28 Days Til Reunion...

Greetings… Ready or not, our reunion weekend is now just four weeks away. I hope to be updating this website 4-5 times a week as July 1 approaches.

Please feel free to send in your comments and memories, and also send any jpeg photos and I’ll upload. Send comments to Gene at ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu

Graduation Day, 1976

Can you believe that 35 years have passed since our June 4, 1976 graduation ceremonies? Seems like just yesterday that Ray Ambrose was threatening “to hand out diplomas at the flagpole” for anybody who didn’t toe the line in the final days.

Does anyone recall any good senior pranks at graduation? The best I remember is a few people skipped the start of school the last week and hung out at Junge Park for breakfast for about 90 minutes.

Here are a few quick memories I have from that day:

--I remember the non-air conditioned AHS gym being very toasty that night.

--I recall working that afternoon with a few classmates digging a hole for one of our teachers and getting paid in cash.

-- I also recall that the Celtics and Suns played an epic three-overtime playoff game that night in game 5 of the NBA Finals – a game many call the greatest in NBA playoff history. The Celtics blew a 16-point halftime lead but won 128-126 in 3 OT. Jo Jo White scored 33 points and Dave Cowens went for 26 points and 19 boards before fouling out in the third OT. Rock Island and Iowa Hawk alum Don Nelson, at age 36, played 20 minutes for the Celts – his next to last game of his 14-year NBA playing career.  Garfield Heard, who played 61 of the game’s 63 minutes for the Suns, made a ridiculous shot at the buzzer to force a third overtime. Phoenix got 110 points from its starting five but still lost.

YouTube highlight of Heard’s shot (with Brent Musberger on the ABC-TV call):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UF1ggq0vd4

--After the ceremony and a fun party with all our classmates at Patty Ehlert’s house, I recall that Earl, Epp, Leo and I tried to stay up until sunrise. I think we hit Rudy’s before closing time and made it until about 3:30 p.m., then fell asleep in parking lot at the old Geifman’s warehouse on West Central Park near the old Aqualetic. As the saying goes, ‘We tried to have it.”

Send along your graduation memories and anecdotes and I’ll publish, (either with your name or anonymously) send to: ejmcgivern@stthomas.edu

Coming soon!

--What do John Travolta, C.W. McCall and Terry Jacks have in common? (Hint: Think really bad 1970s songs)… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd_Fdly3rX8

At our July 2 party, we hope to unveil the best, worst and most memorable songs from each of our high school years. I will start the ball rolling this weekend with some nominations, then add any of your choices.

Today’s Quiz:

--To get your AHS brain cells back working… here’s the first of a series of Class of 76 related questions:

Which of these slogans was an official theme of an Assumption dance in the 1970s:

A) Wasted Dames and Wasted Knights

B) Saturday Knight Fever

C) Knights in White Satin

D) Otis Day and the Knights

If you guessed A, you’ve been listening to too many Freddy Fender downloads on I Tunes… if you guessed B, you must have owned a white leisure suit in the disco era… if you guessed D, your’re a big fan of the 1978 movie Animal House