ROCKINGHAM — High school is a period in life that people often look back on with rose-colored glasses, the glory of the big games and the spark of young romances distorting the reality.

Perhaps no one’s glasses are more rosy than the Richmond 20, a group of Richmond Senior High graduates from the first 20 years of the school’s existence from 1973 to 1993. They watched the school grow into a sports powerhouse, and knew Richmond when the textile industry and the railroad made the area ripe for new investments.

Now, they’re trying to bring their class together to energize the county that raised them by doing what they do best: cookouts.

Littlejohn Goodwin, a 1980 graduate of Richmond Senior, along with his wife, Vanessa Goodwin, built a reputation over the years of being able to bring people together. So when their high school reunion came around and the plan was to go to a winery hours away from Richmond County, they had a different idea.

“My ideal reunion is to come home,” Goodwin said. “I didn’t want to be fancy, I wanted to come home to the town we were raised in.”

Goodwin got together with a handful of friends from high school to plan a three-part reunion, starting with a tailgate at the Raiders’ first home football game, followed by a cookout the next afternoon and a dance that night.

When the day came, more than 70 people attended the reunion.

Goodwin has more goals than just reconnecting people with those seen as they scroll through their Facebook timelines. Within the next couple of years, Goodwin hopes to start a scholarship for Richmond Senior High.

“It’s all about friends and family to me,” Goodwin said. “There’s certain things that you don’t want to let go of that easy.”

Last weekend was the second reunion of the Richmond 20. Most high school reunions only come around every five or ten years, but as people age they lose contact or pass away. Goodwin said he wants this to be an annual “ritual” so that people can stay connected.

“I said ‘eventually we got to open this up to everybody’ because I got friends of all ages, creeds, races… That’s me and my wife’s concept now,” Goodwin said. “I can see this thing where there’s tents everywhere around [the football stadium parking lot] on that weekend. Who knows? It may evolve to that: all races, all people in a line tailgating together.

“But if it gets that big, I got to get a committee because this time it got crazy.”

Goodwin has lived in Charlotte since 1985, and said that over the years he had less and less reason to come back to Richmond County as his nieces and nephews migrated to Charlotte as well. This isn’t just one person’s story: Richmond County’s population growth has been relatively stagnant at roughly 45,000 people since 1980 and is now on the decline with a 3.6 percent decrease in population since 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“I know when I was a kid the textile industry was booming so people could stay here, but the jobs moved away,” Goodwin said. “I think my generation started to move away and stay away basically for financial reasons.”

North Carolina is the 12th-fastest growing state in the nation, having increased its population by more than 600,000 people since 2010, according to the News & Observer. Many of the counties in the Southern part of the state have not seen that growth, with Richmond, Robeson, Scotland, Anson and Montgomery counties all seeing net decline in population, records show.

For Horace “Bo” Townsend, a class of ‘80 graduate and a Raider linebacker on the ‘78 championship team, the Richmond 20 was enough to bring him back.

“It feels great [to be back in Richmond],” Townsend said. “It’s something we need to try to do every year because people are leaving this world quick.”

Russell Craig, a class of ‘80 graduate and one of the original group who planned the reunion with Goodwin, said that he believes the Richmond 20 will continue to grow as long as people value the time they spend with one another.

“You’ve got to get people to have an interest in it,” Craig said. “You want to relay the message that, when I leave you today, we may not be able to speak to one another again.”

Reach Gavin Stone at 910-817-2674.

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal Richmond Senior alums dance at the Richmond 20 cookout on Saturday. From left: Alicia Bell, class of ‘81; Cynthia Brunson, ‘82; Denise Brower, ‘82; Belinda Whitley, ‘82; and Deborah Johnson, ‘84.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_richmond20_dance.jpgGavin Stone | Daily Journal Richmond Senior alums dance at the Richmond 20 cookout on Saturday. From left: Alicia Bell, class of ‘81; Cynthia Brunson, ‘82; Denise Brower, ‘82; Belinda Whitley, ‘82; and Deborah Johnson, ‘84.

Gavin Stone | Daily Journal Vanessa Goodwin watches as Eddie Whitley grills wings and burgers for the Richmond 20 reunion on Saturday.
https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_richmond20_grill.jpgGavin Stone | Daily Journal Vanessa Goodwin watches as Eddie Whitley grills wings and burgers for the Richmond 20 reunion on Saturday.
Richmond 20 brings Raider grads home

By Gavin Stone

[email protected]