Friday, October 3, 2008
Your assignment, due Friday: ENJOY THE REUNION!
With some teachers (who will remain nameless here), we could pull a B- out of a last-minute throw-together. But others would call us on it, and a low D would be considered a great escape.
I feel a little like that with my class biographies project. I started well, doing a couple of bios with lots of photos for James Lindeman and Blair Huckabee Dean , but then time got away, life stacked up, it was hard to collect all the info and the photos from different people who also have busy lives, and the project kinda fizzled.
Fortunately, Facebook has filled in some of the gaps, now that many of us are in the JHS Class of 88 group. You can learn a lot more about anyone from their Facebook account than in anything I could write.
But in the course of collecting some preliminary information on people I intended to profile, I did learn some things about a number of our classmates:
* One of my best friends in high school was Mark Henry, but I had not seen or talked to him in 19 years. I exchanged e-mails with him earlier this year, learning that he was the CEO of a technology company in Dallas. He had also worked on rocket engines for a time ... so, yes, he was really a rocket scientist!
* Lisa Lloyd Holmes enlisted in the Air Force in the early 1990s and has served at least a dozen different air bases, got a master’s degree, and gave birth to three girls, two of which are twins.
* Matt Lewis works in computers for International Paper in Memphis, and found his wife Amanda through match.com. They married in 2005 (a good year for marriages, as that’s when Erica and I tied the knot, too).
* Marty Boyd has been a Craighead County Sheriff’s Deputy since 1991 and is now an instructor at the Law Enforcement Training Academy. He and his wife Tonya have an 8-year-old daughter.
* Cathy Smith Darvis managed seven hair salons with 56 stylists in Texas, then moved back to Jonesboro, married her husband Frank, bought and then sold a local hair salon for a profit, and still does hair styling. (Last I heard she was due to have a child in late September … anyone have an update on that?).
* I worked with C.C. Smith about 7 years in the sports department of the Jonesboro Sun. He has been a teacher and coach in the Jonesboro School District, including coaching a state championship track team. As C.C. used to say some fast athletes: “He’s got some fire!”
* Many of you know Felicia Willett worked with Emeril for many years and now owns and operates a namesake restaurant, Felicia Suzanne’s, in downtown Memphis. But most, impressive to me in the writing world, she co-authored a couple of bestselling cookbooks. I’m just wondering now when she’s going to go on Iron Chef and kick Bobby Flay’s butt.
This is just a sampling of what some of our classmates have been up to. There are many more great stories than I would ever have time and energy or ability to write even if I tried.
The Class of ’88 has reason to be proud of its accomplishments, but that’s really not what next week is about. Once upon a time, we would see each other every day from August to May around the halls of JHS. For a couple of days next week, we get to bump into each other again (with spouses and children in tow -- the Class of 88 has multiplied!), share another Homecoming, and tell and hear some of those many stories from our lives that I didn’t get a chance to write about.
See you at the reunion!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Mum's the word
I never actually did this in high school because I NEVER HAD A HOMECOMING DATE. But now I'm married, my wife is completely oblivious to the Homecoming mum tradition (she went to high school in New Jersey, bless her heart), so I put in an order today.
So ... even if you not sure about doing it for yourself ... do it for me and my wife and let me have my first Homecoming date with a mum 20 years late! :-)
Thursday, September 18, 2008
All Night Party
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hurricane Kicks Major Raider "Bootay"...
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Show Us The Money!
Also, if possible, join Facebook and join our reunion group, JHS Class of 1988 20-Year Reunion. You can leave us a note there if you are coming or not. Around 40 classmates have joined and it's actually kind of fun seeing everyone and saying "hi!". You can also upload pictures so you can share family and friends photos as well. Please email us if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing your check in the mail! :-)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Friday Football Fun
When we would get to cheer the second half of the game with the varsity squad i would stare at him and hope that he too would be staring back. No such luck for me. Today i can picture his face but for the life of me not his name. Young crushes fade but the memories of Football Friday will live forever.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Hurricane Pride
My Baby's Daddy
Fast forward to 2006 ,I'm pregnant and i just cant decide about the baby's name. I float the idea of Jake Ryan past my husband, miraculously he agrees. Mistakenly i just assume that he has watched Sixteen Candles 50 times the same as me and he knows about the dreamy Jake Ryan.
So its official... the baby is named. My husband is a proud father for the second time. He goes to work and shows off the pics. When the women down the hall ask the name he replies, Jake. Jake what they say. Jake Ryan. "OH MY GOSH, I love him and i love that name! He was my favorite." Now let me tell you it took me a good 2 months to convince my husband that in 2022 no 16 year old on the football/baseball/basketball team (they always think their boy will play it all) will know who the hell Jake Ryan on Sixteen Candles is. And Ill bet that if your a male that graduated in 1988 you don't either. But the girls.....they know.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Little JHS Deja Vu...
Monday, July 7, 2008
JHS Class of '88, the Final Edition!
Sweeter words have never appeared in a headline in the “Golden Times.” Though something similar is written every year, this was special, because JHS was bidding farewell to us, the Class of ’88, the greatest class in JHS history! (a totally unbiased opnion, of course) And though I’m sure even then we knew we’d miss each other, I’m guessing every single one of us was ready to graduate.
The big day was June 3, 1988. It turned out to be a picture-perfect, unseasonably cool evening for an outdoor graduation ceremony.
Back to the May 20, 1988 issue of the Golden Times:
Prom had happened, and photos from it filled the center spread under the headline: “Seniors are in ‘Heaven’ at the Prom”. The prom queen, Tara Clark, and her date, Scott May, are pictured at left.
JHS’ golf team won the state championship, shooting a record score on its home course to culminate the event. Our classmates Steve Tricarico, Todd Darouse and Brian Fulkerson each shot 1-over-par 72s in the state final.
The class of 1988-89 named its class officers … but did we really care? They were just lowly juniors.
The most painful part of reliving these Golden Times issues for me has been recalling these hideously awful so-called “satire” pieces I sometimes wrote, published on the back cover. But I will leave you with part of my column in the final issue, a slight parody of our class chant:
“Parting’s harder than rock and roll,
“We’re the class that took its toll,
“We had a blast, we had a ball.
“We’re the class that really did ‘have it all.’”
Monday, June 30, 2008
October 10 :: A Good Weekend for Reunions
In the previous post you saw some changes and updates that the football field is undergoing in time for the reunion. I've also heard of some more:
• Hurricane flags will be flown on the top of the press box
• The band and the students will sit on the visitor side
• Our mascot "Flash" is making a comeback this year and I've heard it's the son of someone in our class!
• In recent years the students have a designated section at the basketball games they call the "Dog Pound", they want the student section at the football games to be called the "Storm Cellar" ;-)
• They are looking for a storm siren to crank out during the game
(if you know of where to get one, let us know)
It's time to get FIRED UP! :-)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Cooksey-Johns Field Receiving Makeover
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Back from the storm; back to doing some bios soon
I still have one more JHS newspaper entry from 1988 to do and will plan to get some more bios up during the summer, maybe some shorter versions. Click on these names if you haven't seen the previous bios for James Lindeman and Blair Huckabee Dean.
In the meantime, speaking of the reunion's "The Storm is Coming" theme, here is some of what I've been doing in my blog hiatus: Chasing tornadoes with the Virginia Tech storm chase team. We had one especially close tornado intercept; I'm in the van up ahead if you watch the linked video, and I'm at the left in the inset photo , shooting this digital picture of the tornado crossing the road ahead in front of us very late in the day on May 22 outside of WaKeeney, Kansas.
Hope you are enjoying your summer!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Check out the band...
Here's the band you will be hearing on Saturday night, October 11, The SuperFive! The Superfive (formerly the "Five that Framed O.J.) have been performing primarily throughout the Southeastern United States for over a decade. From Texas to the Carolinas and Florida to Missouri, The Superfive has performed clubs, fraternity parties, wedding receptions, charity events, and anywhere else that needed a good time.
The Superfive has both male and female vocalists, which allows them to include a wide range of dance material from the 70's, 80's, and 90's! That extensive song list allows them to play to the crowd, and is definitely their greatest asset! Check out their song list and some samples here.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Storm is Coming...
UPDATE-June 11: All snail mail registrations have been sent out this morning. If you have not received your information within the week, let me know and I'll either email or send by post. Get your stuff in ASAP!
Friday, May 16, 2008
In Memory...
As I’m sure some of you know by now, we lost a classmate and friend last week. Jamison Christopher Woods, known to us all as "Jamo", passed away in his sleep at his home in Hermitage, TN. on May 08, 2008. Survivors include his wife, Betsy Crouch Woods; his son, Jamison Isaac Woods, 5, and daughter, Eva Elizabeth Woods, 2; mother and step-father, Deborah and Sam Wright of Jonesboro, AR; father and step-mother, James and Debbie Woods of Batesville, AR; brother, Mathew Woods of Russell, AR; sister, Lenna Woods of Jonesboro, AR; step-sister, Britney Warner of Batesville, AR; grandparents, Thomas and Marian Woods and Herbert and Charlene Smith of Memphis, TN; father-in-law and mother-in law, Jack and Susanne Crouch of Nashville, TN.
I don’t know that I’m qualified to describe Jamo’s life to anyone. My hope is to say a few words and express a few thoughts, so that we may remember someone who touched our lives. From the pages of online entries in his obituary guest book, it is obvious he impacted many of us. What Jamo didn’t have in stature, he made up for with charisma and personality. To the girls, if he didn’t date you, you were probably on his list. And to the guys, if he wasn’t figuring out a way to talk to your girl, consider yourself lucky. Jamo had a way with the opposite sex unlike most. Maybe his love of mirrors convinced him he was truly Casanova, who knows? Besides his charm, Jamo excelled both academically and athletically. In the classroom, you could always find Jamo in the toughest classes JHS had to offer. On the field, baseball was his sport. Jamo played city and county ball from grade school all the way through high school.
Some people might not remember this, but Jamo actually chose to graduate with our class. In elementary school, Jamo was advanced enough to skip the 2nd grade. That, coupled with his late June birthday, had him on course to be the youngest member of the 1987 graduating class. When all of us were moving up to the high school, Jamo decided to delay taking his 11th grade English. Instead, he took extra electives, allowing him to graduate with our class. After high school, Jamo went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Arkansas State University and a master’s degree in Counseling and Rehabilitation from Middle Tennessee State University. At the time of his death, he was working in the Medicare Finance Administration for the state of TN. He married his wife Betsy in the summer of 1998 and they had two small children; a son, Jamison and daughter, Eva.
It's hard to understand the "why" with this one. He was our age, with a family, and what should have been lots of life to live. Most of us have families of our own now, and our circle of friends is much smaller than it ever was. I'm also guessing that most of the teenaged vanity is gone and that we’ve put our priorities in perspective. I went to Jamo's funeral and seeing Jamison's family celebrate his life and witnessing the impact he had made on others was not only a privilege but also a testament to what’s truly important.
He will be missed.
[You can visit his guest book here.]
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The way it was: April 22, 1988
The spoof musical “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Superman” was to be performed May 19-21. Junior Michael Crawley got the lead part as Superman, but several of our classmates played key roles: Greg Murray as the mad scientist Abner, Brian Haggbloom as Max, Lourie Collins as Sydney, Kathy Williams as Lois, Marvin Day as Jim and John Works as Perry White.
The Quiz Bowl team came from behind in three consecutive matches in the regional tournament to make it to the 8-team championships on AETN. We won’t talk about what happened to us in the first round there.
In sports, three more of our classmates signed for athletic scholarships: Brandon Rowlett for football at Arkansas Tech, Steve Tricarico for golf at Huntingdon College in Alabama, and Paige Hammond for volleyball at Milligan College at Johnson City.
The JHS golf team was burning the greens up everywhere it went, having won a prestigious golf tournament in St. Louis and then twice broken the school record for lowest team score.
And we were all counting down the days …
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A crosstown rival becomes a Hurricane head coach
Monday, April 7, 2008
Classmate bio: Blair Huckabee Dean
In high school, Blair started on the state championship volleyball team, was a cheerleader on a squad that made nationals our senior year, and played tennis.
Running once took Blair to Greece with friend Bridgette Lloyd Inboden (JHS class of ’87) to run the Athens Marathon. After finishing the original 26.2-mile route, Blair and Bridgette decided to leap a railing, with security mysteriously absent, into the Panathenaic Olympic Stadium, where they did a victory lap around the ancient, but off-limits, site.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Virtual Golden Times
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The way it was: March 25, 1988
The front page of the March 25, 1988, edition of the Golden Times included a story naming the 56 seniors who would be honor graduates, and a story on the upcoming April 30 prom promising the “Time of My Life.”
The above photo, in the lower left corner of the front page, shows (from left) Brian Haggbloom, Greg Murray and Stephen Hester acting in “The Nerd.” Brian was playing the part of Axel Hammond, Greg was Willum Cubbart, and Stephen was “The Nerd.”
JHS’ FBLA’ers were competing for district awards on page 4, and on page 5, the JHS Quiz Team had conquered the sub-regional. “I was pleased by our high scores and our margins of victory,” some guy named Myatt said, rather cockily.
Two of our classmates were signing to play sports on college scholarships. Kim Sims, the “red-head who could fire the ball across the net with a vengeance” according to the article, signed to play volleyball at Arkansas Tech.
Randy Bullock, who juggled football, basketball, baseball and being a first-chair bass singer in regional choir, signed to play football at the University of Central Arkansas. (He would later play at Northwestern State in Louisiana – I remember getting some comments from him and fellow classmate Brandon Rowlett after their team beat Arkansas State in Jonesboro in the early 1990s).
In his back page column, David Bennett promised a “suitably sick, twisted, obscene fate” would be awaiting everyone with his year-ending column in two months.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Come Out of the Woodwork!
[In case you were wondering, we plan to get information out about registration soon. Don't think you've been forgotten. When that information gets sent out I will leave a post on the blog. If you have any questions, please email: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com]
Sunday, March 23, 2008
10 years ago: The Westside school shooting
I remember the day vividly because, as an assistant editor for the Batesville Daily Guard, I was at the school a little more than two hours after it happened. The school was cleared of students, parents and teachers by the time I arrived, but it was still heart-wrenching: bulletholes in the brick walls, blood stains on the sidewalks, and the constant whir and hum of news helicopters circling the school.
The Columbine High School shooting in Colorado followed a year later, and just last April, I was again working in the middle of the world's biggest news story when 32 students and faculty were gunned down, before the shooter killed himself, at Virginia Tech, just 30 miles from my Roanoke, Virginia, home.
I longed for our high school days when Mr. Williford was about all the security we had. Did any of us ever really think something like Westside or Columbine was possible back in 1988?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Remembering Jeff Meredith
Jeff has been described by friends as sweet and “just an all-around nice guy,” but he was so much more than that. Jeff always had a wonderful smile that lit up his face for everyone. Though popular, he was never a snob. He was a fun person to be around. He was a friend – and a peacemaker – to many people. He was a very caring person, and even through his illness he continued to think of someone besides himself.
Jeff knew he was going to die, but he always wanted to know what he could do to help others. He would have done anything possible to relieve the pain and worry felt by those around him. He forgot his own physical suffering to comfort his family and friends who were suffering mentally.
Through his illness he demonstrated the rare courage to have faith and deal with his situation. He tried to live each day to the fullest. He was a Christian, and those around him could tell just because of his personality. It was his Christian faith that helped him get through the rough times; he placed his whole life in that belief. His faith was so strong that it even enabled others to deal with his cancer.
Jeff died at such a young age that it does not seem fair. But in the short time he was here, he touched so many lives in so many different ways. He believed he had a purpose for being born on Earth, and that once he accomplished that purpose, he died in peace. So, as hard as it may be, we should try not to be sad that Jeff is no longer with us. Instead we should be thankful for the times we shared with him, and remember them fondly.
Jeff is healed now. He wants us to remember him as he used to be, and let the good memories be a comfort to many in the future. No matter what, we will always have memories of Jeff, wearing his trademark baseball cap and a grin, clowning around at football games …
The way it was: February 26, 1988
“I think people really enjoyed last year’s change, but there were several requests for the traditional theme,” said Marcie Brooks, a Student Council member. Whatever happened to her?
Kristy Dobson, whom I described not very eloquently as the “six-foot terror on the other side of the net” for JHS volleyball opponents, signed to play volleyball at the University of Tennessee. Kristy was a tough competitor in sports, but certainly never a “terror” personally -- quite the opposite.
They weren’t our classmates, but Page 8 featured lots of future political power. Sophomore Dustin McDaniel, now Arkansas' attorney general, talked about his visit to a political rally for George Bush … the elder George Bush, that is, back when he was Vice President Bush. Yes, McDaniel is a Democrat now, but enjoyed a very Republican event back then. And there was junior Jason Willett, who would eventually become state Democratic Party chairman and is now running for mayor of Jonesboro, winning Mr. Kool as Tiffany Tiger.
Regular school things kept happening too: The photo at top, taken by Stephen Hester and appearing on Page 3, shows JHS-88ers Charles Brinkley, Chris Harris, Kathy Williams, John Works and Craig Schuchardt working with pulleys in a physics class.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Under 30 and SPOILED!
THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what, with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning uphill BOTH ways, yadda, yadda, yadda!
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that.. I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a freak'in Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter...with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances mister!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids' and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, that was just too bad!
Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your bum and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!!!!!!!!!
You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980! Oh yea, and a seatbelt was Mom throwing her arm across your chest every time she hit the brakes.
Regards,
The over 30 Crowd
Monday, February 18, 2008
After School
As I watched these kids take off in utter happiness, I tried to recapture that feeling of freedom. No responsibility. No bills waiting on you in the mailbox. No kid in the backseat begging to go to Sonic for a Cherry-Vanilla Dr. Pepper. No briefcase full of work sitting next to you in the car. Just freedom.
How did you spend your free time after school was out for the day? Did you go to a job? Did you go straight to a pool in the summer months? Or the mall? What was your free time filled with during high school?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Classmate bio: James Lindeman
“On a whim, I moved to D.C. and hung out for a year and a half,” James remembers about his becoming a “nomad” at age 21. “From D.C., I packed up my Civic hatchback and made my way to Aspen, Colorado, for a year. After that, it was New Orleans for a year and a half and from there, Key West, Florida, for almost 5 years.
As for his Jonesboro days, James said that he suspects his JHS classmates might remember that he had his own apartment at age 17, that he worked at Pizza Inn and that he once organized a trip to Six Flags in St. Louis.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
JHS Names New Football Coach
JHS has just named Randy Coleman (JHS Class of 1992) as Jonesboro's new head football coach. Coach Coleman comes to JHS after four seasons as Valley View's head coach. Coleman also has ties to our graduating class. His brother Rusty Coleman graduated with us in 1988. Read the whole article here.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Classmate bio: Kevin Myatt
Name: Kevin Myatt
Family: Wife, Erica, married in 2005; dog, Cindy, 9 years old, (found as a stray in Cushman, Ark.)
Location: Roanoke, Virginia
Unlike many of his classmates who left town soon after graduation for new adventures, Kevin was 26 before he got out of Jonesboro and 29 before he left Arkansas, but he’s found a home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
A scheduling change – choosing to take journalism in the 10th grade when all the typing classes were full -- charted Kevin on an unexpected career course over the next two decades. He spent 8 years writing for The Jonesboro Sun (getting an Arkansas State journalism degree during that time), 3 years as an editor at the Batesville Daily Guard, and then moved to Roanoke, Virginia, in late 1999 to become a copy editor at the Roanoke Times.
In Roanoke, he incorporates an old love into his work, as he writes a twice-weekly weather column for The Roanoke Times and maintains a weather blog for the newspaper’s Web site, Roanoke.com.
Each May, he assists a local meteorology teacher in leading high school and college students into the Plains to observe severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The team has had its vans banged by golfball-sized hail and shaken by 70-mph winds, but has succeeded in close encounters with powerful thunderstorms and a few tornadoes each of the last three years.
"A lot of storm chasing is not as exciting as it's shown on TV -- there's a lot of driving and waiting," Kevin said. "I think last week's deadly tornado outbreak in the South underscores the need to give young people who might go into meteorology as a career a real-life experience with severe storms.”
But Kevin would rank his weather column and chasing tornadoes below two other developments since moving to Virginia.
(1) His closer walk with the Lord and involvement in Christian ministry. He currently serves on the vestry of a 1,000-member evangelical Anglican congregation.
(2) Marrying his wife Erica in 2005. Erica and Kevin share work and faith together -- she is the editor of a local feature section at The Roanoke Times, and she often sings at two different churches in Roanoke. In fact ... she sang to him during their wedding.
“I was a little geeky, but harmless,” Kevin recalls his high school days. “I was generally friendly to those who spoke to me or got to know me, but not outgoing at all.
“Today I’m much more confident – assured in my geekiness, you might say – and much warmer and fuzzier – literally fuzzier since I usually have a thick beard.”
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Classmate bios are coming!
2 things to remember as we begin:
(1) What one has done or how much one has accomplished since graduation should have no bearing on being a part of the reunion. We're proud of our classmates everywhere and the mark they have made on the world, but when it comes to October, we don't care about all that, we just want to see you.
(2) There's no way I'm going to get to nearly 300 classmates in the 7 months between now and graduation. I would consider getting a tenth of that, about 30, as a major accomplishment. These bios are intended to give a snapshot of our class, not a complete mosaic. That said, Marcie and I are working on a list that will be diverse in race, location, education, professions, etc. Please don't feel we're snubbing you if you're not included. We are open to your suggestions, of course.
Nobody ever really wants to be first in something like this, so, at Marcie's urging, I have reluctantly agreed to put my own bio up first just so (1) no one else will have to go first and (2) everyone can get a feel for what these will be like so that you -- hopefully -- will be eager to answer the questionnaires you have received or may receive in the future. My writing background makes me absolutely abhor writing about myself in the third person, but I want to give you a feel for how these will go, so I will allow myself to be the guinea pig. My apologies in advance if it seems pompous.
I hope to have that up in the next day or two.
Coach Barry Pruitt Celebrates Win No. 500!
Monday, February 4, 2008
The 3-point shot
If you follow basketball at all, it may seem like the 3-point shot has always been part of the game. But the 1987-88 season was the first for the 3-point shot in high school basketball, a year after it had been introduced in college play.
Its arrival at the high school level was just in time for the Hurricane to take advantage of the long-range shooting talents of our classmate Terry Scott, pictured above.
When Terry was on, he could launch a barrage of 3-pointers that would easily rack up 30 or more points, and our Hurricane would usually win when he was hot.
Blytheville was the state runnerup the year before in boys’ basketball, and held a No. 6 statewide ranking when the Chickasaws came to Hurricane Gym in late January of 1988. Jonesboro was sitting on a 9-6 record, riding the up an down waves of its 3-point shooting.
Despite Blytheville’s high ranking, JHS and Blytheville fought a nip-and-tuck battle. The Hurricane went up by 1 at the end of three quarters when Terry drained a 30-foot 3-point shot, and JHS led 53-51 with just a few seconds left.
JHS’ defense kept Blytheville away from the hoop as the Chickasaws tried to score a tying basketball. One of the Chickasaws’ star players, Robert Mays, had only one option: Fire a shot from 25 feet out.
It hit nothing but net, and it was worth 3 points. Blytheville escaped JHS 54-53.
Terry Scott had hit a similar long-range 3-pointer late in the game to get the Hurricane out of a jam against Westside earlier in the season.
Since we graduated, the Hurrricane basketball team has become a perennial state powerhouse, capturing state titles in 1994 and in 2007. Coach Barry Pruitt is still there, having recently scored his 500th career coaching victory.
The way it was: February 1, 1988
Front-page stories in the Golden Times included a preview of “The Nerd,” the dinner theatre play set for March. Keith Salter promised it would be “the best dinner theatre yet,” and it would seem that many participants and attendees would, years later, agree that it was. The cast included our classmates Greg Murray, Kelly Morris, Stephen Hester, Brian Haggbloom and Charles Brinkley.
Stephanie Owens wrote a front-page story looking into the costs of graduation year and entering college. Those of you who have kids approaching that age now know best that we only thought it was expensive back then.
Speaking of costs, the most amazing thing to me in these old papers are the ads for the 99-cent Whoppers at Burger King and 39-cent Chicken Littles at KFC. Can you even get a small drink for that little today?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Reunion Meeting Reminder: February 2
Drive north on Church St. toward the railroad tracks. Church St. deadends at the Associated Engineering office (green building) parking lot. The address is 103 S. Church- go through the gate to the double glass doors.
The building is the old Caldwell Furniture building.
If you are in town, please try and come.
To date we have found 196 classmates out of our graduating 296. We still need to find everyone so keep sending in addresses and emails! We appreciate everyone's help!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
"Never Say Goodbye"
Friday, January 25, 2008
New Blogger Alert!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Snakes, Whips & Skulls
Who's ready for the new Indiana Jones movie, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" coming out in May? I love me some Indiana Jones. I've got the vision of the young "Indy" in my head, so I hope they sprinkle some cinema magic on him so he resembles the Harrison Ford from the 80s so I won't be too disappointed. They've already done some great Photoshop work on his movie poster. :-) What's you're favorite "Indiana Jones" movie? If you're a child of the 80s, you've got to be a fan of Dr. Jones.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Great 80s TV
So what were some of your favorite 80s TV shows?
Sunday, January 20, 2008
In Memory of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was first honored with a national holiday in his name on January 20, 1986. Stevie Wonder created a single, "Happy Birthday" in 1980 in support of making King's birthday a national holiday. There was also a tribute song recorded and dedicated to him in 1986 called "King Holiday". It was sung by a group of 80s artists including: El DeBarge, Fat Boys, Lisa Lisa, Teena Marie, Menudo, New Edition & Run-D.M.C.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Drama Queen?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Hey Trendsetter!
What was a favorite outfit or look that you rocked in the 80s?? I think mine would have to be my faded Guess jeans (tapered, of course) that had an authentic rip which occurred in Madame Guillaume's French class. I had a lumberjack-ish flannel shirt (before Kurt Cobain made them stylish) and big, big hair! The outfit was completed with my black high-top Reeboks and white scrunch socks. Ah! Those were the days.
Now, lets hear from you!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Who Needs Encyclopedias? Use Wikipedia.
Friday, January 4, 2008
The big snow
Our senior year had something special: A big snow.
It wasn’t the typical 2 inches of slush that melts 3 hours after the sun comes out, like is more typical of Arkansas. What fell on January 6-7, 1988, was 8-10 inches of ski-quality powder that stayed on the ground more than a week. In fact, some of you did ski Stroud hill.
Having just come back to class the previous Monday after the holiday break, we got out Wednesday through Friday, leading into a weekend.
We probably shouldn’t have been out that Wednesday. Superintendent Bill Beasley decided to cancel classes that day in anticipation of the big snow on its way. But the snow didn’t start until about 4:30 that afternoon. I guess he made up for it the following Monday when we went back to school even though most of the secondary roads were still covered by snow and ice.
The photo above from the yearbook shows our classmates Meredith Fairhead, Stephen Watkins and Ashley Lincoln, along with Meredith’s junior class sister Margaret Fairhead, trudging back to class one of those early days the following week. Looks more like Duluth than Jonesboro!
Many of you who were in band have an unhappy snow memory later in 1988. What was a pretty puny snow in Jonesboro in February was much heavier to south, and the band was prevented from making a trip to an event in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. If my memory serves, the bus made it as far as Trumann before the decision was made to come back to Jonesboro. Perhaps some of you “band geeks” can enlighten this “weather geek” about that.
We only had a few little snows during our sophomore and junior years, but our ninth-grade year had so many snow days that we had classes on some Saturdays – Janice alluded to this in a comment to the entry on David Hawkins’ death.
The JHS band had an interesting experience returning from the Fiesta Bowl parade that year, and a few of our more musically inclined freshmen classmates got to be part of it. The band got delayed on its way home by heavy snow across parts of New Mexico and Texas. They finally got home to find half a foot of snow here as well.
Do you have any snow memories from high school?
Monday, December 31, 2007
At Least Some Things Don't Change...
Found this clip with Dick Clark rocking in 1988! Even though Ryan Seacrest has been co-hosting from Times Square since 2005, Dick Clark is still ticking along with his commentaries in the studio (It's good to know at least some things never change). This clip looks and sounds like every other "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve" specials with some exceptions. At the end of the clip is a young John Stamos and Heather Locklear along with Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam and a view of a very young Dick Clark. Have a Safe and Happy New Year everyone and if you're at home, watch the ball drop in Times Square with Mr. Clark—it's still the same since 1988 (if you forget Ryan Seacrest)!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
JHS Golden Hurricane Marching Band
What 80's Fashion Statement Do You Wish Would Make A Comeback?
So, big hair is my comeback wish. What about you?
Coach Riggs
Hello Out There!
You can see by the sitemeter information that the reunion blog is receiving lots of visitors (the sitemeter icon on the blog records visitor information and you can see where the visitors are from). Now I realize that there are accidental visitors as well as true "JHS Class of 88" alumni that come read the blog, but it's pretty cool how many people it shows that come by. Now if we could get as many people commenting as are just reading, that would be so much more interesting and fun. Some people have wondered how to leave a comment. Click on "comments" under the post and choose one of three ways. If you have a blogger account choose the first option (then people can click on you and find your blog to leave you a note), the second is to choose "nickname" and sign in your name, the third is to post "anonymously" and you don't have to put your name. And if you would like to post on the blog and relay your memories of our class or the 80s, please email jhsclassof1988@gmail.com and I'll add you to the author list.