Capitol Hill hall of fame to welcome five
Five people will be inducted into the Capitol Hill High School Hall of Fame during an Aug. 5 banquet at the Tower Hotel.
The President’s Award will be given posthumously to Don Reed, class of 1952.
As a youngster, Don took up boxing while living in the Rio Grande Valley and won the featherweight championship. At CHHS he was football quarterback, forward in basketball, on the golf team and won medals in broad jump, pole vault and high jump. He lettered in four sports in one year.
As a freshman at what was then Central State University, he was starting quarterback. He enlisted in the military, where he participated in basketball and baseball and was scouted by the Chicago Cubs. After discharge he received an offer to attend the Naval Academy. He played in the allservice basketball game and was awarded the outstanding player trophy. At that game it was difficult for Don to rise to accept the award, so he contacted a physician and was diagnosed with leukemia. He died within six weeks, according to a news release from the alumni hall of fame association.
The Athletic Award inductee is Stephen Robinson, class of 1974.
As a freshman at CHHS, Steve was a starter on the basketball team and the leading scorer. The next year he was starter on the state championship Capital Conference team. In 1973-74, he played in the 4A semifinals as second-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder. He was named “A Star of Tomorrow” by the All-College Association and was All-State.
Robinson also served in the student Senate and was Mr. Chieftain in 1974. In 1974-75, he played in 34 basketball games for Bethany Nazarene College, two of which were in the NCCAA tournament. In 1977-78, he played in 33 games as part of the NAIA district 9 champions. In 1978-79, he played in 38 games, leading in scoring and a third-place finish in the NCCAA National tournament.
Receiving the Humanitarian Award will be Lt. Col.
Billy Maxwell, class of 1961. While at CHHS, he lettered three years in track and two years in football, and at Central State earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-67, and in the Air National Guard from 1972 to 1997, where he was officer of the year for the National Guard Association of Oklahoma.
He was a founding member of the board for the Oklahoma Veterans Memorial, honoring Oklahomans who served in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. After the Murrah Building bombing, he served as a grief counselor.
As a board member of the Canadian County Red Cross, he provided assistance during natural disasters, establishing shelters and providing supplies to victims. As a hospice volunteer since 2012, he has provided grief counseling to family members of 80 people who have died, and he was named Oklahoma hospice volunteer of the year. As an alumni board member, he has worked to raise funds for the needs of the school and its students.
Pamela Jumper Thurman, class of 1965, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Thurman earned two degrees from Northeastern State University. In 1990, she received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University. She has worked in administrative and clinical research in multiple capacities. Since 1987, she has been coowner and lead evaluator for Council Oak Training & Evaluation Inc. in Fort Collins, Colorado.
She has served as coprincipal investigator of the native connections initiative for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, led the National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day for the Cherokee Nation, and worked with the Native American Center for Excellence, Children’s Mental Health Services, the National Indian Child Welfare Association, the Office of Minority Health Research Center, Native Aspirations, the Ford Foundation, the Roslyn Carter Caregiving Panel/Carter Presidential Library, First Lady Laura Bush and Helping America’s Youth.
Receiving the J.W. Mashburn Community Leadership Award will be Keith Sinor, class of 1988.
Athletic director for Oklahoma City Public Schools, Sinor has been a lifelong advocate for young people. He attended Oklahoma City schools, later teaching and coaching in the district where he saw the need to help kids in difficult situations.
He and his family left Oklahoma City for a while. He was working with a prison ministry team when he realized he wanted to return and went to Edmond North High School as girls basketball coach. After he formed a friendship with Tim McLaughlin and Fields and Futures, they launched a program to overhaul playing surfaces across the district.