By James Reynolds

It was the 1976-77 school year, and Ron Longbothum was teaching a group of 15 and 16 year olds about the role of messenger RNA in protein synthesis...or something like that.

Jerry Pancio, a Haskell Parkway resident and guitar aficionado secretly slipped a piece of graffiti paper to nearby friend Boomer Connell, comedian and son to the varsity football coach.

"I like that idea of starting a biology club," Jerry noted.

Boomer replied, "Yeah, let’s create a newsletter, charge dues, and then maybe we can become stars and pick up some chicks.

And so the two sophomore pals began to write what spewed forth from their central nervous systems. It all came together as the Bio Club Newsletter, an underground effort that dishonored the legitimate biology club started by Ron when he was a rookie teacher at Portville Central School in 1963.

Ron didn’t mind the comedy though, he was the teacher who played a copy of the cosmic 60’s song "In the Year 2525" when we were learning about genetic engineering, sperm banks, and the future of Homo Sapiens on planet earth.

The Bio Club president was classmate Mike "Delmo" Milne, but most of the writing was done by the tandem...aliases JP Pancreas and BC Bowels. Other members included MJ Jerkohf (Moke) and Bio Club Investigator MC Chilingsworth (Chili). Other club members included: Mike Sherwin, Bill Murray, Gregg Lafever, Robert Plant, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd, Buck Trent and Joe Snyder.

Artistic efforts of the Pan-Con duo actually began in 1971 during Mrs. Eleanor "Dynamite" Deaton’s 5th grade class, but their talent went pretty much unnoticed until adolescent hormones kicked into high gear a few years later.

"By that time, we had already created a psychotic’s catalog of songs, poems, and imaginary friends that kept us company in the school library and off the streets," recalls Con.

Pan remembers, "What we really needed was a name. So we toyed around with Watson & Crick Productions, Pan-Condom, The Spanish Inquisition, and other reference points that characterized our hormonal and biological urges".

Pan-Con History Continued Here