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The camaraderie among alumni at Gwynn Park High School's 50-year class celebration Sunday was a far cry from the racially charged riots that once shook the Brandywine school's student body almost five decades ago.

Despite chilly weather and overcast, nearly 400 people attended the event, "1960-2010: 50 Years of Progress and Success from Segregation to Integration to Celebration," held at the school.

It felt more like a close-knit family barbecue than a typical high school reunion and featured music, food, dancing and athletic activities.

But even amid the celebration, older alumni such as Bernard Brooks Sr. still vividly remembered the events that marred their youth, yet in many cases also created lifelong bonds.

In 1966, when desegregation became mandatory, fighting erupted between white and black students at the school, prompting 50 parents to pull their children out.

"I got jumped in the parking lot and beat up," said Brooks, a 1970 graduate, who is black. "The fighting went on for days."

The school was later shut down for three days, and state troopers patrolled the hallways when it finally reopened.

Gwynn Park High School was predominantly white until 1965, when a countywide zoning desegregation plan was enacted. By 1966, the black student population was 64 percent. It is 87 percent today.

Students weren't the only ones affected by the turmoil.

"I remember the principal had his throat slashed while trying to break up a fight at homecoming," said Benita Carroll, a 1972 graduate. "Things stayed rocky through my junior year."

The idea to celebrate the progress made since then came at the funeral of Ina Chestnut, mother of four Gwynn Park High School alumni — John, Toni, Pina and Lisa Chestnut.

"Several people said, ‘We've got to get together sometime other than a funeral,'" said Rock Newman, a 1970 graduate who organized Sunday's event. Newman said Wednesday that, with the support of Principal Tracie Malone, the reunion is planned to be held annually.

Balloons in the school colors of gold and black lined about a dozen tables outside. One of the day's highlights was a 20-minute performance by the school's marching band, which elicited a strong sense of school pride that hadn't been felt for decades among older alumni, they said.

Donnee Gray, a 1970 graduate, recalls how despite the turmoil of the 1960s, students and parents of all colors were united by one thing: athletics.

"I always told people if you wanted to rob a bank in Brandywine, do it on game day, because everybody is at the school," Gray said. "It gives me goose bumps to talk about it."

In spite of being one of the smallest high schools in the county, Gwynn Park beat out far larger schools to win three back-to-back state basketball championships from 1968 to 1970, even amid continued student tensions.

"The basketball team gave us a sense of identity and a sense of pride," said Larry Gandee, the school's basketball coach at the time.

Gray remembers the principal saying the athletes would be the ones to help make or break the school's racial tension.

Before 1966, the basketball team was all white, but the following year it became majority black after open tryouts were permitted.

One white player on the predominantly black basketball team was Bob Stark, a 1970 graduate.

He remembers an incident following the riots in which several other white students told him not to talk to black students and to "make a decision." He recalls replying, "I can choose my friends myself, and I guess I know who my real friends are."

Although race-related tension among older Gwynn Park High School graduates has dissipated, one thing that has remained the same is the sense of school spirit among those who survived a historic struggle.

"Black and white is just a skin color," Gray said. "But black and gold is more important."