John Shearer: The Story Of The Brainerd High Class Of 1965

Back in the mid-20th century, the Brainerd area was developing into a very popular Chattanooga suburb.

Homes were being built on former undeveloped land in areas like near North Moore Road, new church sanctuaries were being built, and new commercial shopping centers like Brainerd Village and later Eastgate were opening.

Within this expanding community that had already been a popular enclave in areas closer to Missionary Ridge for decades, Brainerd High School was constructed and opened in 1960, with its first senior class graduating in 1963. It was an expansive facility with a larger-than-typical school campus and long wings full of classrooms.

Two years later – and 60 years ago this year – close to 350 students graduated as members of the class of 1965. It was a school almost unanimously liked at the time due to the sense of community the young people and their families felt among a school staff that offered a supportive but academically challenging environment.

Brainerd also quickly developed good teams on a state level in sports like football and baseball. The football team under coach Ray Coleman and assistant Pete Potter and others lost only one game to then-perennial powerhouse Central High in 1964 and beat Nashville Hillwood in the Metro Bowl.

The baseball team, featuring catcher David Fussell and the sidearm-throwing Gregg Cunnyngham, won the state. The wrestling team also hosted the state tournament at their gym.

As Ken Groshart, who was president of the senior class, said of the overall school, “The first five or six years after Brainerd was formed, it was like Camelot. They had great teachers and lots of offerings like even Russian.

“Everybody was delighted to be at the school together. Everybody was delighted to meet other people from other (feeder) schools. It had an ethos of unanimity of mind and spirit. That is what made everything great.”

His comments and my interviewing of several other graduates of the class of 1965 came as a result of some 60th anniversary activities on June 20 and 21 for members of the class and after I was contacted by class member John Weathers. Besides meeting at the Riverport Grille on Broad Street Friday night, they also had their more formal gathering at the Feed Table and Tavern on West Main Street.

After talking with them, I hope to also write another article or two on some more recent Brainerd graduating classes, including the Class of 1975 that had its 50-year reunion several weeks ago. It might be a way to look at the broader history of this school with a slightly more unusual history than many other local high schools.

The Class of 1965 members said they did not get a chance to tour their old high school, which, other than apparently some updated windows, appears mostly unchanged from the outside. This constancy is also made evident by the landscaping in the form of a giant willow oak tree offering a wide range of shade and school history, as it was likely there back in 1965.

But the anniversary was still special for the surviving members of this class now in their late 70s. And it was not a rare gathering. Some of them get together several times a year, giving further evidence to the warm memories many have of their school days.

Despite seeming like an idyllic time for many members of this class as they reminisce about that era, 1965 was actually a time of much change in America and even Chattanooga. The military conflict in Vietnam as American leaders tried to prevent the spread of Communism was just getting started, and several of these members of the class ended up serving in that war. That included John Sparks, who became a POW before being released, class members said.

And even at home, a war over America’s attempts to become more racially whole were taking place. The peaceful march on Washington in August 1963 with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorable speech led up to the Civil Rights Law of 1964. And in March 1965 as these Brainerd students were finishing up their high school careers, another march from Selma to Montgomery, Al., would result in a new and more equal Voting Rights Law.

These civil rights changes had also been underway in the public schools in Chattanooga with integration beginning in 1962 in the younger grades, and this affected Brainerd High. Although it was an all-white school in 1965 when the students graduated, many black families were proverbially standing at the doorstep of Brainerd High as well.

Parts of Brainerd near Missionary Ridge had been historic black areas. And as several more families began moving into some of these nearby areas trying to grab their own piece of an American dream that was becoming more available to all, their families also wanted the good public education offered at Brainerd. As a result, black students beginning in the late 1960s started attending the school in increasing numbers, and Brainerd High had a large mix of black and white students probably as fast as any high school in Chattanooga.

And since this was occurring at a high school with the nickname of the Rebels and because “Dixie” was a school fight song and the Rebel flag was waved proudly, this naturally created a conflict. And as I had documented in a 2019 multi-story series on the 50th anniversary, that all came to a head in the 1969-70 school year with various disturbances and conflicts among the black and white students trying to handle opposing viewpoints.

And for varying reasons, Brainerd within a few years became a predominantly black school. And it has remained so in the decades since while carving out its own accomplishments and sense of community.

Members of the class of 1965 who were interviewed said they did not see any of the social and cultural changes coming and admitted to being mostly oblivious to what was on the horizon. Pam Milner Gallagher, who was Miss Brainerd High in 1965, said the class collectively possessed no collective ill will toward any group and was focused just on school pride with the school emblems and nicknames.

“We were on the verge of a lot of things getting ready to burst, but we were happily in our space,” she said. “We weren’t making a statement.”

Charlie Roberson, a standout football player and track runner in that class, added similar comments, saying, “I never associated it so much with black and white. We didn’t think about the larger picture.”

I had been contacted by class member John Weathers about the reunion and ended up talking to him and a few others at the Friday night reunion gathering and then followed up with several others over the phone. What follows is a sampling of the conversations.

* * *

Mr. Weathers said that when he remembers Brainerd High, he recalls the collective cohesiveness of the group. That was in part because students had come from different feeder schools like Elbert Long, Brainerd Junior High and later Dalewood, and Brainerd High offered a chance to build on old friendships but also make new friends. “It brought a lot of people together,” he said. You had not only a reunion with every one of the people with whom you had grown up with, but you also had all these new people who came in,” he said.

He also recalled the central location of the school, which gave it a neighborhood feel, although a large one. “Brainerd was growing at that time, and where they put the school, almost everybody could walk to school,” he said, adding that his home by South Moore Road was just a little too far away for him to travel to on foot.

He went on to work for a pharmaceutical company and a carpet company in Dalton as a chief financial officer but always lived in Chattanooga and drove back and forth. And he has tried to maintain his relations with his Brainerd class members, too, he said.

“Everyone has tried to keep the memory of the school going for a long time because it seemed to be a special place at that time,” Mr. Weathers added.

* * *

Mr. Weathers during the Friday gathering introduced me to the Citadel Singers, a band of former students who had started playing together at Brainerd High in 1963. And guess what? They are still active individually in playing music and came back to play for their classmates at the reunion amidst other engagements. On hand were Art Massey, Vern Lindsey and Ken Rory.

During a break in their playing a few oldies, they offered a few memories of the olden days as well. “We had five people originally,” said Mr. Lindsey. “And we brought in Art as the fifth one. That senior year we played all over the place. We were one of the local bands. We played folk music like the Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, all of them.”

Art Massey explained the situation further. “I was singing with another group, and he (Mr. Lindsey) had his group. My group was graduated. They were a year ahead of me, so I started singing with them (the Citadel Singers), and I have been doing it ever since.”

Besides singing numbers, they also remember the fun memories behind those songs. That was because they admittedly pushed their limits as high school students under supervision. They recalled singing one song with kind of a racy and inappropriate storyline – and they got called into principal Dr. Mathis’ office. And then they sang another song with a curse word in it – and got called into the principal’s office again.

Mr. Rory also recalled they were doing a musical at Brainerd called “Bye Bye Birdie” about a teen heart throb who gets drafted into the Army, and Mr. Rory recalled wearing a gold outfit. They did the production for some junior high students, and Mr. Massey ended up trying to sell the autographs of Mr. Rory’s character to some girls. “I never saw a penny of it,” Mr. Rory recalled with a chuckle.

While they had enough singers and players, Mr. Rory recalled they did not have a standup bass instrument, so they borrowed one from the school when they would play around town. The only problem, they said, was that they did not always tell the school what they were doing.

“Sometimes we would tell them and sometimes we didn’t tell them,” Mr. Rory, who had come from Texas for the reunion, joked. “And when we borrowed it, we put the stand-up bass in the back of a Buick and the neck was sticking out the window, and we said, ‘Watch those mailboxes.’ ”

One of the other two members of the band was Buddy Weekly, who was the drum major.

These musicians also think highly of Bob Crain, who was the choir director and came from Indiana University at a time when the Big Ten schools sent a lot of band directors to the South. They recalled that he was “the best of the best” and would take bus tours to various universities for competitions.

They are still active playing music individually, they said, and one or two had engagements already booked and could not attend the Saturday reunion festivities.

* * *

Betsy Bush Smith, another 1965 graduate, also recalled that Brainerd High during that era was such a popular high school. “We were probably the best high school classes in the city of Chattanooga at that time,” she said. “We were a brand-new school, and we (Brainerd Junior High graduates) mixed with kids from Elbert Long. We just all mixed so well.”

She jokingly recalled that not all Elbert Long junior high students would end up at Brainerd. So, Dr. George Mathis, who became principal of Brainerd High after serving at Elbert Long, would help coordinate a junior high dance at Elbert Long and would invite Brainerd Junior High students. She said a lot of the good football players at Elbert Long would see all the cute girls from Brainerd Junior High and realize they could be future classmates with them. As a result, that would help convince them to come to Brainerd, she recalled with a laugh.

She also recalled that Brainerd High at that time had young teachers and old teachers, square teachers and cool ones. She particularly recalls English teacher Barbara Dalton Werner. “She was nice to everybody,” Ms. Smith recalled. “She made everybody feel important. She didn’t look down on anybody.”

Ms. Smith also remembers Rob Black being popular among the guys because of his boxing background.

Before classes would start, many students would gather out on the front landing area and nearby entrance hall by the auditorium, she recalled.

Ms. Smith also enjoyed the reunion, as old times were recalled by about the nearly 80 classmates and spouses and friends who attended. “It was probably our best reunion ever,” she said over the phone a few days after it had ended. “I am still on a high.”

For her, it was an extension of the feelings she has always had for her old school. As she added, “Back in the days we were so proud because we loved the school and liked what we stood for. We came from good families, and we were good people, and our school reflected that.”

Her close friend from high school, Connie Oliver Mellichampe, who was a twin, also came to the reunion, and they went by and looked at their old homes. Ms. Mellichampe’s still looked nice, but Ms. Smith said she was shocked to see that her family’s old one on Club Drive near the Brainerd Golf Course did not look as good as it did when her family first sold it a few years ago.

It was a stark reminder that time does move on.

But a poem Ms. Mellichampe wrote for her about remembering their walks to school did remind her that memories can be held on to and cherished for a lifetime. It reads:

A Blessing of Friendship:
We walked to school in morning light, two little souls, hearts pure and bright, through time and tide, life moved us wide. Yet God kept love and faith inside. Now here you are, as if no years have passed between the laughs and tears. A sacred thread still strong and true. I thank the Lord I walked with you. – With all my love, Connie.

* * *

Current Memphis resident Dr. Ken Groshart went on to serve as senior class president of the Class of 1965. He said the fact that he was elected to the office showed the unity of the group, as he was a competitive swimmer but was otherwise not in a high-profile student position that usually produces high school class presidents.

“I am a guy who was not in the in-crowd, but I had nothing but friendships with everybody,” he said. “Everybody was delighted to be at school together. Everybody was delighted to meet other people from the other (junior high) schools.

“I was friends with a lot of people and enjoyed meeting people. I was very fortunate to be in charge of this class.”

He also remembered that the class had several good athletes. The late David Fussell was a catcher who was drafted by the Padres, he said, while Greg Cunnyngham was a standout pitcher.

Dr. Groshart said he went to the University of Chattanooga on an academic scholarship, but wanted to go to Auburn, where classmates Scott Stewart, Pat Stewart, Buddy Martin and Tim Lyle also attended and played varying levels of football under coach “Shug” Jordan.

But he said he heard the program there was more of a business focused on winning and a sharp contrast to the always-positive lessons they learned under such football coaches as Ray Coleman and Pete Potter.

Dr. Groshart said he also had a chance to be in the first swimming class at Tennessee under new coach and former Chattanoogan Ray Bussard, but he knew that would take a lot of time. And since he already knew he wanted to go to medical school, he declined the unique opportunity.

He did graduate from UT’s medical college in Memphis and worked with the Baptist Hospital in Memphis’ blood bank for 42 years before retiring in 2021 and continuing working part-time in the medical areas of auto immune diseases and stem cell work.

And his old alma mater of Brainerd High School is in his blood, too. He said almost everyone in the class continued as an outstanding citizen. That is, with the exception of one unnamed person, who, he said, was in the news in an unfortunate incident with police that resulted in his death.

On the occasion of the class’ 50th anniversary reunion, graduates were asked to write a letter about their memories of the school, and he wrote a long one, he recalled. Paraphrasing it, he said. “I said I would not be the human being I am right now because of a high school that made our own tradition and was steeped in right and wrong and had good teachers at every level and a good administration. And we made friends the right way without any jealousy.

“And I said I could not be what I had done in life without them,” he continued. “I am able to interact with people because of the wonderful people there.”

He went on to say that whenever the class members get together for a reunion or regular gathering, they just pick up where they left off before, as if the high school bonds continue.

* * *

A top athletic member of the class was Charlie Roberson, who was a speedy fullback and a track runner who finished fourth in the state in the decathlon, competing against future UT football standout Bill Young. He was also named Most Athletic at Brainerd.

As far as football, he jokingly said he looked better as a running back because Brainerd had so many good linemen, who would open holes for him. The support was apparently there with the fans and coaches, too, as Mr. Roberson seemed to remember that 10,000 people – or at least full houses – would be at the games.

Regarding the coaches, he said, “They were super, not only as coaches, but they would also help you with anything that you needed. Pete Potter (who was also the track coach in addition to coach the offensive and defensive backs) and his wife would take me to decathlon meets. And coach Coleman, he was the mentor. He watched over us.”

Other assistant coaches his senior year included Charles Guedron and Delmar Mercer.

Mr. Roberson recalls that coach Coleman, who went on to serve as principal at Brainerd during the chaotic 1969-70 year, had sort of a laid-back manner. “But he got the message across when you needed to do something,” he said. “And Pete Potter, he was more rah-rah, and he would get you up and running.”

After high school and being named the MVP of the Metro Bowl in Nashville, Mr. Roberson had some possibilities for small college football offers as only a 145 pounder, but said he went on to Chattanooga State and surprisingly received a military draft notice. Although he thought going to college would keep someone from being drafted, because Chattanooga State was just getting started and was not fully accredited at the time, he had to serve in the Navy. And that included a year of service on a carrier off the coast of Vietnam.

He said classmate Kerry Perkinson also served submarine duty during the war, while Tim Lyle and Scott Stewart became Air Force pilots.

He later became a programmer for such financial institutions as Hamilton National Bank and First Federal. He also had experience in commercial lending and eventually got a building certification and began setting up a homeowners’ associations for new developments for Southern Land Co.

But he has not forgotten the building up of his and others spirits in a positive way done as a student by the community, with several parents, including Bett Dooley’s father, helping the school when needed.

“The community really backed us,” he said.

He also remembered that Mr. Fifteen hamburger restaurant close to the Missionary Ridge Tunnel and Shoney’s near South Chickamauga Creek were popular student hangouts.

* * *

When Pam Milner Gallagher thinks about Brainerd High when she attended it, she thinks about all the students who became friends, as well as the popular teachers. And the school’s seemingly massive hallways and spacious physical accommodations as a still-new school were not bad, either.

“We were the new kids on the block. We were given five minutes to get to class, and you had better get there,” she recalled with a laugh. “Nobody wanted to go to Doc Mathis’ office, even though we liked him.

“And the school was air conditioned. Brainerd Junior High had not been air conditioned.”

Among the popular teachers, she recalls Helen Gibson and art teacher Mary Fulghum, adding that a lot of them were not much older than the students. She was able to later appreciate many of these teachers, as she went on to teach at St. Cecilia Academy in Nashville and then St. Peter’s School on Ashland Terrace in Chattanooga.

The whole experience at Brainerd made for a good environment, she said. “We had lots of different talents,” she said. “We had such a strong sense of community, and it didn’t hurt we were good in athletics.

“It was a very well-rounded class. We weren’t angry kids. We were taught to be respectful of teachers and be nice to each other. There were different groups but that didn’t mean somebody else couldn’t join that group.”

She admitted that she and the others were a little oblivious to the changing situations in American societal and political culture as she referenced, although she recalls that student journalist Mike Cozza interviewed Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa while the Union leader was on trial in Chattanooga.

She also remembers that the intersection of Germantown and Brainerd roads was kind of a popular spot for students with a Krystal and Brainerd Cinerama movie theater.

Ms. Gallagher also remembers other cultural aspects of the time like the arrival on the charts of the Beatles music group. “They had their first appearance on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show.’ I just remember getting to watch,” she said.

She also remembers the somber and surprising news during the fall of their junior year, when they learned President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas and later died. “I just remember the silence that had come over the intercom (at school) after they said that the president has been shot,” she recalled.

Another surprise – but a happy one for her – came when she learned she had been named Miss Brainerd High of 1965.

“That was a nice honor and kind of unexpected,” she said.

Praising the class in general, she added. “That was one of those great classes. You know how some classes gel. We were one of them.”

And the spirit of community continues, she added. “I feel fortunate that I still have so many friends from the class,” she said.

* * *

Among other tidbits of information about the Brainerd Class of 1965:

The assistant principal under Dr. George Mathis was Kenneth Wantling. Dr. Mathis was also the president of the Brainerd Kiwanis Club at that time.

Carol Johnson was the captain of the cheerleaders and homecoming queen, but class members said they have been unable to track her down when planning reunions. The co-captain of the cheerleaders was Ann Kirkpatrick.

When I attended Baylor School in the seventh grade in 1972-73, 1965 Brainerd High graduate Buddy Martin was a teacher and coach at Baylor.

I also once wrote a story about the famed actress Susan Hayward and some minor connections she had to Chattanooga. One of them was that her brother- and sister-in-law were Bill and Helen Chalkley. Their daughter, Lynn Chalkley, was a member of the Brainerd Class of 1965.

Grady Burgner was a standout athlete at Brainerd as a senior in 1965. He went on to be the head football coach at McCallie School in 1995 and 1996. He had also worked under his former Brainerd mentor, Pete Potter, who had moved over to McCallie.

Brainerd hosted the TSSAA state wrestling tournament in 1965, with Tim Lyle, Buddy Martin and 11th grader Gordon Connell placing in the state meet. Mr. Connell, a member of the Brainerd Class of 1966, went on to a successful stint as head wrestling coach at Hixson and later McCallie.

When Brainerd won the state in baseball, they had also played regular season games against historic black schools Booker T. Washington and Howard, marking an early period for Brainerd in cross-racial sports encounters.

Brainerd High that year also had new tennis courts next to the school.

Apparently the only girls’ interscholastic sport at Brainerd that year, or the only one written up in the yearbook, the Heritage, was volleyball captained by Debbie Cook and coached by Evelyn Buice.

Besides President Ken Groshart, other class officers were Vice President John Morland, Secretary Carla Cross and Treasurer Ellen Shaver. John Morland was also Mr. Brainerd High, while Michael Haynes was also a school leader and known as a scholar.

The 1965 Brainerd Junior-Senior Prom was at the Hamilton County Assembly Room at the top of the Hamilton County Courthouse, with O.J. Bailey’s band performing. The baccalaureate service was at Central Baptist Church at 901 Woodmore Lane.

The school paper was called the Reveille.

Betty Magill taught English II and headed the Rebelettes marching band drill team.

Sandra Baker and George Clinton were musically inclined and were named Most Talented. Mr. Clinton went on to a very successful career as a movie score composer and arranger for such films as ones featuring the Ninjas, Austin Powers, and Cheech & Chong, among others.

Coach Charles Guedron, an assistant in football, also was the head basketball and baseball coach. Basketball players under him included Darle Jordan, Jimmy Butler, Dusty May, Gene Waller, Gregg Cunnyngham, Scott Stewart and Jim Grant.

Pete Potter also coached boxing and track. In 1964-65, he had a very young son named Ralph, who has gone on to lead McCallie’s football team to many successful seasons.

Several members of the Brainerd Class of 1965 said that Bob Marlin has been an invaluable member of the class in recent decades, and they were full of praises for his work in keeping the class together. As Betsy Bush Smith said, “Bob Marlin gets all of us together on a monthly basis, is responsible for getting all our reunion committees together, keeps us up to date on deaths of classmates and built our website. So, as a result, Ken Groshart, our former president, relinquished his title to Bob Marlin because of his dedication to the Class of ’65!”

* * *

Jcshearer2@comcast.net