Classmate Honor Roll

This section recognizes those 1958 OHS Alumni who Deserve "Special Recognition" for their Post-OHS Accomplishments.

Please Nominate any Classmates who should be added to this list.

(Click on Name to access Classmate's Profile)

The OHS Class of 1958 is Proud to also Honor our Reunion Committee classmates listed below who have  worked so long and so hard to make our Class of 1958 Reunions a success. Those of us who have only attended will never know just how much the Success and Smooth Operation of our Reunions and Our Enjoyment have depended on these dedicated classmates.

Without these Unselfish, Dedicated Classmates "None" of our reunions would have been held and this website would Not have been developed.

Listed Below are our "OHS CLASSMATE HONOREES!"

REUNION COMMITTEE:

 

HONOR ROLL FOR CAREER ACHIEVEMENTS:

  • Ernie L. (Snooky) Adams, PhD  Education, Competition Golf 
  • After graduating from Odessa High School in 1958, Ernie Adams went on to earn his Bachelors of Science degree from Abilene Christian University in 1962 and his Master of Arts degree from Michigan State University in 1967. He capped off his formal structured education with a Ph.D Degree in 1969 from Michigan State University.
  • After Michigan State University, Ernie taught at Florida State University from 1969 to 1971, returning to MSU on their faculty, to direct their Remedial Clinic and also to manage a reading research project for the Mott Foundation
  • Professor Ernie Adams returned to Texas in 1975 teaching at Texas A&M Corpus Christi until 2000. Ernie has dedicated 35 years to training teachers on the latest techniques for teaching children to read.  Dr. Ernie's quiet modesty is illustrated by his comment "At last count, fewer kids can read than ever, so my effectiveness is really in question."  Ernie is definitely "Not Into Himself!"
  • Ernie has won 18 Texas Oklahoma Amputee Golf Tournaments since 1988, including 15 consecutive wins from 1988 to 2003. Ernie has played around the USA and internationally and, through August 2012, is credited with ten holes-in-one in competition and three additional in non-competition rounds.
  • Ernie says he has had a great advantage -he doesn't consider himself handicapped!  "...No one in Odessa ever treated me differently. Coach Pressly gave me great confidence and opportunity. (I guess there might be a better place to grow up. I just don't know where it is.)"

     

 

  • John David Earnest :    Music: American composer
  • Click to access ==> John David Earnest Slide Show (47 slides)
  • John David Earnest (b. 1940) has composed extensively for orchestra, chamber ensembles, chorus, solo voice and opera. His major orchestral works include Second Symphony, "The Hastening Light" (commissioned by the Walla Walla Symphony), Southern Exposure (commissioned by the Mobile Symphony), Chasing the Sun (recorded by the Warsaw National Philharmonic), Bountiful Voyager (commissioned by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra), Sun Songs and Nocturnes (commissioned for Chanticleer and the New Jersey Symphony, Hugh Wolff, conductor), Piano Concerto No. 1 (commissioned by the Mid-Columbia Symphony), and Piano Concerto No. 2 (premiered in 2004 by the Sinfonia Bucharest, Robert Bode, conductor; Lee D. Thompson, piano; in Bucharest, Romania). 
  • Click ==> http://www.johndavidearnest.com/
  • Click ==> John David Earnest
     
  • Dona Lee Croft Music: Performance and Teaching 
  • Dona Lee Croft has performed and broadcast on the international concert circuit since her debut at the age of fourteen. She was influenced by the great Hungarian pedagogue Leopold Auer, through study with Galamian and Benno Rabinoff in her native America, and in Europe with Nathan Milstein, and Professor Bela Katona of the Franz Liszt Academy.
  • Dona Lee Croft's distinguished career has encompassed performances as soloist and chamber musician in concerts throughout Europe, Great Britain, Mexico and the United States. She has given recitals in prestigious venues around the world such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, University Hall, Berlin, Brahms Hall, Vienna, L’Atelier in Brussels, and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. In the UK she has performed at the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St David’s Hall, Cardiff. Her recording of sonatas by Schumann and Debussy, as well as works by Kreisler, Vieuxtemps and Brahms, is available on the Karuna Record label and her second CD on Classical Recordings has just been released. It includes Schnittke’s second sonata, Ruralia Hungaria by Dohnanyi, some shorter pieces and two commissioned works: Oration by the English composer, Timothy Salter, and Aria & Choral by the American composer, John David Earnest (see previous OHS name above).
  • http://www.estaweb.org.uk/about/biog.php?id=5
  • http://www.suttonmusicfestival.org.uk/ncompadjudicators.htm
  • http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Studying/Professors+and+Faculties/ProfessorDetails?staff_code=301

 

  • F. Scott LaGrone (Business & Industry)  (R.I.P., d 10-28-2015) 
  • Frank Scott LaGrone is one of the founders and principals of Radian Corporation, an Austin-based environmental services firm (founded in 1969), where he worked for 30 years and retired as senior vice-president. Radian Corporation was acquired by Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB) Inspection and Insurance Company in 1975 and sold to Dow Chemical Company in 1995. At the time of the acquisition by Dow, Annual Sales had grown to almost $300 million (Not too "shabby" for an old West Texas boy and OHS 1958 classmate). Scott LaGrone currently serves on the Texas Energy Planning Council, is in his fifth year of a six-year term as a board member of the Lower Colorado River Authority, is chair-elect for the Capitol Area Transportation organization, is on the board of Envision Central Texas and serves on Texas Governor Rick Perry's Clean Coal Technology Council.
  • Click ==> http://governor.state.tx.us/news/appointment/3393/
  • Click ==> http://www.citizen.org/documents/members.pdf

 

 

  •  David Noble    (Coaching)  David Noble spent over two decades as the men's track & field coach (1972-82, 1985-99) at Angelo State Uniuversity (ASU) and added six seasons at the helm of the women's program (1994-99). While at ASU, Noble coached athletes to more than 150 All-America performances and coached six Academic All-Americans. He guided the Rams to 17 top 10 national finishes and the Rambelles to six-straight top 20 national finishes as well. David Noble directed eight LSC (Lone Star Conference) championship teams during his career and was an Eight-time LSC Coach of the Year.  In 1988, he was honored as the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year.  The annual ASU meet, held each spring, bears his name. Noble was inducted into the LSC Hall of Honor in 2004. 
  • http://www.angelosports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=12200&ATCLID=1389448
  • http://www.lonestarconference.org/information/hall_of_honor/index

 

  • Richard L. Porter  (Music).  (R.I.P. d. 12-23-2020)
    Richard Porter is credited with forming the West Texas band known as "The Poor Boys". His group has been honored by inclusion in the West Texas Music Hall of Fame.  After viewing the names of those musicians and groups in the West Texas Music Honor Roll and those names in its "Pioneers..." section, it is obvious that  Richard Porter (with his "Poor Boys") deserves to be recognized as an accomplished OHS Class of 1958 Classmate.
  • Click ==> http://www.westexmusichof.com/artistspages/poorboys.html
  • Click ==> http://www.westexmusichof.com/ 
  • Click ==> Richard L. Porter