ARCHIVES
Months/Years

Former Student Athlete Will Be Inducted Into The Alumni Hall Of Fame November 4
(Press Release 10-17-06)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

After dedicating his life to others, 1951 Eastern graduate and athlete, Don R. Adkins, will be honored at Eastern Oklahoma State College’s Homecoming celebration on Nov. 4 at the Wilburton Campus.

Adkins has been named by the Eastern Alumni Association Board of Directors as the newest inductee into the Eastern Alumni Hall of Fame and will take his rightful place during ceremonies at the annual homecoming luncheon.

Eastern alumni and retired faculty and staff are invited to join in on the Nov. 4 activities that begin with a 8:30 a.m. Hilltopper’s breakfast for retired faculty and staff. At 9:30 a.m. there will be an Alumni Board Meeting in the Student Union Coffee Shop. Free lunch will be available for everyone attending the activities from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. At noon the Hall of Fame Luncheon will be served in the Student Union Ballroom during which Adkins’ induction will take place.

The activities will then re-locate to the C.C. Dunlap Field House, where beginning at 2:00 p.m., the Lady Mountaineers will take on Tyler. This will be followed by the Mountaineers contest with Redlands. This year’s homecoming coronation will take place during the men’s game. The night will end with a Homecoming dance from 9 p.m. until midnight.

As a national figure with the Boy Scouts of America, Adkins spent 39 years employed as a professional executive within the organization. He retired in 1994, after spending his last 12 professional years as a member of the National Council Staff.

Upon graduation from Shawnee High School in 1949, Adkins faced several educational opportunities, ultimately choosing to enroll at Eastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College. He started in every football game in the 1949 and 1950 seasons, being named All-Conference both years. While at Eastern, he was coached by Bob R. Williams. According to Adkins, Williams was “one of the greatest influences in my life.”

Adkins signed a letter of intent to Tulane University in 1951 and followed his coach to Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he was the defensive captain and where he was coached by College Football Hall of Famer, Ray Morrison.

He entered into the United States Army in 1953, where football continued as he played on the Fort Sill, Oklahoma Army Football Team, winning the All-Service Championship in 1954. The Fort Sill team included Bill Vessels, Leon Heath, Marv Matusac and other All-Americans and All-Pro players.

Adkins’ military career lasted until 1955, when he was honorably discharged. He then returned to college, where he finished up his bachelor’s degree in education at Southeastern Oklahoma State College.

His long and prestigious career within the Boy Scouts of America began in 1956, when he started as District Scout Executive in Mineola, Texas. Over the next 39 years, Adkins’ influence on the organization and community was felt in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico. He held titles such as Field Director, Council Scout Executive, National Director of Selection and Placement for Professional Personnel and Area Director.

In 1991, Adkins headed the American Hospitality for 109 countries at the World Scouting Jamboree in Korea. He has also served as host to the president of the Republic of South Korea, the king of Sweden, Commanding General of the United States, the Far East Command and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the United Nations.

Adkins joined Rotary International in 1956 in Mineola and since then has remained a member. In Ardmore, he served as president in 1970-71 and in 2001-02 he was the District Gov. for Rotary District 5770, Southwest Oklahoma, which included 40 Rotary clubs.

Community involvement has always been a huge part of Adkins’ life. As an active participant within the Chamber of Commerce, Adkins has graduated from Norman’s Leaders Plus Program and was the director of the program in 2003. He is chairman of Leaders Plus Alumni and a member of the Chamber’s Ambassadors Committee. He is the chairman of the Norman High School Breakfast Program.

As a volunteer, the Eastern alumnus has been a literacy teacher, a ‘Success by 6’ reader and is a former advisor to the Habitat for Humanities in Norman. Raised a Master Mason in 1958, he is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. Adkins has remained active in the United Way, the city of Norman’s Long Range Planning Task Force, Independent Living Students, East Main Place and has even found time to play a little golf.

Adkins is an ordained deacon in the First Baptist Church of Norman and has always been passionately involved in church activities.

In April, Adkins and his wife Dot will celebrate 54 years of marriage. They have two children, David Patrick Adkins and Donna Adkins-Troop and are the proud grandparents of six.

Saturday, Adkins will join McAlester native George Nigh who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, as Lieutenant Governor, Governor and president of the University of Central Oklahoma.

He will also join Dr. E.T. Dunlap, who was recognized nationally for his contribution to education and served as Eastern President and Chancellor of Oklahoma Higher Education; Scott Salmon, who was a nationally known choreographer; Rita Smith Kipp, class of 1966, who serves as professor of anthropology at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, a widely published author and Wilburton native.

Adkins also joins J.D. Williams who was inducted while an attorney in Washington, D.C., and, among other things, served as Editor of the George Washington Law Review and Federal Bar Journal.

Billy West became the sixth Eastern alumni to be elected to the Hall of Fame. West served as a laboratory research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Sidney Carney, among other achievements, served as Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Director in Anadarko where he developed and supervised programs benefiting more than 40,000 Indians within a four state area.

Ross Harlan, Oklahoma City, was added to the Hall of Fame in 1992. He served as Senior Vice President of Administration and Public Affairs before his retirement from OG&E.

“Pat” Murphy, Tulsa, followed Harlan in 1993. He established the Frank W. Murphy MFR, an international company holding 15 United States and foreign patents in the area of instruments and control systems.

Sports journalist “Spec” Gammon was inducted in 1994. He served as sports information director at Texas A&M and became known as the radio voice of Texas A&M football.

Don Parham became the eleventh member added to the Hall of Fame and began his academic career as an educator in southeast Oklahoma more than 40 years ago. He is recognized not only as one who has experienced success in athletics but also as one whose life’s work has stressed high academic standards.

Dr. Robert H. Purcell became the twelfth member. He is a research scientist and serves as the head of hepatitis viruses section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Charles Montgomery serves as the Director of the Center for Comparative Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is recognized as an expert in comparative medicine.

Dr. Henry Migliore, Jenks, was added as the fourteenth member of the Hall of Fame. He is a university professor and consultant in strategic management.

James F. Howell became the fifteenth member of the Hall of Fame in 1999. He was admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Guy L. Curry, class of 1961, became the sixteenth member of the Hall of Fame. Curry is a professor of industrial engineering at Texas A&M University.

Ken Brasfield became the seventeenth member. He has compiled an outstanding record of corporate and community leadership in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. Sue Ellen Read was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. She was named the 2001 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Charles W. Davidson and John H. Hendrix became the nineteenth and twentieth members of the Hall of Fame. Although Davidson has lived in San Jose, CA, since May of 1952, he was born and raised in Pittsburg County near Bache and has never forgotten his roots that go deep in Oklahoma as Indian Territory. He attended East Central, Eastern (1950-51) and later received a degree in civil engineering from San Jose State University. Davidson has been a homebuilder and developer and currently owns several construction and property management companies.

Ray Henson became the twenty-first member of the Hall of Fame. He now serves as Talihina Superintendent of Schools and as a nationally recognized school administrator.

Last year’s inductee was Supreme Court Justice Tom Colbert. Colbert is a 1970 Eastern graduate and star-athlete. On Oct. 7, 2004, Colbert became the first African-American to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.