They called themselves the "Super Chickens," but no one seems to remember why anymore; the background is hazy, along with details about the barnyard bird in the front row of their official Hilo High School class of 1972 picture.

"I'm trying to remember if it was a real chicken or a fake chicken," says Annie Yonashiro, trying to think back 36 years, to growing up in small-town Hilo where all the kids went to the same high school and knew each other virtually from the day they were born.

The class of 1972 had its own cheer, plus a championship basketball team that drew the whole town to the high school gym every Friday. They also had Dirk Yoshino, who sang "American Pie" at the senior variety show, and has been forced to sing it ever since when his band, "Mid Life Crisis," gets together.

And they had what class president Wesley Fujimoto believes comes from the forced simplicity of growing up in a small town, where roots go deep and a big night out means cones at the Dairy Queen.

"For many of us, as we grew up all the way through school in Hilo, we got really close," says Fujimoto, now a Honolulu attorney. "None of us were really rich, so we were always helping each other out."

So it was natural, when classmate Patti Ikeda Tamashiro had a diagnosis of leukemia back in the late 1980s, that classmates would pitch in to help.

In the two decades since Tamashiro's diagnosis, members of the class of '72 have thrown garage sales, fashion shows and gala dance parties, and have even written three cookbooks to raise money for needy classmates and the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Energized by ringleader Yonashiro, they've re-created dance parties from their '70s-era heyday with its Afros and disco, its platform shoes and hot pink halter tops. And they're going to do it again Friday, when they offer another evening of bands and bellbottoms at the Dole Cannery Ballrooms.

In the process, they've helped fund donor drives and provide money for tissue analysis that matches potential donors with those in need of bone-marrow transplants, while watching the registry grow from modest beginnings in the late 1980s to donor rolls of more than 65,000 people today.

Over the years, the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry has made it possible for 289 potentially life-saving matches, says Roy Yonashiro, Annie Yonashiro's husband, who is the recruitment specialist for the registry, as well as lead singer in the band Powerhouse, one of the two '70s bands playing this week.

"When we found out a classmate had cancer, we decided to get together and raise money to try and help pay for the medical expenses," says Fujimoto, remembering the shock of Tamashiro's diagnosis.

"When we talked to her, she said that even more important was this registry she had helped start. She was the one who would go to the Legislature to get funding for the project."

BANDING TOGETHER

Tamashiro's death in the early 1990s only galvanized her classmates to do more. While it was her vision to build a bone marrow donor registry in Hawai'i for the state's multi-ethnic population, it has been her classmates who have spent the years since her death continuing her work. They've organized numerous projects to increase awareness as well as funding.

"We had a garage sale in Kailua," Fujimoto remembers of their humble first efforts. "And then Annie always had a cookbook that she published for friends for Christmas, and she said 'Why don't we do another and have the proceeds go to a fund for Patti?' "

There is still a fund in Patti's name at the registry.

"At the beginning it was just to help Patti," says classmate Carol Lau, now a Bank of Hawaii vice president. "But once the registry started, the funds were designated for that instead.

"The heart and soul behind this has been Annie (Yonashiro)," Lau said. "She comes up with grand ideas, everything from garage sales to fashion shows, nice fundraiser dinners, and '70s music nights. And the cookbooks — most of them were her recipes. And initially, she put out the money herself."

The Hilo classmates held their first successful '70s night dance party at the Dole Cannery Ballrooms last September. They hope the upcoming one will be even more successful, with its chocolate fountain and deluxe nacho bar.

"I think being in Honolulu and having that Hilo connection, that helps," says another classmate, Wayne Tanaka, now head of the Hawai'i office for Massachusetts Mutual. "We've kind of stuck together. When we need help, people have no hesitation in lending a hand."

HELPING HANDS

More than 250 tickets have already been sold, but tickets are still available from classmates in several neighborhoods.

Already Annie is fretting about whether there will be enough food. And chocolate.

Last September, with a full ballroom of dancers and more arriving every few minutes, another group of '72 grads called Hawai'i '72 came to the rescue, she says.

"It's all these people who have done some combined reunions," she says, "and they just stepped in and helped as greeters, and with the whole front reception area, the will-call and the reception desk. They did everything. You didn't have to worry. And they're helping again."

Roy Yonashiro is part of Hawai'i '72, a kind of consortium of grads from seven other high schools including Kaimuki, McKinley, Roosevelt, Castle, Kalani, Farrington and Waipahu.

"We share ideas with them and they give us ideas," says Roy Yonashiro. "For instance, they raised money for a welcome-home party for the troops. And now other classes have been asking advice about how to do a fundraiser. It's really cool."

Roy Yonashiro says he'd love to see other classes or even groups of friends do the same kinds of things Annie's Hilo High class of '72 is doing for the bone marrow donor registry.

TIES THAT BIND

Some of the money raised, he said, goes to pay for tissue typing for patients who can't afford to have all their family members tested for potential matches.

"There are an infinite number of blood tissue types," he noted. "So the more people we sign up, the better, especially ethnic minorities."

This weekend, Roy Yonashiro will also be exercising his vocal chords, getting ready to belt Tower of Power tunes and maybe even something from Chicago or Earth, Wind & Fire. Though some of the band's hairlines may be receding, and they no longer take the bicycle for a big night out, when it comes to Friday, they'll all still be Hilo folks at heart.

"You get closer as you grow older," says Annie, a co-owner of Salon Nanea on Ward Avenue. "When we move to Honolulu and then we see each other, we tend to stick to each other. We went to the 35th class reunion in the summer, and I was hugging people I never even talked to in high school. You feel like that because you're just so happy to see them from so long ago."