Pampa 5th graders and friends got to spend their Tuesday morning in the City Park with some pretty impressive former Pampa Harvesters before starting school on Thursday.
John Jenkins, formerly of Pampa and legendary University of Houston football coach hosted the Back-to-School Fun-Fest this year alongside former pro-baseball player and coach Tommy Lindsey, former Pro-NFL football star Kenny Hebert, Dale Ammons, Dennis Doughty, Danny Fain, Bobby Marx, Al Ferguson and Jay Johnson.
The action-packed morning consisted of multiple activities supervised by Coach Jenkins himself.
“All the stations we did were a rotation of about five different agility and quick-reactionary activities that lasted about 15 minutes each that weren’t gruesome or tiresome for the kids. It was competitive, and we had ribbons for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes,” Jenkins shared.
“It was a beautiful day for an event like this. It was really a great, fun day for the kids before they started back at school.”
“We provided them with refreshments, gift bags and prizes. We also took pictures with everybody before they left. We had a great time, and we’ll be planning more of these (events) down the road.”
Of course, Coach Jenkins had a lot of help coordinating the event.
“We had some real willing and helpful moms and dads come out too, it was great to have them.”
“We also had Coach Tommy Lindsey, he’s an ex pro-baseball player. He was in the Chicago Cubs organization and he also became a baseball coach for Pampa years ago. Then he was a grade-school principal for many years in Pampa,” he explained.
“Another guy that was helping us was Dale Ammons. He was a couple of years younger than me, his senior year was in the early 70s. He went on and played football at Texas A&M and then came to Pampa and became a principal in the school system himself. He’s retired now, living in Pampa. He was a great help, naturally,” Jenkins added.
“Then there was Dennis Doughty, and he just recently retired from the Pampa school system. He was the right-arm man of Hugh Piatt for many years as assistant principal before Hugh became superintendent. When he retired, he and his wife moved back to Oklahoma where she’s from. Of course, he loves Pampa and we talk occasionally, so when I told him about this event he was real excited to be a part of it and come back. He was a great help. He also was a former baseball coach in Pampa in addition to being assistant principal.”
“Another guy that came out, and he was really helpful taking a lot of notes and photographs of the action, is Danny Fain. He grew up in Pampa and he was very helpful,” Jenkins said.
Coach Jenkins’ former classmates and Harvester teammates showed up to help supervise and coordinate as well.
“My main executive coordinater as I call him, is a long-time resident of Pampa and classmate of mine from Pampa High School named Bobby Marx. Also helpful with some of our coordination with the event was ex-Harvester star player Al Ferguson. Another ex-Harvester player and former teammate of mine that was helping with the coordination was Jay Johnson.”
“I’d like to reach out thank those that were so highly involved in making this event possible; Superintendent Hugh Piatt and everyone else at the Pampa Independent School District, the Chamber of Commerce, T-shirts & More and Culligan Water Company.”
Former Pittsburgh Steeler and Pampa Harvester Kenny Hebert made a rare appearance as well, flying in all the way from Buffalo, New York.
“Then there was Kenny Hebert. He was a Pampa Harvester and was a big star in high school back in the early 60’s - he was an All-American football player his senior year of 1967. He then went on to the University of Houston and led the nation in scoring,” Jenkins said of his childhood inspiration.
“This was his first time to come home in about 40 years. I had him as a guest at an awards ceremony we had in Houston honoring a bunch of my great players and teams back when I was coaching at the University of Houston. I followed Kenny’s career as a Pampa Harvester and in my years of coaching at Houston, and I never crossed him. So, when I held that banquet, I started inquiring because I wanted to tell the story about Kenny Hebert when I was growing up to all my players to show where my love of football came from. It all came from Pampa, Texas, and Kenny Hebert was a big reason for that. I was able to track him down and he came to the banquet that night. Of course, we really hit it off, both being from Pampa. I was telling him about this children’s (event) that I do with the Coach John Jenkins Foundation involving the grade school system there in Pampa and he said that he’d love to come back and volunteer and be a part of that. It’s so great to have him back and so many guys came out to meet him personally that, just like myself, had grown up following him and hearing about him.”
“It was really great to have Kenny back. I had followed him as a young child growing up on the sandlot fields there in Pampa,” Jenkins shared.
Coach Jenkins wasn’t the only Pampa Harvester excited about Hebert’s appearance; and there were two particular former Harvesters excited for Jenkin’s own appearance as well.
“It was fun, they (Coach Jenkins and Kenny Hebert) were delightful. This is the first time I’ve had an opportunity to visit with John Jenkins, I found him to be very down-to-earth and and accommodating. He’s quite a colorful character. He was the Coach at the University of Houston for three years, and he has been an assistant coach on a number of teams in the Canadian Football League. I believe he played foortball at the University of Arkansas as well. I can tell you, he has a heart for kids and so we bonded over that,” Danny Fain shared.
“I’ve known John (Jenkins) since I was a 7th grader and he was a 9th grader, so we go way back. He’s the same nice guy he always was. He’s just a Texas redneck who’s been blessed to be a legend in the coaching profession. We’re very proud of him,” Bobby Marx commented.
“For me, it was particularly intriguing meeting Kenny Hebert. He was a legend here in Pampa when we were growing up. My first memory of him was when I was in junior high, and I would go to the Pampa Harvester football games. He was the big football star (at the time) and I was in the endzone watching the game one night and the Harvesters were (struggling that season). Pampa was leading the whole game and Borger scored with under a minute left. You could kind-of feel the air just leave the stadium. So, I was in the end-zone and Borger did the kick-off, and the next thing I saw was this guy in green running right at me. He split the entire Borger defense and scored with just seconds left in the game, taking Pampa out of their losing streak. That was the last time I saw him for 60 year until this event,” Fain said.
“It was an honor to shake his hand and it was a big deal to meet superman.”
Coach Jenkins shared his sentiments about Pampa and the community.
“I really love Pampa and the Pampa Harvesters. I love coming back home any time I can to help out and do some good will for the city or the school district or any of the townspeople. I had a great childhood growing up on those sandlot fields playing ball. I had a lot of friends and great memories. I hope it will always continue.”
