SUPER FAN

This Woodrow Alumnus Is True To His School

High school is death. The worst four years of your life. Once you graduate, you’ll spend years trying to block them out.

Dallas, Texas 75231 214-739-8511

At least, that’s how miserable it was for some of us.

It’s a much different story for a certain alumnus of Woodrow Wilson High School and many who are like him.

KyleRains of Lakewood graduated fromWoodrowin1976 thebest year, he’ll have you know — but he never really left.

“I have never seen him without a T-shirt or a sweater or something with Woodrow on it,” says Don Autry, class of ’63. “You won’t talk to a bigger fan than him.”

Rains took theater in high school, which he says pulled him out of his shell, and he had a part in the spring musical his junior and senior years.

He hasn’t missed a spring musical at Woodrow since his older sister had a part in the late ’60s. But that’s not all. He attends football games, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis matches, swim meets.

He’s there when seniors paint their parking spaces in an annual ritual. He’s at open houses, cheer camp and the homecoming parade.

“We call him ‘Mr. Woodrow’ because he’s the hub of the alumni,” says Kathy Moak, class of ’67. “He knows the families that have gone there and the years they went. He knows where people

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RaceDayRegistrationbeginsat5:00pmattheschool work and how to get a hold of them. He’s a fountainofknowledgeabout that school.” rains was born and raised in the neighborhood,andhelovesithere. but … why is he such a super fan for a high school where he spent four years?

He doesn’t know.

Maybe it’s timing.

When rains was in school, integration was a big problem for DISD. the schoolsweretoosegregatedracially,accordingtotheDepartmentof Justice. So the district was considering busing at Woodrow.

“Our school was already pretty well integrated, and we didn’t want [busing],” rains says. “We wanted them to leave us alone. We had a good mix.” rainsandhisclassmatesfought busing, and a legal battle ensued. It would last more than a decade, and rains says no one ever was bused to orfromWoodrow. rainswasthere through it all. rains might be at the pinnacle of super-fandom. butmanyWoodrow alumni say their alma mater is super special.

He thinks that’s part of what made him such a diehard for his school.

Autry,whonowlivesinLake Highlands,sayshe’sneverused Facebooktolookupformerclassmates. He still knows them all.

“It’s sort of like the high school version of Aggies,” he says. “If you’re an Aggie,andyoumeetanotherAggie, you automatically already have a connection with that person.”

Autry has an aunt who graduated from Woodrow in 1928, the very first class. And he says he’s met Woodrow Wildcats from the 1940s on up through the present, and he can always find something to talk about.

Ifnothingelse,alumnisay,the unique and stately building is enough for most to feel some nostalgia. It has a historical designation and not a few quirky features.

Onethatismentionedagainand again is the third-floor lunchroom.

Autryandhisclassmatesusedto take the stairs two-by-two to get to the head of the line, he says.

“I’veneverheardof a schoolanywhere that has a lunchroom on the third floor,” he says. “I don’t know why it’s like that, but I’m sure the architects had some reason for doing it.”

Moak, who attended Woodrow in the mid ’60s, says she remembers the cafeteria was segregated by gender. Boys were on one side, and girls were on the other. An imaginary no-man’s land at the water fountains separated them. They could see each other, and even holleracrossoccasionally,butthere was no mixing.

Another special quality is the school’s first name. Colloquially, it is always “Woodrow”,likesomeone’sgoodold dog,andnever“Wilson”oreven “Woodrow Wilson”.

Autry’s aunt, who graduated in 1928, told him they always called it “Woodrow Wilson”,buthethinks“Woodrow” caught on around 1930, when a student published a poem in the annual and referred to the school that way.

Inthemid’60s,theLakewood ShoppingCenter was the “center of the universe” for Woodrow kids, Moak says.

They all hung out at Doc Harrell’s drug store at Gaston and Abrams, and saw movies at the Lakewood Theater. But if you had a car, you could go to Charco’s, thehamburgerdrive-in,atHillside Village Shopping Center, she says.

At school, kids got away with a lot. Therewasnodresscode,nometal detectors. You didn’t have to sign in or out or wear an ID badge. They got intosometrouble,butmostly,they were good.

“Even as teenagers, we felt the pride thecommunityhadinthatschool,” Moak says. “The tradition and pride was just there from the get-go, and it still is. I think anyone who graduates from there feels it.”

—RACHEL STONE