Our 35-Year Reunion Was Awesome!
Our 2010 Reunion was held on Saturday, June 19th, 2010.  Attendance was well over 100 people for the evening event, which was not bad for what many considered an "odd year" (i.e. not a 10, 20, 30 year reunion).  We had a so-so turnout on the golf scramble but a very good turnout for the Tour of Nathan Hale - probably our best yet.  We also had a large number of first-time reunion attendees this time around.  An informal, last-minute lunch was arranged at Coney Islander which many people attended.  We made a little money on this reunion, which all goes back into the kitty for next time.  Who knows, by the time our 50th rolls around we may all get a "freebie".

The Tour of Nathan Hale began at 2pm on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 with the head custodian giving us a guided tour.  He was quite knowledgeable and knew the school and curriculum inside and out.  For those who don't know, Nathan Hale High School almost closed recently, but was resurrected as a "magnet school".  This was the only thing preventing the school from dying off due to demographic changes in the area.  Some of our old elementary and/or junior high schools have either closed or been consolidated.

The original purpose of a magnet school was to create a school that would be so attractive, it would “attract” students to attend from outside their own school zone by offering some sort of special curricula.  Many remember when we lost our Principal, H.J. Green and several teachers to the new magnet school at Booker T. Washington after our sophomore year in '73 (see what H.J. Green is up to now in this youtube video about his days at Hale).  According to Hale's website, they describe the school as "Exploring Wellness and Global Cultures Through Cuisine, Tourism, Health and Human Performance" (can't you feel the magnetism?).  Visiting the school now, you were definitely either positively or negatively charged by the experience, but suffice it to say that it is nothing like the old Hale we attended back in the day.  Time marches on.

On our tour, the "Health and Human Performance" area focused on their new state-of-the-art workout facility (probably to work off some of the calories from the "Global Cultures Through Cuisine" curriculum).  At any rate, the equipment in the workout areas and kitchens were all new and in good shape.  Budgets are tight - so for the first time, they actually wanted to charge us for a tour and in general the school and area are victims of urban blight, a sad reality for many of us who drove around our old neighborhoods, although some areas still looked quite good for their age.  Obviously the stores in the area are almost all different, with a few exceptions like Casa Bonita (the cave still rocks!) and Taco Bueno (many of us were "Bueno Heads" long before they invented the term, "Bueno Heads").  For many, the drive around the old neighborhoods was as important as the tour of Hale itself in remembering our high school days.

The evening event began at 7:30pm at the Stokely Event Center in Tulsa, with dinner catered by Zios Italian Kitchen.  Most said the food was pretty good and that Zios did a pretty respectable job.  The menu was salad, chicken fettuccini, spaghetti and meatballs, rolls, and brownies for desert.  We all mingled and chatted throughout dinner with old friends, some who we hadn't seen in 35 years.  Many were attending a high school reunion for the first time.  Our name tags included our old high school yearbook pictures so we could more easily recognize fellow classmates.  Although time does have a way of making some features head south, most of our alumni still looked pretty good for their age after all these years!  Stokely Event Center turned out to be a fun place to have our class reunion, with lots of neon lights, free games, and a very nostalgic atmosphere.

At 8pm, we played a video showing highlights from the Ranger football games, which was put together especially for our 35th class reunion.  The video spanned games from the fall of '72 through our senior year.  The DVD is now part of our class alumni collection so that we can use it for future reunions.  We have added a few streaming video clips to our website, just so people can remember the good old days and all the fun we had at the games.  For band alum, there are even clips of the famed Hale Marching Hundred (sadly, no sound... but we look pretty darn good!).

At 8:30pm the live music began outside, provided by the acclaimed Pam Van Dyke Crosby Jazz Quartet.  Pam is an inductee to the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame and has an extensive repertoire and wide range of music.  Some of the guys enjoyed a good cigar outside after dinner.  It took awhile to get people outdoors away from the air conditioning (yes, we are getting old) but once they did, people seemed to enjoy the night air and soft music, even if it was a bit humid outside.  We kicked around the idea of moving our next reunion to the spring or fall where we could enjoy the outdoors more.  Late June in Oklahoma can be a gamble, but we rolled the dice and took our chances just because we thought it would be nice to have some variety and give people the chance to move around a bit.  The band earned their money and some might say we lost our bet... but as Rodney Dangerfield would say, "what a crowd!".

At the end of the evening, we all gathered around for a group picture.  Although some had already left, we managed to get a great many alumni together and the photographer at Stokely's seemed to capture the mood.  It turned out great!  A signature shot for our class and well worth the price of admission.

As the party was finally winding down and most had gone home, we had one more trip to make down memory lane.  Someone had the idea to gather up all the Hale balloons from the tables and pass them around.  We all went outside and spontaneously broke into "Hail to the Rangers".  Then we let our balloons rise into the night sky, just like we did 35 years ago.  Seemed like a fitting end to a great reunion.

It was obvious that although the high school itself may have changed, the spirit of the Rangers lives on in all of us.  We all experienced our high school days in different ways, but the majority of us were proud of our school, proud of who we were, and will always share that common bond.  Perhaps that is why these reunions are so special.  For one weekend, we all get to be 18 again and re-live those memories that helped shape who we are.
 

Check out our Reunion Photos to see pictures from the days events.  Planning for our 40th Hale Reunion has already begun, so please check back rom time to time for the latest info and tell us your reunion stories by going to our Contact Us page and filling out the Comment/Suggestions section (name is optional).  We'd like to publish some of these on our website.  If you'd like to volunteer to be on our next reunion committee, please send an email to us at info@hale75alumni.org.  We hope to see many of you who could not make it to this reunion at our next one.  It's worth it.  Ask anyone who's been.  Hale yes!

Thanks to all of you who attended our reunion weekend!  It's great to see the old Ranger spirit is alive and well!  Remember, stay connected.  If you move, send us your new contact info.  We're also on facebook.  Hopefully, more lost Rangers will discover our site and we can grow our contact list!