Champaign Central’s Class of 1974 doesn’t need to be reminded of the big news back in their day: the Watergate scandal.
Like it or not, they heard about all the time from their history teacher, Les Bowman.
“I really didn’t care about politics back then,” said John Parkhill, who became a longtime car dealer in the area.
But Mr. Bowman did.
“He would say outrageous things and try to get us to defend it. Like ‘Freedom is restriction.’ And we’re like ‘What?’ “ said Eileen Miller, who lives in Champaign and worked for than three decades at Marathon Petroleum. “Then we’d go home and tell our parents, then we’d come back and try to argue with him.”
“I think some people loved him and some hated him depending whether you were into that or not,” said Candy Rollins.
Parkhill shared a story about a classmate who had a master key to the school. As a prank, somebody (no names) locked Mr. Bowman in his classroom.
He called the office and asked to be let out.
You can bet their teacher’s fixation on Watergate will be one of the topics discussed at the upcoming 50th reunion. An informal gathering is set for Jupiter’s at the Crossing on Aug. 30. On Aug. 31, there will be a tour of the renovated high school. None of the reunion organizers have been back since the fixup.
That night, a dinner and party is scheduled at the Elks Lodge in Savoy. On Sept. 1, there will be an informal breakfast.
Longtime class reunion organizer Patty Kobel leads a team of ‘74 alums putting the reunion together.
Kobel, Lorenzo Bolden, Miller, Rollins, Parkhill and Jolie Trautman gathered last week at the Elks Lodge and shared stories with me for 45 minutes. They were just getting started.
Another important organizer, who wasn’t available for the photo shoot, is Bobbi Hendrick.
“She’s a big driving force,” Rollins said.
The group has been planning reunion No. 50 for 1 1/2 to two years. Anyone seeking more information about the reunion can contact Kobel at pkobel@illinois.edu.
This won’t be the first reunion for the Class of ‘74. Not even close. They held them at Years 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, their collective 50th birthdays and when they turned 60. Past venues include a few places that aren’t open anymore: Katsinas, Famous Dave’s and Jillian’s.
Reunion attendance was strong in the early years. More recently, the numbers have been 50-70.
“We’re hoping it’s more this year than it’s been in the past,” said Kobel, who is retired after a long career as a secretary at the University of Illinois.
Trautman and her husband are retired from a 40-year dental practice.
The reunion organizers are all 68.
The ‘74 class is full of achievers, including University of Illinois Athletics Hall of Famer Becky Beach. There are lawyers and successful business types in the class.
“Most of us went on to college, got what we wanted to do out of the way, then got married and became successful at whatever they were doing,” Kobel said.
The class has mostly moved away from Champaign-Urbana. The group guesstimates about 10 percent remain in the area.
Parkhill is again living in Champaign after working for years in Houston. His one customer for the computer leasing company: Enron.
“It was living life in the fast lane,” he said. “You remember the show ‘Dallas’? That stuff’s real.”
Bolden joined the Air Force after high school and spent 20 years as an Air Force chaplain, traveling the world.
“I don’t think there’s a continent I haven’t been on.” he said.
He retired in 2005 and came to Champaign.
“I think I’m leaving again pretty soon,” he said. “I’ve got a home in Florida.”
Fifty of their classmates have passed away, including longtime reunion organizers Page Parkhill (John’s wife) and Bruce Amsbury.
The class turns 70 in two years and organizers are considering another party.
Big numbers
The ‘74 graduation class totaled 438, including some juniors who finished early. Their ceremony was May 31, 1974, at Krannert Center’s Great Hall.
It was the first class to play Centennial in football, with Central winning 10-0 at Unit 4 Field (now named in honor of late Central coach Tommy Stewart).
Bolden played for Stewart and assistant coach Rich Wooley, who later became head coach.
“We were really close as a football team and we were very competitive,” Bolden said. “It was a good time.”
Yes they call it the ...
Streak. Perhaps coincidentally. Perhaps not, 1974 happened to be the height of the streaking craze.
A refresher on streaking: It was a naked run past a group of unsuspecting people. The bigger the event — like the Academy Awards or a baseball game — the more attention.
The craze hit Central, too. At football and basketball games. In the hallways.
“They didn’t have sense enough to wear masks,” Miller said. “It was just tennis shoes and run.”
Another less-revealing activity was the time Central students stuffed themselves into a Volkswagen Beetle.
It might have been the bug belonging to classmate Barb Barry, but nobody seems certain.
Hot topics
The ‘74 class was the last that dealt with the military draft lottery, though nobody from the school was selected. The Vietnam War was winding down as the class graduated.
“It was a turbulent time,” Rollins said.
“There were a lot of racial fights when we were in ninth grade,” Kobel said. “But when we got to high school, Dr. Bernie Fleener, who was the principal, when you got into trouble, he put you on the intercom and you had to apologize to the whole school for a fight.”
Fleener was a big guy, in the 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8 range.
“He grabbed two guys at the same time and threw them against the locker,” Parkhill said. “We didn’t have discipline problems because he wouldn’t put up with it.”
The school had its share of problems.
“There was some racial tension and some racial divide back in those days,” Bolden said.
“I think it was part of the process of gaining equality for a lot of African Americans. We had gone through so much inequality, we were really striving just to be equal, free to live where we wanted to live and be ourselves.”
By the time they were seniors, the racial tensions started to ease.
Bolden sees progress in the process.
“We’re doing a whole lot better as a nation, but we still have some racial divide,” he said.
“Nothing will kill hate,” Rollins said. “Even laws can’t cure that.”
They were just still just kids in 1974, about to embark on 50 years of life ... and counting.
“It’s the young people that have always been the leaders when it came to equality,” Bolden said. “Even now, when you see the marches going on, it’s the young generation.”
Bob Asmussen is a college football reporter and columnist for The News-Gazette. His email is asmussen@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@BobAsmussen).
