My Journey Book I

My Journey by Reginald Allen

My life began September 19, 1952. I was born, in Los Angeles, California at around 7:30 in the morning. I grew up in Watts, also known as the Inner City. When I was 5 years old I attended 79th Street Elementary School on McKinley Avenue. As a kid it seemed like a giant school. I started kindergarten in 1959. I went through first grade and then the second grade. I then began to see I had a slight problem. By third grade I struggled more. By the fourth grade I definitely knew there was a problem because I was not catching on with reading and spelling as quickly as my other classmates. The teachers started separating the slow students from the fast students. I noticed the teachers would not help the slow learners as much or stay as long. They spent more time with the students that caught on more quickly.

Reginald’s grade school picture

I hated myself for years because I felt like I was a dummy, not being able to catch on with reading and spelling. I could read some but not as good as the other students. It was a real struggle growing up as a functional illiterate. I was ashamed. Kids would tease you. I found myself sitting in the back of the classroom because I didn’t want the teachers to call on me to read anything. My reading was slow and the kids that read fast would laugh and tease you. It made me feel very low. I know today there are children having the same problem I once had.

Going through life was hard because being a functional illiterate people don’t understand when you don’t read well or spell well. You have to read street signs to get around and you just need to be able to spell. The teachers just kept passing me on through 4th, 5th and 6th grades and on to junior high school. I was not ready but that is when I started learning how to fake it. It was something I had to learn to do. It took a lot of know how to fake it. When somebody asks you to spell something, you have to say you are not sure. Names are spelled differently from one person to the next. The English language is really hard to catch on to if you don’t learn it at an early age.

I went to Edison Junior High School on 65th and Hooper Avenue. The year was 1964. We were becoming teenagers. It got worst at trying to hide the illiteracy. Once again I would always sit in the back of the class, never wanting to sit in front. Teachers would call on me and I would rebel. That was one way I tried to get out of reading in class. When the teacher would call on me, I would act smart, they would get upset and would either send me to the principal or give me swats. I had no choice but to rebel and get into trouble because that would get me out of having to read in class. I thought I was slick. I had to take swats sometimes but it got me out of having to read in front of the class. All my friends could read very well and the girls I knew read very well but I had to keep faking it.

Now I was still being passed, not because I deserved it, but the system worked that way. It apparently is still working the same way because illiteracy is still prevalent in today’s society as there are a lot of kids who can’t go to college because they cannot read. Some are illiterate 100%. Some are functional illiterates like I was. I did try but I would get frustrated because I could not make out the syllables. I just did not understand how to break them down. I would get frustrated and say the hell with it, and continued faking.

I got through Edison Junior High School faking. I would cut class a lot especially on test days because I just didn’t feel that I could do it. I did not want to get embarrassed by failing the spelling test. My mother used to get on my case a lot when she would quiz me before the tests on Fridays. She did not realize and I did not know how to tell her that I just could not pick it up. I don’t fault my mother because I should have been strong enough and told her and maybe I could have gotten some help. This is the main reason I am doing this chapter, telling the story about how I came up as a functional illiterate. I hope this helps someone out there like me who feels trapped and cannot see a way out, continuing to connive and fake your way through life. I faked my way through junior high school. I was popular. The girls liked me. I was terrified of the girls. I would lose them to somebody else because I would take too long to approach them. I tried to stay away from people because I did not want them to ask me to read something. If I had a feeling that something like that would happen, I would try to avoid that situation by not talking to that young lady. A lot of times it came up and sometimes I just refused to do it. I would say I had a headache or my eyes hurt; some excuse that did not really get over but I used it anyway. Nobody every asked me if I had a problem with reading - nobody. I know some of those excuses I gave threw up red flags but no teachers or anyone picked up on it.

At Edison I was a trouble maker. This is not a good way to be because people think differently about you. They are not seeing the real person and that you are putting on an act. If I could have read, I would have accomplished so much more. I had a music class in school but then they would give you sheet music. I could read some of it but then I would stumble and so I got out of that class. In the 8th grade I got into a fight and the school got tired of me being a problem so I was kicked out of Edison. I had to attend Brett Harte Junior High on 92nd and Hoover. I stayed there about a week because I got into a fight with the school bully who wanted to test me. I was a functional illiterate but I was afraid of no one. I went from there to Charles Drew Junior High School on Compton Avenue and Firestone Boulevard. This was in 1967.

At Charles Drew I started playing basketball. I met a guy named Raymond Lewis. He turned out to be the greatest basketball player to come out of California. He was such a great basketball player that I hated to guard him. They would put a guy named Duane Bonner on Raymond to guard because Duane stayed in great shape. He was small and quick but he could not guard Raymond. I knew Raymond was special. I remember at the A9-B9 basketball game; they had small A9’s and B9’s who played each other first. Duane, Raymond and I were A9’s but Duane had to play with the smaller A9’s. Raymond and I played with the larger A9’s. The score from the smaller A9/B9 game had to be used and continued when the larger A9/B9 team members started to play. I did not think that was fair but I was not in charge. Raymond told me not to worry. He said I am going to make sure we get this. I knew he had the talent but I did not know he was that great until that day. I was making sure he got the ball and he was hitting 20 footers like it was nothing. The B9’s started crying because when it was our turn to start, the B9’s were leading by 15 points. We came in and beat them by 8 points. That was the first time I had seen anyone cry because they lost a game. Raymond is no longer with us. I attended his funeral and said a few words on camera. He was one hell of a ball player but they spoiled him at Verbum Dei High School and they really spoiled him in college. He was the only guy that I have ever heard of that could park in the Dean’s parking space without getting his car towed away. He was drafted by the Philadelphia 76’ers but when they gave Doug Collins more money than Raymond, he got angry and did something he should have never done. The lesson for the readers is do not walk out on any kind of business matters especially if you have signed a contract. Raymond did that and (to me) the NBA black balled him but they had a legal contract. He could not play for any other team and they would not sell his contract. They tried to renegotiate but he would not listen. He should not have done what he did and he paid the cost for it. He was a bitter man for the rest of his life. He died a bitter man. I will always miss him.

In the summer of 1968, I went to Fremont High School. I was passed on again like always, no one giving a damn if I was qualified to enter high school. I was just sent on down the chain. I went because I was too embarrassed to speak out or call attention to my problem. Now I am more terrified going to high school than going to elementary school. I mean I was just terrified of going to school. If I could have gotten out of it, I would have tried to. I kept trouble stirred up so I wouldn’t be put in a corner of having to read anything, fill out any forms or go through spelling tests. When it came time for the test, I would do something and get sent to the principal’s office. Now I did not have to take the test. I would get a fail but then I did not have to take the test. I just did not want to be embarrassed. The thought of being embarrassed was very terrifying. If there were fifteen words on the test, I might get seven words correct or I might get five correct.

Reginald’s track pictures

Then I got into sports; football, baseball, basketball and a special interest in running track. A friend I grew up with had a brother who ran track. John Smith and I were on the same track team. John Smith became an Olympic Track Star at the Summer Olympic Games of 1972 and he is also a prominent track coach. He has coached Maurice Green who used to be the fastest man in the world as well other Olympic Goal Medalists. The same thing that happened in the classroom happened on the track field. The coach, Gaston Greene spent time only with John Smith because he was his protégé. I ran the 70 yard high hurdles and the 120 lows. I was not fast but I had my technique down.

By playing sports, I had to buckle down with my studies. I wish I had participated in sports in elementary school because it would have made me buckle down and try harder. The teachers did not make me do anything and I would slip out the door whenever I could and there were many times when I slipped out of the door.

I used to be very ashamed. I would cry as a teenager and asked why can’t I read well, why can’t I catch on but I was just too embarrassed to tell anybody. Now this is for anyone feeling the same way – don’t be embarrassed. Ask for help. I am going to put a web site in my book where you will be able to get my phone number and call me and I will definitely try to get the help you need.

I continued through school trying to get a D at least so I could pass the class to continue to run track and play football. In the 10th grade I made first string defense and first string offense. I played the offensive left end and I played a defensive back. In those days you played two positions.. I was good at the sport but I failed a class because the teacher wanted me to read. I got smart and this was a teacher who did not take my stuff so when I mouthed off, she sent me to the principal and gave me a failing grade. When the coach found out, I was ineligible to play football. During the pre-season I was also the punt snapper and the extra point snapper. We never got a punt blocked or an extra point blocked on my watch.

There were times when you had to take a grade slip around for the teachers to sign and so the coaches would know that you were eligible to play. If you got a fail you were ineligible. I had a fail in one class and all D’s in the others. A girl friend of mine signed the teacher’s name and gave me a passing grade. That was another slick thing I came up with. I did that whenever I was failing a class and the track coach never knew. These are the things that an illiterate person must figure out to get by. You are constantly thinking about how to do things without being found out. It is deceiving but you are just trying to survive and surviving is what you are trying to do without being embarrassed.

I got through Fremont but I did not graduate because I needed five credits. I was so frustrated I just said I’m out. That is one big mistake that I made. I would like to tell my story in all the schools in America. I am willing to do that because there are a lot of kids in the same position I used to be in.

I started driving at age 15. My mother and I struggled.. We made ends meet but it was hard. I could not fill out an application to get a job. Whenever I could bring an application home I would. Most places wanted you to fill the applications out there. My mother would help me fill out the applications.

That summer I got job at Griffith Park at Roosevelt Golf Course. I had a good time working there. My mother had gotten married and was pregnant. My brother Kevin Hinton was born who I love dearly. We have a very beautiful relationship. I told my mother to spend her money on Kevin. I will make money for the house and my clothes for school. I did this from age 15 to 18.

I met a special man, Legette McGlover in the summer of 1969 while working at the golf course. After I filled out the application and took the physical, I was in. I just had to be there at 4 a.m. A guy who worked there charged us money for gas and he would pick us up. We rode with him for about a year. Then I bought a car. I did not have a driver’s license because I could not pass the driving test due to my poor reading skills. I drove without a license and got a couple of tickets that turned into warrants. They did not catch me until after I turned 18. Mr. McGlover taught us how to find golf balls at the golf course, clean them up, find a box for them and sell them as new balls. Once you cleaned the golf balls they looked brand new. That was an extra hustle for extra dollars. He taught us how to step on the grass to see if you feel a bump and if you did, normally it’s a golf ball that had been knocked into the weeds, and as a golfer myself I understand that because I have knocked plenty of golf balls in the weeds. He and I became like father and son. When he passed away it devastated me and I cried like a baby. I finally got over it and got back on track.

I am 18 years old now and I go to jail for warrants that I got when I was 15. It was a trip because I was stupid and did not pay the traffic tickets. I could not pay the traffic tickets because I did not have a license and one of the tickets was for driving without a license. I did not have a license because I could not read the tests they would give you at the DMV but now it is time for me to get a driver’s license.

Now I am already dodging bullets. I go to take the test. My mother helped me study for it. The first time I missed about ten but you cannot miss more than five. You get three tries. So the first time I failed. When I took the test the second time I missed eight. I overhead someone talking about an oral test the DMV gives. That was God sent information. Now I did not have to fight my way through a written test that I could not pass but I had to bite my tongue and ask to take the oral test. People at the desk know this test is for people who can’t read well. It took 20 minutes to get the nerve to ask for the test. It might have taken an hour. I’m not sure but I finally got the nerve to ask. The clerk looked at me, I looked at her and then she told me what door to go to. At the oral test, they would play a record and if you knew the answer you would mark the paper. It would say, if you get to a stop sign at the same time with another vehicle, who has the right away? Then it would say A – driver on the left, B – driver to the right, C – both drivers. I knew it was B. I knew the law but I could not read the questions. Another question was if two cars come to a complete stop at a stop sign, the word complete I would not have gotten. I had trouble putting the words together. The oral test fit me perfectly. I just had to have the nerve to go the desk and ask to take the oral test.

There were other things I had to do like filling out applications for jobs. Sometime you could take the applications, sometimes you had to fill them out there. I did not know how to read certain things. I did not know how to spell certain words. I would sit there and I would be so embarrassed. I felt like going into a hole and staying there.

I definitely understand what people who are illiterate today are going through. I call it being slow. They just don’t pick up as quickly as others. That is just the way it is. They cannot help it. Everybody can’t pick up on things as quickly as others. I made sure my daughter could read. She is a very good reader. I am very proud of that. Now I am starting to share my experiences as a functional illiterate. Filling out applications for jobs was a hard thing if they didn’t want you to take the application with you. If I could take it with me, I would get someone I could trust to help me fill it out.

I remember one particular incident. Henry Byrd and I were trying to get jobs at Norris Industries. That was the longest job I held. They let us take the application with us. Now Henry Byrd (who I had known since age 10 and who died 10 years ago from alcoholism) could read and write. We went to school together. I could not understand why he didn’t make anything out of himself. All of our other friends could read. They would be messing up in school. They could have been A students. Here I am I would love to have been able to read but I couldn’t say anything to them, like why are you wasting your life doing this when you could get good grades and go to college.

Every functional illiterate has their own way of dealing with it. There are a million things to do but you have to figure it out. It is so much to think about. It hurts to think about what I had to go through throughout my life. It was really hard. I hid it very well I have to say. There were times I would get caught. Like I said everybody has their own way of trying to figure this out because illiterate people don’t know other illiterate people because they are hiding it from everybody. They hide it from each other. It is not like we can see it and we go to each other and say let’s try to help each other. It doesn’t work like that. Everybody is to themselves and they don’t want anyone to know. All they know are the people who can read well; like Henry Byrd who wasted his life after being heartbroken three times. It only happened to me once for which I am grateful.

Getting back to my work experiences; after working at Griffith Park from ages 15 to 18, I applied for a job at the Forum. My cousins, Michael Madison and Anthony Bowers (who have passed away since then) helped me fill out my application. I could confide in Tony. We were very close until the end of his life. I got the job working the graveyard shift. I tried it but I was still attending school. The foreman caught me sleeping. I needed that job because I did not want to find another job and go through the application process. A person can only take so much embarrassment. I never wanted to do any harm to myself, I never got to that point but it makes you feel pretty low especially when you get caught in one of your plans that backfire. An illiterate person is in worse shape than a functional illiterate. I commend them and I promise I am going to do everything I can to help any and everyone who asks for my help.

I told the foreman, I can’t work graveyard shift and I would have to quit. He said I like you Reggie and I don’t want you to quit. He said let me try to find something else that you can do. I was working Events at the Forum which was nice. I was so happy because all I had to do was come to work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I worked while the Lakers and Kings played. I worked during the circus. I used to sweep the court during halftime. I always tried to be finished before the teams came back out. I didn’t finish in time once and the players came out. Now I’m on the court with the Celtics and Lakers – John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West. They did not get mad at me for being late. So me I said I did not get in trouble, let me do this the next time and see what happens. I did it again and was all between the ball players while they warmed up. They were talking and joking with me. It was a thrill. I got tired of working weekends though. The rodeo and circus really wore me out because they would do two shows Friday, two shows Saturday and three shows Sunday. Rebelling again, I quit.

I bummed around a little bit before I found another job. My unemployment ran out. That is when I got the job at Norris Industries. I am still struggling with reading. I didn’t care anymore. I would not go to work half of the time. I just didn’t want to be there. I praise my little brother because he goes to work every day. He thinks I am a hell of a guy and admires me. I tell him, there are things you do that I admire you for doing like going to work every day. I asked how do you do that? He said I like that fat check when I get paid.

I starting working for a friend of mine, Big Black, real name Bobby. He taught me how to dress, all about wearing cologne. All the while I am still struggling with reading and nobody knows. I am 21 or 22 years old by this time. My uncle Willie taught me a lot but he never knew I could not read. Nobody knew. I hear that from everybody. Now when people that know me read this story, it is going to blow them away because no one ever knew. I was a good faker; that is what I call it. It is not really that though, it is trying to survive and it was not easy. You go places and think something will happen it doesn’t. You are some place and think everything is cool, when something comes up. You never know when someone needs help in spelling something and then asks you.

I kept on dealing with the circumstances in my life and I kept going forward. I started hanging out with a friend named Johnny and I met my girl and she has been watching my back ever since. That was 31 years ago. She taught me how to read. It was something about the way she explained it to me and how she broke the words down. I understood much better something that teachers, the ones that took an oath to teach the young kids, did not accomplish when I was a student. Teachers have an obligation to teach you what you don’t know. They should make sure everyone is taught. If they don’t have the time, they should be sent to someone who has the time and not just keep passing them along from grade to grade. I resent the teachers that did that and every teacher that is still doing that. I know they do not get paid what they should get paid. I resent the teachers who did not see that I and others had problems and did not try to get extra help for us. We did not need to go through our lives embarrassed and tense all the time.

I have to say this about the teachers back in my days and probably still; they were inconsiderate, heartless and lacked compassion. They did not care about the students they passed on through the system knowing we were not ready. They should have taken more time with us instead of putting us in a circle of slower learners. I resented that and I cannot understand how a person can call himself a teacher and not try to teach everyone. It just does not make sense to me. They did not care about what we were going to have to deal with later on in life. It is pure hell what illiterate people go through. I did not start trying to improve my reading skills until I was 24 or 25 years old. Then it started to click.

Slugout Clinic from left to right, Darrell Thomas, Blue Moon Odom, Mike Cuellar, Jim Mudcat Grant, Tommy Davis

My goal in life is to help the illiterate children of today. I tried very hard with my SLUGOUT program in 1989. Mudcat Grant and I did SLUGOUT programs in different cities. SLUGOUT is a baseball clinic. We get local sponsors and ex-major league ball players like Tommy Davis, Willie Stargell, Catfish Hunter, Jim Mudcat Grant, Darrell Thomas, Bill Madlock, Al Oliver, Bobby Bonds, Billy Williams, my good friend Tommy Agee who is no longer with us, Rudy Law and Lee Lacy. We would teach substance abuse, illiteracy and baseball. I flew all over the country putting on these programs. What was most special was the kids would write letters about how they enjoyed the program. In my SLUGOUT chapter I will tell you all about this and show you articles. I could not write them back at the time because I still could not spell very well. I would have my wife write the letters for me. We kept in touch for a while.

Reggie Allen and Mudcat Grant putting on a clinic

I am listening to Barry White, who is no longer with us. I did not see him all the time. I miss him because I know he is gone. He was a big part of my life. He treated me excellent.

Norman Whitfield, Barry White and Reggie Allen

I happened to be watching a movie the other night and it was showing a high school prom and then the graduation. In between the prom and the graduation everybody wants you to sign their year book. Being a functional illiterate you can’t spell well and you can’t write what you want to because you can’t spell it. It was like going through a gauntlet. I had to come up with different excuses why I was not signing a person’s yearbook. I had to do this when I graduated from elementary school, junior high school and high school. There is no yearbook in elementary school or junior high school that has something that I wrote in it because I could not do it. It is very hard to talk about this because it brings back sad memories. I would write my name and they would want me to write something more. I would have to decline. It was strange to them that I did that. They thought I didn’t like them but they had it all wrong. I just was handicapped and could not do it. I started practicing the words that I would write like have a nice life, God bless, Reggie Allen. I studied it like crazy until I could spell it. That is what I would put in everybody’s book. It took me until high school before I figured that out.

I went through most of my young days embarrassed, hurt and angry at myself, feeling sorry for myself but one thing I could say, I did not let that stop me. I kept figuring out a way to do things and I got the job done to reach the status that I am at today.

I had to put that little story in there because it made me think back because I had forgotten all about the incidents of signing yearbooks. I am glad I remembered that and hopefully I will remember other important embarrassing moments because I want the illiterate children to know to ask for help. You have to let your guard down and quit feeling sorry for yourself and just go for it. Talk to somebody about getting help. I was ashamed and did not ask for help. I got caught. I went through a lot of pain. I really did not want to tell about this part of my life. This was the last thing I thought I would have to talk about – being a functional illiterate. It is very hard but I am telling this story because I want people who are illiterate or functional illiterate to ask for help and get help. Don’t be afraid. I was afraid and that is why I went through so much turmoil. Don’t do what I did and I hope this book and my story will encourage you to seek help. Be strong. Don’t be weak like me.

This is July 2, 2005, Saturday, 3:50 a.m. On Friday July 1, 2005 Luther Vandross passed away. He had a stroke a few years ago. On an award show he sung a few notes and I thought he was getting better but this is the way it goes. I have been going through this since I have been working on this book. My life has been up and down for the last six years. The book is dedicated to my godfather, Cholly Atkins but I also have to add Lenny Mayes and Luther Vandross for sure. This is the way it goes when you meet famous people and befriend them. It is a hurting thing but I will be okay. It is very hard though. As I have been doing this book, a few people have left us that were very dear to me but I will keep on until I get this book done.

I am really sorry about Luther Vandross. I am doing a tribute to him right now, listening to The Power of Love. God bless your soul Luther Vandross. You are up there with Cholly Atkins, Lenny Mayes and all the others you were here with at one time. Enjoy yourself my brother. One day I will see you again.

The Beginning of My Journey with Side Effect Because They Were Always There

12/24/2003

This is Reggie Allen interviewing the first group that took me out on the road and started my adventures. I have here Gregory Matta, my play cousin, who I have known since elementary school. And I have the other member of Side Effect, Louis Patton, a friend for the last 30 years. We will start the questioning here for my book, My Journey.

REGGIE: Gregory, do you remember when we ran into each other again after being separated about 10 years?

GREGORY: Yeah, I remember what brought us back together Reggie. I remember that vividly. You called me at my mom’s house and said you saw me on Soul Train.

REGGIE: No before then. I was at a club where you all were doing a talent show. I heard you were with a group called Side Effect but I hadn’t seen you.

GREGORY: At Imperial West?

LOUIS: One of them.

REGGIE: You all were going to the clubs that were having talent shows. I ran into you guys and we exchanged numbers. Then we started keeping in touch. You invited me to ride with the group in a limousine to an affair. You and I were inseparable after that.

Side Effect, Greg, Augie and Louis

GREGORY: Exactly.

REGGIE: Every time you went somewhere, a record signing or whatever, I was there. Do you remember the benefit where Side Effect performed with Minnie Ripperton and Steve Wonder at the Century Plaza Hotel? Minnie Ripperton died about six months after that.

LOUIS: I remember that because we did a thing at the after party with Sammy Davis Jr., Muhammad Ali and Harold Rollins. Barry White and Steve Wonder closed the show.

REGGIE: I also remember when you said do you want to meet the Dramatics?

GREGORY: Yeah and let me say, we had the same