STAR OKC 1971-1975

1971
The story of S.T.A.R. Oklahoma City begins with the national organization of which it was once a part. According to STAR TREK Lives! (Bantam, 1975) and The Best of TREK No. 1 (Signet, 1978), the STAR TREK Association for Revival (hence the acronym S.T.A.R.) was founded in 1971. The parent organization’s founders were Laura and Margaret Basta, twin sisters from Dearborn, Michigan. As of 1975, STAR TREK Lives! reported that S.T.A.R. “is reaching over 15,000 fans scattered across the nation with its newsletter Starborne. S.T.A.R. is still growing, forming new chapters on college campuses and elsewhere.”

1973
One such “elsewhere” is Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where in March, 1973, the first meeting of “S.T.A.R. Oklahoma City” takes place at the Bethany Library. The founding members, all students of Putnam City Junior High, are Ken Moore, Frank Sund, Daryl Maxwell, and Bruce Hampton; their first recruit, Larry Jones, joins soon after.
S.T.A.R.’s first President is Ken Moore.
The first issue of S.T.A.R.’s newsletter, the Galactic Gazette, is cover-dated Nov./Dec. 1973. Its contents include an obituary for STAR TREK staffer Gene Coon; a STAR TREK TV schedule for OKC and Tulsa; trivia questions; and an ad for Bjo Trimble’s 2-volume STAR TREK Concordance of People, Places, and Things. Listed on the masthead are Ken Moore, Editor-in-Chief; Bruce Mullenix, Co-Editor; and contributors Greg Goetzinger and Frank Sund.

1974
Some time in 1974, S.T.A.R. puts on Galacti-Con ’74 at the Kirkpatrick Science and Arts Foundation, located at this time in the OKC Fairgrounds. A later GG reports that its budget was “$45 and a lot of praying.”

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In an item tentatively dated May of 1974, a newspaper photo shows 13 youngsters, many carrying picket signs, marching about in front of the studios of KOCO-TV. The complete caption reads: “Protesting removal of ‘STAR TREK’ from the KOCO-TV, Channel 5, afternoon lineup were members of the ‘STAR TREK Association for Revival (STAR).’ The group showed up one afternoon last month with a petition bearing 106 signa¬tures seeking reinstatement of the popular program, now in syndication across the country. After a brief demonstration, station officials assured the youngsters that ‘STAR TREK’ would be returned to the schedule this fall.”



1975
At some point in 1975, Mike Hodge joins S.T.A.R. In later years Mike would serve in virtually every elective STAR office, and be Chair¬man of STAR’s first SoonerCon in 1986.
The July/Aug. GG is Volume 2, #3; its editor is still Ken Moore. It includes an inter¬view by S.T.A.R.’s Daryl Maxwell with George Takei, at Multi-Con ’75. The main topic of the discussion is the then supposedly imminent STAR TREK movie.