The Life and Death of a Playboy And Classmate | Eastern North Carolina Now

Be Careful what you Wish for - you may get it.

    One of my old acquaintances from my previous years at William A. Bass High School in Atlanta was Jeryl Hensley. Jeryl was about five years older than I was. He graduated from Bass in 1958. He went to my Grammar School (Mary Lin) and later to Bass. He was crazy even in high school

    He was a football star in High School and later went on to Georgia on a football scholarship. He was a big guy in high school and my best memory of him playing football was when he played onthe kick off team. Jeryl's job was to break the blocking element of the returning team. The formation back then was to line up about four guys side by side and run down the middle of the field. The receiver would run behind them and break to right or left depending on how the blocking formation moved the kickoff team.

    Jeryl would always line up in dead center of the field and run head long into four guys on the blocking formation. The intention was to take them out of the play. He usually got up with a bloody nose. The facemask of the day was a single bar across the front without any cage. I can remember him coming to the sidelines. From the stands where I was, all you could see was the red blood on his face and jersey but you could not miss his big smile.

    He was a fun loving guy who was always up to something. After his career at Georgia, he returned to Atlanta and became a fixture at the Riverbend Apartments on the Chattahoochee River. Some of you may have been to his disco club. "Jeryl's" It was the place to be in the early1970's.

    In the south, Riverbend was a swinging singles complex located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County. It was arguable the wildest apartment complexes in the Atlanta Area. It was famous for the nude swimming parties and the 24 / 7 party atmospheres. The great Chattahoochee River Raft race went right by Riverbend and often people would paddle to shore and joint the 24-7 party hosted by Jeryl.

    When I returned from the service, I went through several years of PTSD (Post-Transitional-Serious-Drinking). I and a couple of old Bass buddies went to Jeryl's bar. He acted as if he remembered us and sure made us feel at home. We drank free and he always introduced us as the "Bass Boys" from the old neighborhood. He invited us to his parties at Riverbend and I went to a couple but quickly found out that I could not run with the big boys.

    During his ownership of the disco bar, he earned and lost Millions of dollars and even made a movie or two which I never saw but would categorize as soft porn. He lived next to Issac Hayes in the "High End" part of Atlanta. He hob knobbed with the rich and famous including Evel Knievel. After the seventies, he continued in his wild ways but had depleted most of his money. Jeryl never married, which was mainly because he had a weakness for the ladies and very few were willing to marry him but many were willing to share "some time" with him. He kept pictures of most of his conquest in various stages of dress.

    I think I always knew that it was not going to end up good for Jeryl and like most playboys who never grew up, he died alone and broke. Jeryl passed in 2010. He was used up and alone with his memories and pictures. I did not find out until later at one of the reunions of the "Bass Boys". But damn, he sure made a splash in the swinging 70's. You can still see his battered nose and scars from his football days playing without the full-face guard.

    Follow this link: Death of a Swinger for a glimpse at the life of this Atlanta icon.