I should have attended more class reunions

“I went to a garden party to reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories and play our songs again
When I got to the garden party, they all knew my name
No one recognized me, I didn't look the same”

Ricky Nelson, once a famous teen idol in the 1950s and the star of an early television show, sang those words in his song “Garden Party.” I understood them a little better after attending the Central High class reunion for 1973-75 last weekend at the Central Activities Center. It was a lot of fun. I want to thank all those people who worked so hard to put it together. It was the first class reunion of any kind that I had attended since I graduated.

But, I wish they had not made up those badges for us to wear.

It hit me like a ton of bricks that I no longer look like I did back in 1975. It hit me even harder that I would have worn such ugly clothing. The badge had my senior portrait – taken straight from the 1975 annual – of me in a plaid coat with a striped tie. It was ugly.

I was not the only person there that could, or should have been, embarrassed by those photos from that annual. I saw folks that no longer favored those photos. That, for most, was a good thing. We all have to grow older, mature and step aside for a new generation to take over our places as youth. I’m working on being a second generation past those days.

My hair is a lot shorter than it was back then. I still, from time to time, allow it to get a little too long, but nothing in length to compare to that 1975 style. I could grow it as long as it was back in 1975 if I wanted, but it would not be the same color without some help from a beautician. There were some folks there that were fighting the aging process by this method – and you could tell. I pointed out a spot on one fellow’s hair that he had missed. He swore he did not dye his hair – and pigs fly, too.

For the most part, the majority of people attending were content to allow the aging process to take place.

The night began with a solemn moment as classmates from the three classes who are no longer with us were honored. My class, 1975, had the most recognized – it seemed like more than 30 had left us.

Alan McDonald, the husband of a classmate and who did not graduate from Central, remarked that the 1975 class had lost more people than he had graduated with at Glenwood. He also said if my photo appeared on the screen that he was going to run out of the place. I assured him that if my photo showed up, I was going to run with him.

Thank goodness my photo was not there, but I could easily have been included with the group had I not gone through heart surgery in February. Because of that, I was among the lucky people who were able to attend the reunion this year. Hopefully, I will attend more over time.

As I mentioned last week, I am getting better at learning about Facebook. It sure came in handy at the reunion. A lot of the people who chose to attend have Facebook accounts with current photos, so I recognized more of them than I probably should have. Most people had to look at my badge – twice – to recognize me. I cannot say that no one recognized me because I see many of the people who attended on a regular basis. A lot of us are still here in this area - Phenix City, Smiths Station and Columbus. I guess we all had hopes that this area could be a better place if we planted our roots deep enough. There is always hope.

Others from our classes left and made better lives in other places. I suspect they make those places better places for their being there. It does not hurt to spread our area’s influence over a larger area. The class of 1975 has members living in places like Ariton, Ala., and Little Rock, Ark., and Los Angeles. I am glad some of them were able to come back “home” for the reunion. I am sure the members of the other two classes at the reunion can boast of the same wide-spread influence of their classes.

As anyone who knows me knows, I love to talk about sports, especially local sports. I used to enjoy talking about sports on a broader scale and I got an opportunity to talk about sports on that broader scale at the reunion with someone sitting at the table I homesteaded when no one was looking. Actually, I just sat down to eat while others were in line getting their food and remained the rest of the night because of the conversation.

I sat at a table with one of my classmates who moved away, Deborah Boddie. Her last name is no longer Boddie. It’s Birdsong now. She married a guy named Otis from Winter Haven, Fla. He played a little basketball in his younger days. When Deborah introduced us, she mentioned he played for the University of Houston. Immediately, my mind told me it just could not be so. There was no way I was sharing a table with a legend.

We chatted about athletes who played at Central who went on to play college sports and professionally as well. He knew about some of our former Red Devils. Since Deborah is a cousin of Ken Johnson, Otis was familiar with him. He also knew Joe C. Meriweather. It was when he started talking about playing against some of the people we were talking about that I realized he really could be that “Otis Birdsong.”

Some of you will remember Otis was the Southwest Conference Player of the Decade for the 1970s and was the second pick overall in the 1977 NBA draft by the Kansas City Kings. He was a four-time NBA all-star. And he married one of my classmates. Deborah and Otis have five adult children and several grandchildren.

And, yes, he was that Otis Birdsong. I had to look him up on the internet to be sure. I wish had just asked him if he was who I thought he was instead of researching his images on the internet after I got home that night.

I wish now that I had attended earlier reunions. Maybe I would have already known about Deborah and Otis. Maybe there are other stories out there I could have discovered about my former classmates. I sure wish I had attended those earlier reunions. I could have filled up a whole lot more inches in the newspaper I’m sure.