Roy Exum
Looking back, it was an incredibly cruel thing to do. In 1963 – for what real reason we will never know – Riverside High School was opened on East Third Street in the same building where Chattanooga School of the Arts & Sciences produces winners today. As things turned out we didn’t need Riverside but this was during a rocky time of desegregation and a whole lot more didn’t make sense either.
So last night at the Bessie Smith Hall, we were reminded of how the senior class at Howard School was chopped in half over 50 years ago and how over 400 high school seniors, after they were force-fed lemons, came up with lemonade instead. “The 70th Birthday Party,” complete with cake and laughter and one funny story after another, was celebrated in grand fashion with one hovering ghost smiling down on his determined friends.
The “ghost” was John ‘Hot Rod’ Talley, who called me from California to tell me about the party. When asked who was 70, he answered “us.” But when I asked him the reason for it, he said it was because of ‘the split.’ So I reckon it took my longtime friend about five minutes to explain what I now believe is the greatest graduating class in the history of Chattanooga.
Imagine this, you have been going to school with your best friends for 11 years but now – as seniors – the class of 407 students is split apart. Of that number, 239 were allowed to remain at Howard but 168 were zoned to Riverside. “It was just awful,” Charlesett Davis remembered yesterday. “We were all mad and sad at the same time but there was nothing any of us could do.”
Oh, yes, there was and “the committee” did it again last night. Anytime the Class of 1964 does anything, those forced to attend Riverside immediately join those who stayed at Howard and they do everything together. “We’re still the Howard Tigers!” Charlesett laughed yesterday. “There were so many friendships that we decided all 407 who graduated from Howard and Riverside will always be ‘one.’”
That is why the 70th Birthday Party is so-named because the great majority of the ’64 Class is now 70 years old. “What else you want to call it?” said Talley, his memory brilliant despite the fact he has not seen one classmate’s face since he was given a life sentence 27 years ago. John just got a presidential pardon from Barack Obama and is in a half-way house before he can return to Chattanooga in six months.
Talley pleaded guilty when he was caught selling cocaine and freely admits he should have been punished. Earlier this week, in a recent similar case, a local man was sentenced to 40 months in prison and today all criminologists agree a life sentence for a non-violent crime is absurd. ‘Hot Rod,’ as he is called by his friends, spent 27 years in federal prison but can still rattle off the names of his Howard classmates with unbelievable ease.
“Man, I’d give anything to be at the party but that’s not the way things turned out. I’ll be there in spirit,” he laughed, “but just to see people, what they look like now and to hug ‘em, is why the kids who were sent to Riverside are still members of the Howard family.”
Today all Howard alumni will have a picnic (feast is a better word) on the Reggie White football field as Reunion Day is celebrated. “It is wonderful,” said Mrs. Davis. “Tents are set up around the field and everybody has so much fun being with each other, but the birthday party is just the Class of ’64. When we were divided is we came together,” she laughed.
Asked what Howard was like in the early ‘60s, Charlesett’s voice grew warm. “We all have fond, fond memories … Chubby James was the football coach and we had such a great team. Mr. Pitts … John L. Pitts … coached basketball with Henry Bowles as his assistant. Athletics was a big part of who we were, because everybody was so proud of how good we were.
“Two years ago we had our 50th Reunion, and we all had such a wonderful time, so the 70th Birthday Party has been in the works ever since,” she explained. Charlesett is the committee’s secretary but absolutely refused to take any credit for keeping the Class of ’64 alive. “No way … it is about all of ‘us.’ Our committee meets pretty regularly and, to tell the truth, those meetings are full of fun, too. Every story is funnier than the last one.”
Asked the members of the committee, Charlesett replied, “What am I going to do when I realize I’ve left somebody out?” but with ample prodding, she gave it a try. After I agreed to write ‘Among those who are on the committee …’ and told her she could blame me for leaving out a name or two, Mrs. Davis gave it a try.
So, among those who are responsible for refusing to let another school sever the lifelong friendships of the Class of ’64, and for fostering the belief that no matter what ever happens in life you will always and forever be a Howard Tiger, here are the heroes of The 70th Birthday:
Sandra Jones, Charlesett Davis, Vickie Mathis, the great Fred McCray (who literally saved my life back when I was so sick), Jacquelyn Smith, Barbara Stoudemire, Jacqueline Baker, Fred Jinks, LaMonte Vaughn, Cynthia Hammond, Janet Hester, Ike Hamilton, Mattie Peterson, Jack Lane, Charlie Bouie, Chessie Burch, Norris Ringer, Charlie Davidson, Robert Eady, James Winston, Janice Willis, and Dwight and Loretta Prater.
“Put me in there, too,” said ‘Hot Rod,’ “I may not be there in presence but I’ll be there in spirit. I am on pins and needles about getting to see these people again. And when I know they are having a big time, that is a huge blessing for me.”
royexum@aol.com