'Glasses filled'

WAURIKA — It didn’t take Mike Nunley long to win over a crowd of over 300 that sat wiping off sweat in the sultry grandstand at Cy Sloan Stadium.

The guest speaker at Waurika High School’s 2008 Commencement exercise Friday night first acknowledged that he was “more than moved” by being asked to deliver an address to the newest graduates of his alma mater.

Then Nunley drew applause and some unforced laughter from the gallery, when he proposed, “Let’s pass a bond issue and get an auditorium and get some air conditioning!”

Mike Nunley was home. And during the next 12 minutes, those who didn’t know him well came to realize why Waurika School board member Sherry Waid had introduced her former classmate as “one of our heroes, because of what he’s done in his career and what he’s done in his private life.”

Career achievements and the example he’s set in private life were the reasons Waurika’s administration asked the 1983 Waurika graduate to be guest speaker at Friday’s commencement.

After playing basketball for two years at Western Oklahoma Junior College, Nunley completed his undergraduate work at Kansas Newman College, seemingly headed to a career as a college basketball coach.

He spent two years as an assistant coach at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he also earned a master’s degree. About the time it seemed Nunley’s future was laid out, his wife Becky, an Addington native and 1984 graduate of WHS, was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“Becky’s illness meant a change in plans. I couldn’t give up the time a college coach has to,” Nunley said, prior to the commencement address.

Instead of college coaching, Nunley moved into coaching and taught at the secondary school level, where there is less travel and time consumption. He coached at Crescent and Ripley high schools, and then became boys basketball coach and athletic director at Putnam City West.

Nunley was in the job from 1998 to 2004, before becoming athletic director for the Edmond Independent School District. In that job, he’s drawn state-wide recognition for helping turn Edmond’s athletic program into one of the state’s best.

However, the self-effacing ex-Eagle doesn’t get too carried away by acclaim.

In Friday’s speech, Nunley related a story about a conversation he had with a fifth-grade student in Edmond.

Seems the youngster wasn’t impressed when Nunley talked about the myriad of administrative tasks connected to his job. But when Nunley told the youngster he got to attend 15 to 20 athletic events each week at Edmond’s three high schools and five middle schools, and that he didn’t have to pay admission to any of those activities, the fifth-grader’s eyes grew wide.

“The kid said, ‘Wow, you’ve got the greatest job in the world!’,” Nunley said, with a wide smile.

“And,” Nunley added, “I do get to do what I love.”

Early in his address, Nunley told the audience, “It’s wonderful to be here, because this is our home. Although I do need to says that Waurika’s ‘my’ home, because Becky always reminds me that she grew up in Addington!

“It was wonderful growing up here, and both of us always love to come home. So many of you have contributed to our lives.”

“But,” Nunley added tongue-in-cheek, “I do want to apologize for the embarrassment I’ve brought on Pat and Ervin Nunley, my parents!”

Nunley admitted he’d been “challenged about what to say” to the 19 young people graduating from his alma mater. “We’re here to celebrate you, not to listen to me,” he told the graduates.

He did impart two messages that were in harmony with the moment.

“There’s a story,” Nunley said, “about two Indians who met each other, and one of them raised his hand and said, ‘How.’ But the other one raised his hand and said, ‘Chance.’

“Well, the first one said, ‘No, that’s not right. When two Indians meet, they’re supposed to raise their hand and say ‘How’ to each other. Didn’t you know that?’

“But the second one said, ‘I already know how. I’m looking for chance.’”

Nunley also drew an analogy on how the graduates now had the opportunity to view their future from two different perspectives — as a glass that’s half-empty and will never be topped, or as a glass that’s half-full and ready to hold more.

Nunley said “every day in my work and in my life” he encounters young people who view their lives as being half-empty; who feel limited and have no expectation for success or positive experiences ahead.

However, he said, “Right now, your glass is half-full, and in the next few years, I hope you do great things that will fill your glass even more.

“I hope you leave this life with a glass that’s flowing over.”

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