PRESS RELEASE
TEENATION AND YMCA RECORD HOP REUNION
Planned on a Grand Scale
by Gary Courtney, Author, Photographer & Historian
Teenation and the YMCA Record Hop, teenage youth groups of the latter 1950's and early 1960's including hundreds of Tulsa, Turley, Bixby, Jenks, Broken Arrow, and Sand Springs area residents, are staging a reunion.
A special tribute will be included, to their most active adult chaperones, sponsors and advisors, such as:
"Mom and Pop" (Alice and Jess) Courtney,
Fern Ragle,
Bob and Joan Patterson, Civil Defense officer and adult advisors,
John Williams, Civics teacher,
Elsie Rains, school counselor and later principal,
Alene Baker, later an Oklahoma State Representative, and
Gerald Grunz, YMCA Youth Director.
Part of the tributes will be in memoriam. Members lost in the passing years will also be recognized.
Members included teenagers from every school, from Sand Springs to East Central and the University of Tulsa. Many Teenation members during junior high school were also members of the "Y" Hop during high school. An adult advisory group of about 30 parents, teachers and other local residents served the teenage officers and committees of Teenation.
The organizations were entirely organized and operated by the teenagers, themselves, with local organizations and business leaders donating facilities. The clubs taught youths discipline and responsibility, working with others, community service, and raising money for charities. Also, they provided weekly social dances and Sunday outings, which resulted in many young people becoming involved in positive activities and leadership, rather than getting into trouble. Any troublemakers were punished by their own peers, with banishing from activities or volunteer duties. In later years, a number of the youths, now adults with their own children, commented on how much Teenation and the "Y" Hop meant to their leading productive lives.
Teenagers lacking in home life and parenting found comfort and direction in Teenation and the "Y" Hop. Nearly 1,000 teenagers knew Mr. and Mrs. Courtney as "Mom and Pop", due to their sincere interest and thousands of hours of time donated over a decade. Elsie Rains regularly counseled teens as part of her school job, as well as at Teenation.
Many of the members grew up to become leaders in the community.
Tom Baker became Chief of the Tulsa Fire Department, and, later, Tulsa City Councilman,
Maurice "Chuck" Overall became Chief Financial Officer of Reading and Bates,
"Butch" Terrell became Dr. Jim Terrell, Chair of the Northeastern State University Art Department,
David Norrid and Mary Ann (Morris) Overall became Doctors Norrid and Morris, practicing psychologists,
Jim Ragle became a 20-year career Army Ranger "Red Beret", making hundreds of parachute jumps, as forward reconnaissance, into hostile enemy combat zones all over the world,
Gordy Harden owned and operated the Harden's Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises and other Tulsa restaurants,
Ernie Bail worked as a teenager for Fred Case Studebaker dealership and for Lotus racecar owner Dave Morgan, and owned and operated an auto service business for many years in Tulsa, and
Floyd Beck now owns a portrait studio in Bristow.
Teenation was originally conceived by John Williams, Civics teacher at Cherokee Junior High in Turley, who assisted the teenagers in writing bylaws and Oklahoma incorporation, and in learning Roberts' Rules of Order, agendas, and organization. Teenation activities were held in the Turley Roundup Club Community Center. Dances were held each Friday night, and the center was set up with games, a piano, and a jukebox on Saturday afternoons. Activity security was contributed by off-duty officers, such as: Sergeant Bob Horn of the Tulsa Police Department, Roy Rains of the Tulsa County Sheriff's office, and Bob Patterson, Charley Dixon, Dave Luna, and Richard Dees, Civil Defense and Tulsa County Reserve Officers.
The YMCA Record Hop was sponsored by Gerald Grunz, Youth Director of the Central YMCA in downtown Tulsa, with the assistance of Fritz Manley, Mary Lou (Manley) Headrick's father. Grunz also had a son, Jim, and a daughter, Nancy, in the organization. The "Y" Hop was set up using Teenation as a model, by some of the same teenagers.
"Y" Hop activities were held in the Central YMCA at 6th and Denver, and, on Sundays, picnics, music jam sessions and football games were held in Mohawk Park's stone pavilion and field, and at Blue Hole on Saline Creek's P&R Park. Over a hundred "Y" teens convoyed to the Sunday events from the Courtney's home, in 20 or more cars, nearly every weekend.
Each Spring and Summer, part of the members worked as volunteers at the YMCA Camp Takatoka on Fort Gibson Lake. Annual brainstorming and leadership sessions by the officers and chairmen of the "Y" Hop were held at the camp.
First president of the group was Richard Eagan. Others to follow included Gary Courtney, Joe Cunningham, Bonnie (Turner) Eagan, and Richard Cowan. The gentlemanly giant of a man, Bob O'Neal of the Membership Committee, provided security at the Saturday night dances.
The group was also known for its creative antics.
No one else would do a "Chinese fire drill", with a string of teen-filled cars, bailing out and running around at a red light at 11th and Utica in the middle of the day!
No one else would circle their cars, like a wagon train, atop the mountain at Chandler Park, turn all their radios up on the same station, and get out and dance in the middle of the circle at 1:00 A.M.!
And, no one else would quote the punch line or a number given to a joke, and have everyone laugh without further explanation.
Only member Tommy "Frosty" Foster of the Edison track team would get a speeding ticket for doing nearly 50 miles per hour through Brookside - on a specially-engineered bicycle! There were no multi-speed bikes available on the market at that time, so Frosty and his dad designed and built one.
Only members Jim Ragle, Gary Courtney, and Floyd Beck would wear a tuxedo or suit to a Bermuda Shorts party, or vice-versa!
Only member Ernie Bail, of Fred Case Studebaker and Rogers High School, would soup up a '51 Studebaker with a Golden Hawk engine and four two-barrel carburetors, to do over 150 miles per hour!
And, only Dickie Cowan and Gary Courtney would be bold enough to crash a big, secret slumber party of the "Y" Hop girls - and be allowed to stay! Under their winter London Fog topcoats, they were dressed like Hugh Hefner, in smoking jacket pajamas with pipes in their pockets.
The Northside Branch YMCA youth group was sponsored by Director Tom Graham and "Mom and Pop" Courtney of the Branch YMCA Board, with an assist from business leaders, such as Howard Kennedy, Manager of Froug's department store, and I.A. "Jake" Jacobson, owner-developer of Northland and Southland Malls. Jacobson provided an empty Northland store for the branch "Y", and his manager, Jim Swartz, helped the staff and volunteers get situated in the space.
Gary Courtney organized the youth group, and taught swimming lessons at a neighborhood pool.
Two presidents, and later adult advisors, of the "Y" Hop, Gary Courtney and Richard Cowan, organized two live entertainment, holiday pizza parties, with the assistance of "Y" Hop members and Jim Scott of Lee and Marlene Carvel's Lea's Pizzerias. The parties were held at Lea's large northside location for a Valentine's Day and Christmas, and resulted in donations of ticket proceeds to a local charity, the Tulsa County Council for Mentally Retarded Children, on KVOO Radio.
The parties were advertised by Courtney and Cowan in the Tulsa World and Tribune newspapers, and on three Tulsa radio stations, KVOO, KAKC and KRMG. A group of the "Y" Hop girls made large glitter posters, and put them in windows of local businesses, to advertise the pizza parties. The girls, including Sandy Wilkins, Sharon McClelland, and the Thompson twins, Kathy and Karen, also helped Gary decorate the pizzeria the night of the parties.
Mel Buckner's band played for dancing at the parties, and more than a hundred people were left standing outside, unable to get in for the crowd. Lea's sold over 300 percent more pizza than on an entire normal day.
Free entertainment contributed to "Y" Hop weekly dances by local artists and bands included:
Members and attendees who entertained in the Tulsa area included: Jimmy Linduff, Toni Bachman, Michelle Findley, Leonard Ford, and Jim Markham. Teenation members Skip Knape, and Tommy and Susan Shepherd entertained when only 13 years old. Skip was later known as "VanWinkle", while playing with David Teegarden.
On Saturday nights, when there was no live entertainment, members took turns playing disk jockey with the club's extensive collection of the top hit records of the day, purchased each month. Some of the records were purchased with the club treasury, and some were contributed by local radio DJ's.
Couples at the YMCA Record Hop, who regularly dated and danced together, like Ernie Bail and Claudia Brown, were well known for winning all the top dance contest prizes at KAKC Radio's sock hops at the 11th Street roller skating rink (where Central Park tennis courts are now located), and on Channel 6's Dance Party. A tape or photos of those dances is being sought to display at the reunion.
Over a dozen couples, who met, danced, and "went steady" at the "Y" Hop dances, ended up getting married.
Former members, attendees, and adult advisors, or business leaders, entertainers, and media personalities interested in participating or assisting in the Teenation and YMCA Record Hop reunion should send their contact information (i.e. address, phone, E-Mail, maiden name, spouse's name), a suggested date, any old photos of themselves and the group, documents or articles, plus, how they might be interested in helping, to:
Teenation - YMCA Record Hop Reunion
2621 West College Street
Broken Arrow, OK 74012
or
E-Mail: lakesok@hotmail.com
We would particularly like to find: a copy of the Constitution and Bylaws of either of the organizations, membership cards or forms, and any newspaper articles regarding the groups and their activities.
Initial organization of the reunion will be via mail and phone. The reunion may be scheduled on a holiday weekend to help those coming from out of town.
Committees of the reunion include: Funding, Notification, Facilities, Events & Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Security, Public Relations, and Special Tributes Committee.