May 1984: Return of the Renegades, The End of School & A Sophisticated Gents Party

After the initial debut of the social club known as The Renegades at Bartlett High School in March, the group had sort of disappeared for awhile, only to resurface in May as the end of the school year approached. There were a lot more members now, including my homeboy Jessie Yancey, and instead of wearing yellow hats as they had in March, they were all wearing suit coats in the hallways. Unfortunately, this time, there were complaints from freshmen that members of the Renegades had "initiated" them in the hallways, incidents that allegedly involved some form of hazing. Frankly, I saw nothing of the sort, although I was called into the principal's office and questioned as to whether I knew anything about such initiations. While I had heard the rumors like everybody else, I told Mr. Farley truthfully that I had no firsthand information of anybody getting jumped or hazed. May 17 was Bartlett's Luau Day, and a lot of students wore Hawaiian outfits to fit into the theme, but the Renegades continued to wear their usual attire, although the administration stepped up patrols in the hallways to prevent any possible hazing incidents. That afternoon, I met up with a young drummer named Willie Triggs, who had transferred to Bartlett High School from Shreveport, Louisiana. Our school didn't have a jazz band, but Willie and I were able to do some jamming in the band room after school, and that was a considerable amount of fun.

Right at the end of the year, a flyer went up announcing the first party of the summer vacation, a Sophisticated Gents party to be held at 7997 Ellis Road out in the Oak Grove neighborhood on June 8th. As was usually the case with the Sophisticated Gents, the flyer listed the members of the club as Jessie Yancey, Randy Mickens, Ricky Dill, Errol Edingborough, Terrance Kelley, James Chaffin, Wayne Kelly, Terry Broome and Kenny Boyce. Although I was looking forward to it, my parents ended up not allowing me to go to the party because I had made a C on my report card. It was not a fun way to start the summer.