GREENFIELD — In front of Doug Mayo’s home are two flags: the American flag and the United Federation of Planets banner.
But that second flag is more than just fantasy for Mayo, who is “commanding officer” of the Greenfield-based, USS Nelson Chapter of the world’s largest Star Trek fan club. Besides founding this club, Mayo has been regional coordinator of the New England Region 15 branch of Starfleet, the International Star Trek Fan Association.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first broadcast of the iconic television series, which ran for 79 episodes from Sept. 8, 1966 to June 3, 1969, and spawned several feature fims and television series sequels.
And for Mayo — who was born with cerebral palsy — the science fiction show was filled with life lessons about overcoming obstacles and finding ways to bridge communication gaps with those who are from different worlds.
“I started watching because it was a show of inclusion,” said Mayo. “Whether or not people are disabled, that message of inclusion resonates with them, as it does with people around the world.”
When he was born 2 ½ months prematurely, Mayo was considered a “miracle baby” because he was not expected to survive. Until he was 5 years old, he could not walk or talk, he said.
Mayo said he was slow in learning how to read, but once he could, “it was like a light switch had turned on.” His preferred reading included a series of Star Trek book adaptations of the TV shows.
One of Mayo’s first political actions was to join a massive letter-writing campaign to save Star Trek. At age 10, he was one of several thousand writers who urged NBC not to cancel the show after its third season.
The show was canceled, but when it went into syndication, Mayo watched the reruns over and over on weekday afternoons.
As a teenager, Mayo, lifted weights to strengthen his body from the cerebral palsy, and then was badly injured in a car accident when he was 18. Mayo said he had swerved to avoid a collision with a drunken driver, and his car hit a tree. His back was broken and an ankle was crushed. “For the second time, I was told I was never going to walk again,” he said. Mayo said he swung both legs out of the bed, tried to stand up, then fell.
“Don’t ever tell an 18-year-old he’ll never walk again,” Mayo said. “Again, I felt myself rising to the challenge of believing and seeing how Star Trek could make a difference.”
Mayo said Star Trek plots were about meeting aliens and learning how to speak and overcome challenges.
“For me, that message was personal,” he remarked. “For me, I was into weaving Star Trek into everyday life — but not in a way that forces it down people’s throats.”
Besides overcoming his own physical challenges, Mayo went on to work with troubled teens and with mentally challenged people in a group home. In working with teens, he said, “I often used Star Trek as an educational tool to strive for something more, to accept what may appear to be different and to take risks. When I worked with developmentally challenged individuals, I used the Star Trek universe once again to teach valuable lessons about communication and conflict resolution.”
In an essay he wrote in 2002 for a fan magazine called “Trekkers,” Mayo stated, “Here was a world, through a story, that challenged humankind to rise above physical appearances, to work together as a team for a greater good — something I had wanted on a personal level all of my life.”
Now 57, Mayo still walks, often three to five miles a day, despite a fused ankle and a compression fracture in his lower back.
Today, Mayo’s home includes a Star Trek room filled with memorabilia, certificates of achievement and service awards earned by him and the 22-member Greenfield-based fan club he founded in 2006.
The items include cabinets full of Star Trek books and costumes that are made to fit Mayo, from the Star Trek episodes and movies. Mayo has autographed photos from several actors that he met at Star Trek conventions. His collection includes Star Trek toys, garden gnomes, action figures, pewter models of spacecraft from the Franklin Mint and collectible Star Trek Christmas ornaments.
The collection is not a hands-off display. “For me, personally, I like to look at things. This is a living collection. Everything that comes into this room, I like to look at, and share them with my friends,” he said. Also, he sometimes donates items from his collection for charitable auctions.
For Mayo’s 50th birthday, he and his wife of 34 years, Ann, traveled to a Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, where he collected several autographed photos and birthday greetings from some of the Star Trek casts and crews.
Last month, the Mayos went to Las Vegas again for a convention celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original series.
One of Mayo’s favorite photos is a 2004 photo taken of Mayo with the late Leonard Nimoy during a United Fan Convention in Springfield.
“He was a real joy, as a matter of fact,” Mayo said of Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original TV series and in several subsequent films. “They had him in a room where they ushered you in, one at a time.” Nimoy had just come back from a lunch break, and he offered half his sandwich to Mayo’s wife. “She said no, but it was that kind of generous essence of Star Trek — and of the man. ”
“It was a wonderful time,” Mayo said of the meeting. “He made that gesture, when he didn’t need to. He was a real person. That was the latest picture I got with him. But it was not the only one.”
Mayo, who is also chairman of the Greenfield Democratic Town Committee, said the Greenfield Star Trek fan group will be meeting later this month to celebrate the anniversary.
The U.S.S. Nelson can be found on Facebook.