Most of us do not remember every detail about our high school graduation. Basically our goal was to show up, await our turn to go on stage, shake the principal’s hand, grab our diploma, and find a party.

That was not the case for the 3,000 members of Class of 1987 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. Their graduation speaker was President Ronald Reagan. With a new “Reagan” movie in theaters, now is a good time to reminisce about a very special day.

It was certainly unusual for a president to address high school seniors, but Reagan had some local connections who made it happen. Chattanooga journalist Tom Griscom was his assistant for communications. Chattanooga native Bill Brock was Reagan’s Secretary of Labor, and Chief of Staff Howard Baker graduated from the city’s McCallie School. Griscom said the president wanted to focus on education, so Brock and Baker convinced him to use Chattanooga as the backdrop.

It was May 19, 1987. Upon landing at the airport, Reagan made a few brief remarks to the media. Then it was off to the main event at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Arena. The first item on the agenda was lunch with some of the county’s top students. They described him as friendly and talkative, saying he didn’t have time to eat much before the program. His speech, delivered to the students and their families, centered on the theme of “Excellence in Education.”

Several presidents had visited Chattanooga in the past, but the Reagan visit was the first in the “live TV” era. By the mid-1980s, all three local stations had the capability of doing remote broadcasts from the immediate area. The commencement program was carried live on every channel.

The president also made time for a visit with some of the area’s top teachers and a session with local newspaper reporters. The questions ranged from concerns over the Persian Gulf to layoffs in the local textile industry, and the man known as “The Great Communicator” fielded them all. He offered polite responses, and said he was ready for another round after each reporter had asked their allotted single question.

As always, the president was accompanied by national news correspondents. My wife Cindy was serving on the university’s staff, and her job was to make sure the reporters had telephones and typewriters. ABC’s Sam Donaldson was the star reporter, famous for shouting questions to the president, who would pretend not to hear him, and then smile and wave as he walked away. Donaldson had written a book called “Hold On Mr. President,“ capitalizing on his brash reputation.

The book was a big seller, and I had bought one a few weeks earlier. Cindy, then six months pregnant, decided she would ask for Donaldson’s autograph in a most memorable way. After he was seated for lunch, she walked up to him, handed him the book and said, “If you don’t sign this for me, I’ll tell everyone this is your baby.”

He laughed long and loud, opened the book and wrote, “To Cindy and David Carroll: Ronald Reagan made me what I am today, an act which he may have come to regret.” On the bus back to the airport, he told the other reporters about the pregnant woman who prodded him into signing that book, laughing all the way. I don’t know if he still tells that story, but Cindy and I do.

Tom Griscom also recalls another memorable aspect of the presidential visit. Chattanooga-based Krystal restaurants set up cooking grills in the airport hangar, whipping up their famous tiny square hamburgers for Reagan and his traveling party. As the food was being loaded onto Air Force One, a Secret Service agent stepped in to prevent the hand-off. The White House physician said the burgers had not been screened. Longtime Krystal fan Howard Baker intervened, personally vouching for their safety. As the big plane lifted off, the leader of the free world gulped down three Krystals with a chocolate shake and fries.

Griscom said, “The retired Air Force One at the Reagan Library in California seems to have retained the faint smell of a Krystal.” That is similar to my car, at least once a week.

David Carroll is a Chattanooga news anchor, and his new book “I Won’t Be Your Escape Goat” is available on his website, ChattanoogaRadioTV.com. You may contact him at 900 Whitehall Road, Chattanooga, TN 37405, or at RadioTV2020@yahoo.com