Disco Dance by ECU Starbase!

This event, about this time in 1979, was instigated by ECU Starbase, a STAR TREK club at ECU in Ada.

The above is from the Ada Evening News of February 14, 1979.

This photo is from the same general time.  Weren't these folks all young and full of vinegar!?!  See ya next time, fellow voyagers in time!

  

BabelCon - STAR's 1980 Con

"BabelCon I - and so it begins" was the slug line made up for STAR OKC's 1980 Convention.  It was help in the summer of 1980 at OKC's Southgate Inn, on I-35.

Here are the members of S.T.A.R. Oklahoma City in 1979 -- the group that started BabelCon:

 

... And at BabelCon I, my friends, your humble Chronicler makes his appearance.

I don't know how I found out about BabelCon, but I arrived on Friday night of the three-day-affair.  I walked through the small area of panels and dealers.

I came back on Saturday and spent the day.  I brought my STAR TREK scrapbook to show off -- oooh, how cute! -- and was scandalized when somebody offered to buy it off me.  Parenthetically, most of the stuff posted by me during last year's "STAR TREK month" on my Super Blog came from my scrapbooks.

the banquet

On Saturday evening there was an "Ambassador's Banquet."  This was a tie-in to the con's name, BabelCon.  As we all know, Babel was the site of a peace conference referred to several times in Star Trek.  So what better name for the Saturday-night feast?  All the people in costume could be ambassadors!

Ambassador from Landru's Planet

Salt Vampire and what-is-it

Dawn Atkins as a "Fantasy Warrior"

Paul Marek as Poochie; Maxine Franz as the
Pooch Keeper

Next time: more photos from BabelCon -- the con with no shame!  (oh, that's ME that has no shame, sorry)

More Images of S.T.A.R. and Central Oklahoma Fandom in the 1970s

Fellow STAR, and heap-big Smart Guy, Larry Nemecek was featured in 1978 in the Norman Transcript .  At least they called him a "student" and not a nerd or a bigbrain.  Although he qualifies as both.

Sorry not to have a better scan.  You can't really read it.

Here we have a 1976 article from the Oklahoma City Times, using commentary on "those crazy kids" as a tie-in to Starbase Oklahoma City's plans for a Star Trek convention here in OKC.  It features comments from Darryl Maxwell, then 16, who was a member of Starbase OKC (forerunner of STAR OKC). 

The image with the photo of the kid in the STAR-TREK-plastered room is the second half of the article.

Y'know what -- I didn't have those particular pictures on MY bedroom wall, but I DID have a "color in the lines" 4-piece STAR TREK  poster set.

Yes, OF COURSE I still have them.  They're framed on the wall.  Some time I'll pull 'em down for some scanning, and share them with the galaxy.

Our last newspaper image for now concerns a STAR TREK trivia contest that the Oklahoma City Journal ran in conjunction with the 1979 release of STAR TREK: The Motion Picture.

If you'll read the column on the right, which gives the names of the winners (including their home addresses ... how quaint), the names of several then-or-future members of STAR OKC may be read.

They are:

Larry Nemecek

Mark Alfred (yours truly)

Tammy Bothel

Say ... all three of us not only were members of STAR OKC, we all served as Presidents for varying amount of times.

NEXT TIME:  ST:TMP mania baby!

STAR OKC 1978-1979: Years of Portent

 

1978

By March of this year, S.T.A.R.base OKC is meeting on Saturday mornings at 10 AM at the Bethany Library.

The April/May GG opens with a letter from fourth President Paul Marek, who writes, “Our Presidents have been changing over faster than tribbles multiply!” At the May 6 meeting at the Warr Acres Library, he says, “We will be discussing what we’ll be changing the Club’s name to.”

Sure enough, in the June/July GG, we’re back to S.T.A.R. OKC. President Marek writes, “It’s been great having about ten people at the meetings lately. ... The membership cards are ready.” A rank system is in place. “The rank you begin at depends upon how much you know about STAR TREK, which is determined by the STAR TREK quiz now being prepared by our technical advisor, Larry Nemecek.” S.T.A.R. is now meeting at the Belle Isle Library.

The August 10 edition of the Noble News and the August 27 Norman Transcript each have articles on Trekker and S.T.A.R. member Larry Nemecek — don’t call him a Trekkie! Says the Transcript, “He is a member of Starbase Oklahoma City, one of several hundred organizations across the country dedi¬cated to STAR TREK and its revival.”

In September, Nemecek is back to school at ECU in Ada, and there founds Star-base ECU. Members of this Ada club are later members of STAR OKC Cody Clark and Kevin Hopkins.

The Sept./Oct. GG still has Jennifer Reynolds as editor, and includes coverage of Okon ’78 and the first print mention of Dawn Atkins, who led the Phoenix movement that nearly split up S.T.A.R. in 1979.

You had to pass this 5-page test to determine your "rank" in S.T.A.R. OKC in 1978.

In November, S.T.A.R. has a seven-page constitution featuring such topics as a minimum age of 13; a rank system; and offices two years in length, elected in November to take office in January. In an eerie precedent to 1991’s extended wranglings on the same topic, Article V provides for the use of proxies in voting.

You had to pass this 5-page test to determine your "rank" in S.T.A.R. OKC in 1978.

The Nov./Dec. GG includes articles by President Marek, Larry Nemecek, and newcomer Zann Romero. (Zann later married S.T.A.R. member Larry Jones and figured in the 1983-4 near-split of S.T.A.R.) The GG lists these goals for S.T.A.R. OKC:

“— To promote interest in STAR TREK within the OKC area,

You had to pass this 5-page test to determine your "rank" in S.T.A.R. OKC in 1978.

“— To keep people informed of STAR TREK’s progress through monthly meetings and bimonthly newsletters,

“— To enjoy the fellowship of other science-fiction fans.”

You had to pass this 5-page test to determine your "rank" in S.T.A.R. OKC in 1978.

1979

S.T.A.R. begins this fateful year with 24 members, including such folks as Dawn Atkins, Eddie Cunningham, Mike Hodge, Paul Marek, Jennifer Reynolds, Larry Nemecek (mainly through correspondence from Ada), and Zann Romero. Paul Marek is still serving his two-year term.

At the January meeting, the Big Debate erupts. The question is whether to keep the Club narrowly focused mainly on STAR TREK, or to broaden its official interests to become a general science-fiction club. Arguments fly back and forth. Some opinions expressed during the discussion are, to quote minutes: “S.T.A.R. attendance is low because of its narrow interests.” “Yes, but S.T.A.R. is a STAR TREK Club, not an SF Club.” But don’t forget that there’s a new STAR TREK movie coming out this year (I quote here) “O ye of little faith!” Finally, after a 6 to 5 vote, attendees to this Meeting of Doom vote to become a general SF club, and they select the name Phoenix. Dawn Atkins is the initiator of the whole shift in di¬rection.

The Jan. GG states that the Club has changed to include “Science Fiction, Fact, and Fantasy.” The old name is “cancelled” and the new name is officially Phoenix. Officers are President Paul Marek, Vice-President Dawn Atkins, and Business Manager Tony Frazier. Whether Dawn and Tony had been elected to the same two-year terms as President Marek cannot be determined now.

At the February 3 meeting of Phoenix née S.T.A.R., the identity controversy draws 15 attendees. After much debate, the S.T.A.R. name and orientation are reaffirmed, and “it was decided that PHOENIX and S.T.A.R./ OKC would go their separate ways.”

On February 24, the separate Phoenix club has its first meeting at 1:30 PM, drawing 11 attendees. Its officers are President Larry Jones, Vice-President Greg [Smith?], and Treasurer Dawn Atkins.

March brings the first and only issue of the Phoenician, which includes info on the amoebalike division, and a phone list of folks like Dawn Atkins, Mike Hodge, Paul Marek, and Jennifer Reynolds. This indicates that the Clubs are not competitors, but share common members.

Phoenix and S.T.A.R. meet at the same place — the Belle Isle Library — and date, the new group at noon and S.T.A.R. at 2 PM, so the many common members may attend both. But trouble is brewing in Birdland. Notes from Phoenix’s June meeting show how the fledgling club is disintegrating: “Vote not taken, all members not present, [President] ‘Larry isn’t here.’ Officers not elected or appointed, but decisions being made by the ‘acting officers.’ No minutes taken. Procedures break down.” Or, as Yeats said, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”

July’s S.T.A.R. newsletter bears the one-time-only title Infinite Diversity, also the name of a new “serious discussion group” begun by Zann Romero. A popular topic for this after-meeting group, mentioned several times, is “Has Kirk violated the Prime Directive?”

August sees the ignominious end of the misnamed Phoenix, with the en masse resignations of President Jones, Treasurer Atkins, and Vice-President Greg. We can only hope that the strait-and-narrow “Keep the TREK in S.T. A.R.” members don’t rub it in too much. However, when Mark Alfred joins S.T.A.R. a year later, Dawn Atkins is described to him in terms applicable to the Devil’s Daughter.

In 1979, Ace publishes a paperback titled A Star Trek Catalog, by Gerry Turnbull. On page 81, in the chapter “The Clubs and Organizations,” we find the following listing: “STAR — Oklahoma City, Daryl Maxwell, 2205 Markwell Place, Oklahoma City, OK 73127.” Turnbull credits the Star Trek Welcommittee for his listings, which, to judge by the mention of Daryl Maxwell as S.T.A.R.’s contact person, is a wee bit out of currency.

In November, new officers are elected.

For the December 7 release of STAR TREK: The Motion Picture, S.T.A.R. puts out flyers at theatres. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Journal runs a STAR TREK Trivia Contest in conjunction with STTMP. Among the winners of various prizes are S.T.A.R. OKCers Larry Nemecek, Theresa Wilson, Mike Fair, Tammy Bothel, and soon-to-be S.T.A.R. Mark Alfred.

NEXT:  more images from the S.T.A.R. 1970s bin