classmate Jim Upton walked into her life at a school dance.

``I was going with another guy, and I dumped him the next morning,'' said the 57-year-old executive secretary from Canyon Country, remembering how hard she was smitten by the soon-to-be flight-test engineer.

When San Fernando High School first opened, the community was in the midst of citrus orchards - not yet a Los Angeles bedroom community.

But population surged, and a new campus was developed on North Brand Boulevard, now the site of San Fernando Middle School.

The high school's third site eventually was chosen and developed at Pacoima to handle 2,200 students. Opened early in the 1950s, it now welcomes 4,350 students annually, which Principal Phil Saldivar said has put a strain on resources.

But despite the institution's growing pains, Saldivar said the students and alumni have kept a strong sense of pride in their hometown high school.

``It may supersede that of any school that I have worked at,'' said Saldivar, who has headed San Fernando High School for about three years.

Judith Ames, a 1962 graduate, agreed that San Fernando students have always displayed school spirit.

``You didn't miss a football game,'' said Ames, 52, a self-employed consultant living in North Hollywood.

As the Valley's longest-lived high school, San Fernando has produced a number of prominent graduates including KNBC anchorwoman Diane Diaz, star football player turned USC football coach Charles White and Assemblywoman Paula Boland, R-Granada Hills, Valley independence crusader.

``She was active in everything and when she had an idea, she just wouldn't let go,'' said Paul Stevenson, a '57 graduate, recalling Boland's student days.

Pop singer Ritchie Vallens also attended San Fernando High but left before graduating.

The school's 100-year birthday got off to a good start Friday night when San Fernando beat Granada Hills High during the homecoming football game. After campus open house Saturday, graduates held a centennial dinner dance at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City.

And they planned to cap off the three-day party with a 10 a.m. breakfast today at the O'Melveny campus featuring Gloria Bobo, a 1920 graduate and possibly the school's oldest living alum.

``How can you beat old friends? There's nothing better than old friends except family,'' said Bishop, explaining why the reunion drew so many graduates.

Joyce Wayman, who joined her two sisters at the reunion, said she simply had too much fun socializing and going to school dances at San Fernando High in the 1940s, forcing her mother to take extreme measures.

``It was so good here that my mother took me out and put me in private school,'' said Wayman, now a private dance studio owner near Palm Springs.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Joe Di Fatta, left, and Ron Dean, 1957 graduates, look at a yearbook Saturday at century-old San Fernando High School.

(2) Plaques honoring classes' names at San Fernando High gleam near shadows of alumni.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News