STAR OKC 1976-1977

 1976

At the January meeting it is decided that “kids under the age of 11 years old won’t be able to join. This is to help prevent chaotic meetings.” So, tell me: Since then, has STAR had any more chaotic meetings?

The March/April GG is Vol. 2, #5. “The new Co-Editors are Paul Smith and Kevin Acers,” and plans are discussed for S.T.A.R. to put on Galacti-Con ’76.

By the Aug./Sept. GG, Renee Upton can be identified as the second President of S.T.A.R. Editor Jennifer Reynolds (no, not the same as the Channel 9 newscaster) says, “We have tentatively set the date of the Con for Sept. 18, 1976.” But President (and Chairman) Upton also weighs in with a plea for member involvement, stating that S.T.A.R. has only two choices: “officially dissolve the Club, or get it back in shape.” She correctly predicts that lack of member involvement will scuttle the chances of Galacti-Con ’76’s success.

Other officers are Secretary Joan Carter and Membership Secretary Jill Kornfeld. Treasurer and Vice-President slots are open.

On September 6, the Oklahoma City Times prints a feature article on founding S.T.A.R. member Daryl Maxwell, titled “Trekkies never eat, they just live on reruns.” According to this article, Maxwell and Renee Upton “say the members number between 100 and 150, mostly of high school age, some college, even some 40s and 50s.” (It’s likely that the 100¬150 number came from attendance at S.T.A. R.’s Galacti-Cons, not from a list of actual members of S.T.A.R. Oklahoma City.) The article continues, “The club meets every month or so at the Bethany Library.”

1977

The Spring issue of the GG includes a trivia contest; a plug for a STAR TREK postage stamp; and a wordsearch game. Third President Jennifer Reynolds identifies herself as “Chief Helmsman of S.T.A.R.Base,” a new Club name. Other helpers on this GG are Ian Shepard, David Moore, and David Morgan. Plans for a Con have been put off for the time being.

In a letter dated May 20, President Reynolds writes to Larry Nemecek of Lexington, OK: “I am delighted that you have chosen to join S.T.A.R.base Ok.C.” You may have heard of this Nemecek fellow as the founder of ThunderCon.

“S.T.A.R.base Ok.C.” — as President Reynolds calls it — has 17 paid members, but only 3 show up for the July meeting. In a subsequent letter to Nemecek, Reynolds writes, “I have decided to resign” in the face of such apathy.

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.

The STAR OKC Chronicles

Preface


To begin with, thanks are due to many STAR members, past and present, but especially to these: Larry Nemecek, Zann Romero Jones, Paul Marek, Mike Hodge and Tamara Baker Hodge, and Larry Jones. They provided written and oral information and reminiscences that helped immensely. Though — standard disclaimer time, folks — this Chronicle’s final form, and any errors herein, are mine own.



This compilation was assembled in fits, spurts, and starts, beginning in 1991, until this date. “S.T.A.R. Oklahoma City” was founded in 1973, over two decades ago. Early documentation is scant. There are folks still in active interaction with STAR — Paul “Blue Devil” Marek and Larry “ThunderChief” Nemecek, for example — who joined before I did. But I, who attended my first STAR meeting in April, 1980, and joined later that year, am the STAR member with the longest continuous tenure. That fact, plus my lifelong bent for nostalgia, are perhaps good enough qualifications for this job of assembling The STAR OKC Chronicles.


Sources for most of the entries have been either notes/minutes of Club meetings, or from STAR’s newsletters, in whatever incarnation. Note that, when the Club’s official newsletter was formally titled the Galactic Gazette, I’ve abbreviated it as “GG.”


Here’s what I chose for inclusion: 1) Whenever possible, Club size and finances. 2) First appearances, when known, of influential members, or topics that later influenced STAR developments. 3) Ironic items, such as the fact that ’way back in 1981 STAR was discussing incorporation. 4) Outside (but still SF/Fantasy related) honors, awards, etc., earned by Club members, when this information was available.


In the entries, I’ve referred to the Club by the name it used for itself at the time of the entry. The Club did not settle on “STAR OKC” until I began using it exclusively as Editor of the STAR News in 1982.


Thanks for reading, and join with me now in a quest for the Future, a quest born in decades past . . .
Mark Alfred