When Royal Domingo graduated from Renton High School in 1952, he was the school’s only Filipino, but that didn’t seem to matter much.

What did matter was that you made your way onto a sports team, otherwise you were a zero.

Twice a year Domingo’s class has been holding reunion luncheons to share how things have changed since they graduated from high school and to keep track of who’s still around.

The class not only represents a culture shift over the past 60 years but also a demographic one.

“When I went to Renton High School, those of Asian backgrounds you could count on one hand,” he said. “If you look at Renton High School now, it’s predominately minority students.”

Today, about 32 percent of Renton High students are of Asian descent, while whites make up about 14 percent.

Not only was the school mostly white in 1952, it was also mostly middle class.

“Renton was a blue-collar town,” alumnus Jack Courter said.

Boeing retooled its factory for the Korean War, bringing out families from the Midwest for work.

Today, 60 percent of Renton High students are living below the poverty line.

How did Domingo fair as a minority? Just fine, he said. He played football after all.

He was also a member of the Torch Society and participated in a number of clubs.

While the class had its social circles in high school, it doesn’t matter to them anymore. They’re all as good as friends now.

The reunion lunches are low-key. A group of about 45 meets at Jack’s Pub and Grill in the Highlands.

Covered in high school memorabilia and generations of prep sports newspaper clippings, the restaurant is a good fit.

Alumni shared news about whose grandchildren they’ve met and exchanged notes on who has died.

Maxine Wagner got the idea to start the lunch reunions four years ago, when her husband flew out to Indiana for something similar.

“Everyone wanted to know what happened to so and so,” she explained.

Serious school pride

Loretta Starkovich first started going to Renton High football games when she was in the third grade. Sixty years later, she still tries to make every game.

“When I went to school, sports was a big deal,” she said. “Everybody went to the football games, the whole town.”

The schools were fewer and more spread out, but rooter buses and cars full of students still drove as far as Everett for a game, she said.

Both teams always had cheerleaders, and Renton’s five cheerleaders were elected.

Courter received the honor his junior year. The team had three men and two women, but his senior year he decided the job was a little too feminine for him.

Just as football games were a big deal, so were school rivalries, and Renton’s big rivalry was Highline, Courter said.

Renton’s middle school had a talented quarterback, but before the teen got to Renton High, Highline “stole” him with a job offer to his father.

The janitorial position was contingent on the entire family moving to Burien and the quarterback playing football at Highline, Courter said. “As a result, there was bad blood.”

There were also quite a few bloody lips.

A popular fighting spot for school rivalries was behind the XXX Root Beer on Rainier Avenue South and South Third Street. Students walked behind the power lines to duke it out with fists, he said.

“Rivalries between schools were serious,” Courter said. “Renton was a tough place.”