School Story
My favorite memories involve the track and cross country teams and Coach Hugh Pierce. We lost Coach in 1994 but not a day goes by that I don't think about him and the lessons he taught us. Set high goals; work hard and the process itself breeds success!
I will never forget the regional cross country meet our senior year. We had underperformed the week before by barely beating a very less talented Sallisaw team by three points. The team was on the starting line together and the last call for the race had been announced. Coach came up to us with a steelly cold look and never said a word. It was dead silent for what seemed to be an eternity. For the only time in four years I felt fear around him. It scared the hell out of all of us so bad we placed 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively scoring only 31 points and beating Sallisaw and Kelly by 50 each.
I asked Coach about it later when we were working together at TU and he laughed and laughed. It was all a show but it worked. He certainly knew how to motivate us. But he always congratulated each of us after the race and encouraged us in such a positive way. He was a great coach, mentor and friend.