“Homeboys” Who Made It Circle Back To Dixwell

Some of the scrapbook photos bore scratches, creases and frayed edges. The memories they evoked and the smiles they elicited, were as clear as the day the pictures were snapped. 

Old friends at the ninth annual Home Boys Get Together, a reunion of old-school Dixwell neighbors and classmates who grew up together and then succeeded in the broader world, turned those scrapbook pages together amid handshakes, hugs and boisterous greetings Saturday.

Familiar faces continued to arrive at the Webster Street Elks Club, some from as far away as Virginia, Georgia, and Kansas. The event was 60 years in the making.

Displayed on some tables were photos dating back to the old neighborhood, including images of buildings central to the life of the neighborhood. Images like that of the original Q House …

… or of Winchester School which showed the familiar faces of 12 ​“Homeboys.” Several had passed previous to Saturday’s ninth reunion.

Among the scrapbook photos collected by ​“Coach” Dan Wellington of Kansas City, were sports images of ​“Industrial League” teams comprised of worker-players from a number of industries and manufacturers, which stretched athletic careers beyond high school and college in some cases. 

On another table, neat blue folders for each of the reunion attendees contained memorabilia including a Homeboys reunion CD of over 200 pictures, maps and history of old New Haven. An informational packet of ​“Ortho Info” was also included as part of a health discussion focusing on hip replacements given by Coach Wellington, who described his own challenges in having had two hip replacements.

One of the most important stations at the reunion was the buffet table, prepared by Hamden’s The Catering Company, which provided chicken, fried fish, veggies, and mac and cheese among the offerings; a delicious buffet fit for a gathering of Homeboys.

With what seemed like a permanent smile, reunion attendee John Smith (pictured), now a resident of Wallingford and former Commander of American Legion Post 187, said, ​“These guys represent my life line. When we were small we had nothing, and I see that all these guys have done well. This is my family.” Smith also talked about growing up in a community where ​“every mother was our mother.”

That sentiment was also expressed in opening remarks by event co-organizer Jesse Hameen II, (pictured), who is the chair of jazz and rock at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven: ​“Thank God for longstanding relationships. We have learned from each other. We have mentored each other. So many guys coming up, don’t have what we have.”

Another event co-organizer, 73 year old Ed Byrd, who now lives in Virginia, said that despite all the advancements of modern medicine, many of today’s young people will not live as long as his generation because of lifestyle stresses and the pressures of modern life generally.

Joseph Roach (pictured left), a 20-year volunteer with the New Haven Pop Warner Youth Football Program, who received a donation check from the Homeboy Reunion account, presented a brief discussion on the Pop Warner organization and the importance of reaching today’s vulnerable generation: ​“This is the time to get them. We have to reach them when they’re young,” he said.

Traveling from Atlanta by way of Baltimore was attorney Richard Freeman (at right in photo), vice-president of international affairs at Sojourner-Douglas College. Freeman noted the depth of camaraderie among the Homeboys present: ​“These are all dignitaries; some I haven’t seen for 40 or 50 years and you’d still give up your life for them.”

Talib Shabazz, formerly named Gregory Moore, was a UConn Husky. He articulated reasons for the group’s overall success in life: ​“We aren’t the delinquent crowd; most of us went to college. With so much negativity out there, we are trying to leave a legacy.”