The Esquire Club of Stockton
The decade of the 60's ushered into America's Consciousness: The decade of
the 60's ushered into America's Consciousness: The Vietnam War; the Black
Panthers; freedom marches; sit-ins; boycotts; urban burning ; escalation of racial
unrest; Martin Luther King, Jr; Cassius Clay / Mohammed Ali; John F. Kennedy;
Malcolm X; Robert F. Kennedy; desegregation; busing; a noticeable increase in
the number of Black public office holders; Afro's; Afro-American; ethnic
self-identity; racial pride; racial exploitation social, political;, economic and
educational improvement for Blacks (limited) the Civil Rights Amendment of
1964, and THE ESQUIRE CLUB of Stockton, CA,



The Esquire Club was the brainchild of a group of bored but enterprising young  
Black men. The Esquire Club was established at a time when Stockton was not
unlike the cities of the southern States. Racism was prevalent; segregation was
the accepted practice of the times; Blacks and other minorities were
discriminated against as related to housing, public facilities, social life,
entertainment and public access. Generally, Black people could not purchase
real estate north of Harding Way.



This was a time in Stockton's history when there were relatively few Black
professional career persons living within the Stockton City limits. Those few
black professional who were fortunate enough to have decent jobs either could
not, or would not reach out and help their brothers and sisters. The education
system was segregated and had only a few Black teachers and even fewer
Black administrators. It was under these conditions that, spearheaded by
Mansfield Adonis Ready, the Esquire Club came into existence.



Mansfield was an entity ahead of his time. He was a visionary before the term
was coined. He dared to dream of good things for Black people in Stockton. It
was with Mansfield's dreams in mind that in January 1961 the Esquire Club
formed and wrote its original Constitution and By-Laws. As can be seen in a
copy of the original , the founding members were:

Linwood Bagby

Arell Burke

Alfred Bonner

Earl Durham

Cleveland Edwards

Calvin Jackson

Ennis McDaniel

Harry Morris

James Parrish

Mansfield Ready

Benjamin Reddish

Bryant Williams


Of the original twelve,  Cleveland Edwards and Benjamin Reddish have
maintained continual membership.



The career background of the original group was as diverse as it is today. The
membership included representatives from: civil service; the medical
profession, private business, politicians; public education; higher education; law
enforcement; social work; the corporate world; real estate and other areas of
endeavor.



From the beginning, the Esquires were determined not to be primarily a social
club dedicated to wining and dining but rather a club that would also concentrate
on social action. Realizing that the Club alone could not resolve all the societal
problems of the day, they decided to place a major emphasis on assisting the
youth of Stockton. This goal is stated in the preamble of the Constitution and
By-laws.



Originally the Constitution limited the club membership to a maximum of twelve;
however, over time the restriction was removed.

The club  struggled to establish a vision during the first two years. Equally
important was developing a means to achieve the vision. The members had only
looked to themselves for financial support and found that to be inadequate to
fulfill the vision that they were constructing. Thinking caps were donned and
brains worked overtime to come up with a plan of action. Then it came to them!
This is a community based organization, developed for the purpose of assisting
youth in the community first and foremost, and secondarily taking on other
projects within the community ; why not provide ways for the community to help
themselves? The idea was to plan functions and activities that would provide
entertainment for the community who were willing to support worthy causes. At
first the group sponsored two annual affairs: A Masquerade Ball was presented
as a fund-raiser earlier in the year, followed by a Christmas Party in December.
The December outing was free of charge by invitation only. This was the
Esquire's way of saying thank you to their supporters and patrons.



By June of 1963, the Esquires were able to initiate the first installment of their
dream. The Club presented its first scholarship to a graduate of a Stockton
Unified School District High School. The recipient of this Historical Scholarship
was Miss Evelyn Ivy, a graduate of Edison High School. Miss Ivy went on to
graduate from the prestigious Stanford University.



From 1963 on, the Esquire Club provided at least one $500 scholarship to a
Stockton Unified School District graduate. There was no gender bias; the
scholarship was awarded to males and females.



The year 1963 was also the year that the Stockton community experienced the
First Annual Esquire Scholarship Award Presentation Luncheon. The cost of
admission to the initial affair was $1.50. That amount would not pay for a soda
today.



In 1964 the Esquires held their first scholarship fund raiser. It was held on
Saturday. November 28, 1964. The event was acclaimed, a Masquerade Dance
and Show, an Esquire Presentation. It was held at the Stockton Civic
Auditorium. The price of admission was $3.00 per person. The Masquerade
Ball was the Esquire Club's major fund-raiser until the mid-seventies.



The Club also sponsored an Annual Formal Ball, which served as a gratuitous
function for friends and sponsors of the Esquire Club.



The Masquerade Ball was later dropped and the Annual Ball became the major
fund-raiser and social function sponsored by the Esquires.

Esquire Membership Roll

Linwood Bagby (1961) (d)

Arell Burke (1961) (d)

Alfred Bonner (1961) (d)

Earl Durhan (1961) (d)

Cleveland Edwards (1961)

Calvin Jackson (1961) (d)

Ennis McDaniel (1961) (d)

Harry Morris (1961) (d)

James Parrish (1961) (d)

Mansfield Ready (1961) (d)

Benjamin Reddish (1961)

Bryant Williams (1961)

Clifford Weaver (1963)

Ellis Cooley (d) 1963

Floyd Weaver (1964)

Bobby Smith (1970)(d)

Claude Brooks III (1989) d

Cleveland Culliver (1978)

Sidney Wadley (1972)

John (Woody) Williams (1974) (d)

Leon Ross (1974)(d)

Leonard Cayton (1976)

Don Malone (d)

Sam Williams 1978 (d)

Herle Maynard (d) 1979

Albert Taylor (1980)

Harvey Collier (d)

John Coilton

Lonnie Cook (d)

John Diamond

James Felton (d)

Elbert Holman

Eugene Maynard 1982

Fred McClendon (d)

Billy Simms

Woody Smallwood (d)

Ron Teague

Reginald Thompson

Carl Toliver

Uly Williams

Rondy Scippio (1994)

Tony White (1994)

Edward Jackson (1995)

Lemuel Williams (1996)

Ron Small (1998)

Vonzell Graham (2000)

John C. Williams

Eric Davis

Will Sanders

Ed Brown

Doug Martin

Kenneth Bunns (2005)

Ken Davis (2009)

Bernard Missouri (2009)

Steve Jackson (2010)

Thornell Washington (2012)

Wayman Strickland (2015)

Derrick Hentz (2016)

Grigsby Anthony (2017)

Damon Thompson (2018)

Lynden Price (2018)

Jacob Davenport (2019)
Self Determination
Sponsorship
Our Children Are The Future
Scholarships
Unity
Self Determination
No Man Is An Island
Tutoring
Cultural Enrichment
Sponsorship
Our Children Are The Future
Scholarships
Unity
Self Determination
No Man Is An Island
Cultural Enrichment
"Our perpetual promise is that we will be ever committed to improvement of the quality of
life in the community through promoting diverse education, health, civic, cultural and social
programs and activities, with initial impact and concentration directed towards youth."
Decades of Community Service
Since 1961
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