Wow! What an amazing turn out we had this year! Even though we still had COVID-19 precautions and rain chances, we still had an amazing turnout. This year we decided with everything going on to keep it down to a one day event for precautionary purposes.

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Allen Public School, Jeff Hiatt, Jimmy and Candice Wilson, Chad Colbert, and the Allen Fire Department for letting us host Alumni in their facilities and their time donated to the events. We can’t thank you all enough cont Page 2 for helping us keeping the tradition going again this year. None of this would be possible without your graciousness.

This year’s activities included the Nancy McDougal Pancake Breakfast, 3-Point Shootout, basketball, cornhole, golf scramble, softball tournament and finished the night off with some amazing music from the local hit group, The RCB Band. They had special guests opening up and during intermissions, and returning locals that didn’t disappoint either. All of the music was phenomenal and can’t wait to hear them again!

The golf scramble was played in Seminole and was hosted by Calem Woodward. They had a great turnout and it completely booked out. Taking home 1^st place was Heath Baber, Cody Wainscott, Chad Nix, and Dayne Parker. Coming up in 2^nd place was the Brady and Chris Caldwell team. Then finally 3^rd place went to Corby King, Larry Skelton, Brady and Beyla Sorrels. Closest to the Pin award went to Chris Caldwell. Longest Drive went to Tommy Lee Peay.

This event couldn’t be possible without all of its sponsors that donated money for prizes. Those generous sponsors included Weed Tamers LLC, Farmers State Bank, J&S Exchange, Allen Food Center, Allen Advocate, Prentice Oil, Idle Time Campers, and Farmers Insurance. Thank you, Calem, for all the time and effort you put in for this event. The next event we had was The Nancy McDougal Pancake breakfast. Man, if you weren’t at the breakfast you sure did miss out on some delicious food. We had a great turnout on the breakfast with some old and new faces. This year event was held by Jinger McClure and Julie Mills. They also had some helpers back there cooking away and those were Rita Nix, Dianna Brannan, Stacy Laden, Jodi and Jaycee Watkins, Candice Wilson, Jordyn Parker, Danli Sanford, Marcy Black, Wendy Hawkins, Julie and Jinger.

The breakfast is done every year in memory of Nancy McDougal, mother of Julie and Jinger. Nancy organized the alumni weekend for many, many years. No one love Allen more.

The money raised from the breakfast, which is given by donation only (nothing too big or too small, just whatever the diner can afford) is used for an AHS scholarship. Served were pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, milk, and orange juice. Thank you to all the workers for getting up early and cooking for us!

This year a Cornhole Tournament was added to the events and, boy, did it pack-out the old gym. Colton Johnson was so kind to lead the event with help of his wife, Kaci Johnson, and Lindsey Laxton on signups. There were two different events, one was double teams and other, single teams. In the doubles division they had 18 teams. Yes, I said it right - 18! Wow! In the singles, there were 20! Talk about a way to start the first year off right!

Taking home 1^st place cash prize for the Double Division were Jody Browning and Mike McKee. Then coming up in 2 nd place was Pacer Lowe and Will ??. Taking home 3 rd were Brian Mayfield and Mark Wartchow. In the Singles Division Co-Champions were Jody Browning and Ashley Standridge. Taking home 3 rd place was Pacer Lowe. Finishing up in 4 th was our host Colton Johnson. We had people from all over Pontotoc County, as well as Oklahoma City, Antlers, Maysville, and Wetumka. Thank you, Colton, for all your time and effort you put into this event.

Sponsors donating money to help with cash prizes was D&S Consulting and Colton and Kaci Johnson.

Basketball and the 3-Point Shootout were up next in schedule of events. Hosting the events was this year was Emily Howard. She graciously took over this year and did a great job. First up was the 3-Point contest, where contestants had three minutes to make the most 3-pointers. The winner of this event, making 31 three pointers, was Kanan Wisdom. Kanan won a cash prize for ripping all those threes. Other participants included Gary Raney Sr and Gary Jr, Sunzie Harrison, Derrick Brown, Emily and Tagus Howard, Kanan Wisdom and Kevin Stinson.

Next, they had a Coed Basketball Game. Players included on the winning team were Gary Raney, Derrick Brown, Kanan Wisdom, Sunzie Harrison, Brett Melton, and Christian Henry. Those coming up short on the opposing team were Jordyn Parker, Kaden Mills, Kevin Stinson, Emily Howard, Nathan Hammonds, and Tommy Lee Peay. The basketball game had some of toughest refs ever seen on the Allen court. They were Tagus Howard, Adam Colbert, and Gary Raney Jr. Thank you, Emily, for all your hard work and time put into these events. The Allen youth cheerleaders graciously set up selling food and drinks for everyone in these events held in the old new gym.

The last of the game events was a good ole Coed Softball game. Hosting that event was the married duo of Dayne and Jordyn Parker. Those participating in this year’s game were Brett Melton, Kanan Wisdom, Tommy Lee Peay, Ty Brown, Chad Colbert, Heath Baber, Dayne Parker, Rick Scott, TR Kanuch, Gary Walker, Easton Elliott, Nathan Hammonds, Josh Lewis, cousins Ryan and Brandon Postoak, Derrick Brown, and siblings Brad and Katey Reed. Thank you, Dayne and Jordyn, for hosting this event.

Later that evening booths were setup to sell some yummy treats and gifts for all ages to enjoy! Hosting the booths was Lindsay Linker.

Setting up were Christina’s Cookies trailer selling her delicious variety of cookies, hot dogs and homemade Frito chili pie; Allen Youth Cheerleaders selling walking tacos, drinks chips, headbands and more; Pamela Crabtree was selling different varieties of cotton candy and gifts; Allen’s newest food joint, The Cajun Corner, was there serving potato salad, Cajun Egg Rolls, Boudain Balls and Gumbo. Thank you all for setting up and serving our community. We greatly appreciate you all so very much!

Entertainment for the kiddos that night was provided by Allen’s own Bull Split Bucking Bull owned by Gary and Salina Raney, and Allen’s own Awesome Party Inflatables, owed by George and Karla Cramer. The kids definitely enjoyed both for sure and I bet the parents enjoyed them being worn out too!

Now on to the main entertainment for alumni weekend - the Live Music! We heard some great varieties of music. Opening up for band Saturday night was Bo Faver. Bo came to us all the way from Fort Worth, Texas. He is currently a student at OSU and is a great song writer. Wow, what an amazing and talented up-and-coming artist! Look out Nashville!

Then we were blessed to hear an angels’ voice, Miss Kyla Mitchell. She could hit them high notes and gave me goose bumps. She blessed us with singing a couple of her favorite songs.

Jimmy Nix and Doug Stinson treated us with their amazing voices singing a couple of songs and everyone’s favorite by the duo, “Silver Wings.” It was so good to have them back up the stage again this year. They have been a blessing to our town for the last several years singing at the street dance. We appreciate all the years you two have put into Alumni.

Allen’s own, The RCB Band, was our main entertainment live band that night.

The RCB is an exciting new cover band playing an extensive catalog of hit songs from Classic Rock to Country, and the Blues from the 60s through today with a touch of the band’s personal musical arrangement.

Band members include:

Jennifer Caldwell/Vocals

Jacob Gardner/Drums

Al Giancotti/Hammond Organ/Keyboards/Vocals

Cameron King/Lead Guitar

Richard Laden/Guitar

Jeff Ray/Vocals/Percussion/Harmonica

Rickey Rinehart/Bass/Vocals

Merida Tomb/Piano/Vocals

Man, did they put on an amazing show or what!?! They all go together so well like they’ve been together for decades! The music and singing were absolutely phenomenal. It was a pleasure having them performing for our small town’s Alumni Weekend. We are definitely looking forward to hearing them play more for our hometown. Thank you so very much for kindly donating your time and music to us.

I had a lot of help getting things ready this weekend and I want to give a shout out to those that graciously donated items and their time to making this all happen. It takes an army, believe me, and I couldn’t have done it without them.

Those helping out were firefighters James Linker Jr., Braylee Dickerson, Jesse Rinehart, Jake Linker, and Colton Howard. Also Hannah Hubert, Paige Taylor, and Caden Howard. The Allen Police Department of Darrell Armstrong and Jake Peebles, and Reserve Officer Robert McMillin. I want to thank Glenda Howard, Michael and Marsha McCarn for the use of their shop fans to help keep it cool in the building; the Allen Food Center for the water provided; Farmer State Bank for the big tent they loaned us to use, keeping us from the heat; the Allen Masonic Lodge for use of chairs and ice; Willis and Jami Rinehart for use of a tank to store water in from Elite Tanks; Doug and Kevin Stinson for last minute lighting fixes and extension cords; the Town of Allen workers for making the park look amazing even though we thought we were rained out. We appreciate you and sorry it was moved due to weather. Your hard work didn’t go unnoticed, that’s for sure.

If I missed anyone I’m very sorry, I tried my best to remember what all happened and who helped out. Again, thank you all so very much again for all that you did. And last but certainly not least a BIG THANK YOU to Dianna Brannan, Danli Sanford and Jordyn Parker for believing in me and trusting me with the years of legacy of Alumni Weekends and helping me throughout this whole undertaking.

This was my first year of taking over Alumni Weekend. I was very honored and humbled to be a part of this amazing event. It was definitely worth all the hard work in the end. I love getting the community together and having a great time. It was my pleasure to host this year’s event and I hope it was enjoyed by all! Can’t wait to see everyone back again in 2021!