FRESNO – More than 40 years later, C. Thomas Howell and the other stars of the 1983 film “The Outsiders” returned to where it all began: Lone Star Elementary School.
This past Friday, Sept. 12, Howell, Leif Garrett and Darren Dalton returned to Lone Star Elementary School in Sanger to meet with the students who inspired the creation of their film “The Outsiders.” In 1980, several eighth graders and librarian Jo Ellen Misakian signed a letter to director Francis Ford Coppola, inspiring him to turn the 1967 novel from S.E. Hinton into a film.
So when Howell and his fellow actors returned to Fresno for a screening of “The Outsiders,” they of course had to make a stop at Lone Star Elementary School to see the students who spurred the film’s creation. As they reunited 42 years later, it was a special moment for former students such as Marvin Pippig.
“Bringing it back to Lone Star is very exciting,” Pippig said. “I hope everyone now realizes that it started in Fresno, California.”
Other students such as Julio Hernandez have spent the past four decades bragging to friends and family about how they inspired the creation of the film, so seeing these actors again was an honor.
“It has come full circle for us. We came to this school, we had this great book that we read and we all got together and signed (the letter) and the next thing you know it’s gonna be made into a film,” Hernandez said. “So it’s just an amazing thing, to see these guys again and to just experience all this.”
Gina Vertson, another former student who signed the letter to Coppola, helped organize the stars’ return to Lone Star. In their return to the school, Howell and his fellow actors took photos with the students and answered questions for the documentary they are filming about the creation of the film.
The actors and students then went into the assembly hall that they had visited more than 40 years ago. Lindsey Bishop Cox, whose mother Kristi Yeramian was the student that came up with the idea to send a letter to Coppola, spoke at the assembly. She gifted the actors stuffed elephants, a reference to the mice sculptures that were gifted to the actors all those years ago.
“The fact that you guys did this so many years later, it really means an absolute lot,” Garret said about the gifts. “You guys really did something special. Thank you very much.”
Throughout this past weekend, Howell and the other actors did the rounds in Fresno. Earlier on Friday, they visited Farber Educational Campus to promote literacy. Later that night, they attended a private party at The Standard Restaurant and Nightclub to meet with their sponsors. And this past Saturday, Sept. 13, Howell, Garrett and Dalton did a meet and greet at Fresno High School where they signed autographs and took photos with fans.
Those fans, as well as many others, then attended a screening of “The Outsiders” at Royce Hall at Fresno High School later on Saturday night. The screening was a part of Howell’s tour for his nonprofit The Stay Gold Foundation. With the proceeds raised from the tickets and merchandise, the money would go towards sending thousands of copies of “The Outsiders” novel to schools in need.
“The Stay Gold Foundation gives me the opportunity to use ‘The Outsiders’ as a platform to travel around the country, to plug into our youth and express the importance of literacy,” Howell said.
Before screening the movie, Howell and Dalton went up on stage to share stories from behind the scenes of the movie and share video messages from fellow “The Outsiders” stars Rob Lowe and Ralph Macchio. Howell also announced that 50 copies of “The Outsiders” novel would be donated to Alicia Estrada-Correa from Wawona Middle School in the Fresno Unified School District.
Howell was also given a proclamation from Fresno City Council, which recognized that Sept. 1, 2025 would now be recognized as “The Outsiders” Day in Fresno. And of course, he recognized Misakian and her students who wrote the letter to Coppola and got the film made in the first place.
“It all began here in a little town called Sanger, California,” Howell said.
It was a full circle moment for Misakian, who attended the screening. While she left Lone Star to teach at Fresno Pacific University some time ago, her connection to the film has stuck with her throughout the years. So getting honored and seeing these actors and her former students again was a special moment for her.
“It makes me want to cry, seeing these wonderful students,” Misakian said. “It’s surreal, it’s amazing and I can’t believe this is happening. I’m like a kid in a candy store.”
