“Rock Rivalry: A Look Back at 90 Years of Community, Competition, and Spirit”

It’s pretty much impossible to imagine East Rockaway without Rock Rivalry. After all, the event practically consumes the whole community between the months of January and March each year. This event, a competition between each of East Rockaway’s high school classes, began way back in 1936, making this year’s fight to be the class that wins the coveted Rock Rivalry cup the 90th of its kind. 

While tons of other schools have a battle of the classes style competition, there’s really nothing quite like Rock Rivalry because of the way its various events bring people together. There’s really something for everyone within Rock Rivalry; whether you’re interested in performing, music, art, academics, carpentry, sports, anything, there’s some event that suits you, making everyone a vital component in helping their class secure the cup. Over the course of the last 90 years, Rock Rivalry has brought students together, forming friendships all the while pouring everything into the shared goal of being the class that comes out on top. A lot of hard work goes into getting everything done on time for Rock Rivalry’s conclusion, a Friday night in March where each class performs their own musical, but the memories made at late night rehearsals (and ideally, the glory of winning the cup) make it all worth it. 

So, how did this all start? In 90 years of Rock Rivalry competitions, the event has evolved a lot since that first Rock Rivalry way back in 1936. The mastermind behind the whole event was an East Rockaway girls’ physical education teacher named Grace Rudiger. In pursuit of funds for the school’s athletic programs, Rudiger hosted the first Rock Rivalry on December 4, 1936 in the school gymnasium, a night of events such as basketball games, costumes, 10 minute skits, murals, and decorated concession stands in the hallways. With everything taking place in the gym, entrance actually gained its name as each class entered the gym doing their quick skits before getting into a night of basketball, looking very different from today’s Rock Rivalry where entrance is the big event in the school auditorium and basketball is not an event at all. 

When it came to naming the competition, there was actually a school-wide competition to draft name ideas before the event. Hosted by The Courier, the school newspaper at the time, the big winner was Robert Pastor, a member of the East Rockaway class of 1938 who is believed to be the one who came up with the name Rock Rivalry. 

After that first fun night in 1936, East Rockaway students were hooked, loving the way the competition had brought them and their classmates together. The senior class of 1937 took the victory at that first event, getting to take home the silver cup donated to them by the Girl Scout Drum Corps, and the following years went similarly as the competition gradually became larger and more grand. Every class did all they could to top the previous year (along with the other classes) come 1938, with classes arriving with concession stands that more closely resemble the large structures each grade brings to the table today, including things like igloos and animal cages, in hopes of taking the victory, which ultimately went to the seniors once again. 

The junior class wouldn’t beat out the seniors until 1940, with the class of 1941 taking victory in both their junior and senior years, making them the first two time winners of Rock Rivalry. As classes got more into their skits, some East Rockaway students even found a passion for performance, with not one, but two future movie stars gracing the Rock Rivalry stage during the 1940s, [Robert] Brian Keith and Don Murray. The 40s also saw the expansion of Rock Rivalry entrance from a 10 minute skit to the familiar 30 minute performances, a change that came about in 1949. 

An ever evolving event, Rock Rivalry has continued to change each year as time passed. The 50th anniversary in 1986 even saw the return of students from all of the prior decades of Rock Rivalry, from the 1930s all the way to the 1980s, who were grouped together by decade to perform skits representing what entrance was like back when they went to East Rockaway, showcasing the ways in which it changed over 50 years of tradition.

Rock Rivalry has come a long way since 1936, with 90 straight years of healthy competition between East Rockaway students helping grow the event into something as huge as what East Rockaway now puts on each year. The one thing that has remained constant throughout generations is that togetherness Rock Rivalry inspires, making students feel proud to be a part of a tradition and excited when Rock Rivalry season rolls around each year.