Mold Remediation in Spiro, OK

Spiro High School supporters and former athletes, students and friends of Gerald Blankenship want to establish a perpetual college scholarship honoring the former Spiro head coach, athletic director, principal and superintendent.

Mal Mixon, 1958 Spiro graduate, offered up to $50,000 in seed money and asks that acquaintances of Blankenship match the donation.

“Coach” Blankenship, now 87 and a Tulsa resident, is a 1945 Spiro High School graduate who returned to his hometown 10 years later as head coach for all sports and math teacher. He was promoted to athletic director, then in 1970 became the high school principal, and later became Spiro superintendent, serving in that role until his retirement in 1987.

The goal of the perpetual scholarship project committee is the match the full $50,000, raising a total of $100,000, said John Redwine of Spiro, a committee member and local project spearhead. The contributions will be invested through the Spiro School Foundation for Excellence in Education, he said.

The nonprofit foundation was formed in 1991 when 1926 Spiro graduate Marcella Moore bequeathed $238,000 to form it to award academic excellence. The foundation has awarded about $600,000 in scholarships and grants. Its investment committee works with two financial advisers.

Half of the earnings of the proposed Blankenship Scholarship fund will go to an annual scholarship for an outstanding graduating Spiro scholar/athlete, and the rest of the annual earnings will be folded back into the fund to be reinvested to fund future scholarships, Redwine said.

Criteria and guidelines for awarding the scholarship are not finalized, but the selection committee likely would include coaches, the school athletic director, high school principal and someone from outside the school system, Redwine said.

The Blankenship Scholarship spearheading committee includes Mixon, 1962 graduate Redwine, 1957 graduate Ken Gentry, 1958 graduate Jim Harris, 1961 graduate Jack Briley, 1966 graduate Mike Strange, 1953 graduate Loretta Gentry Sullins and Galen Sullins.

Blankenship credited his success to the fine players he coached, noting their competitiveness. But he also emphasized character and sportsmanship.

“These are the things that really count. I never wanted my players to feel second-best at anything, and I did not want them to put their spiritual life in second place,” Blankenship said.

Blankenship grew up in the nearby Fairview community and entered Spiro Public Schools in eighth grade. At Spiro High School, he lettered four years in basketball and baseball. During the World War II years the school did not offer a football program. At age 18, two weeks shy of completing school, Blankenship was given permission to leave to join the Navy, and his mother accepted his high school diploma at the graduation ceremony.

Blankenship was in boot camp when Germany surrendered and in San Francisco awaiting deployment when Japan surrendered. While there, he played on the Navy All-Star travel team. He was coached by a former University of California at Los Angeles basketball star player who taught him much of the philosophy and fundamentals he used throughout his coaching career, according to a scholarship committee news release.

In 1948, he married the late Beatrice Floyd, a Panama High School graduate who taught English at Spiro and Carl Albert State College. Eleven years ago he married Helen James Tolbert, a Bokoshe native and Broken Arrow educator.

After leaving the Navy, he attended Eastern Junior College at Wilburton, playing football and basketball, and transferred two years later to Northeastern State University at Tahlequah where he served as captain of the football and basketball teams. In 1951, he accepted a coaching position at Vian Public Schools.

In his 15 years coaching at Spiro, Blankenship is credited with turning the football and basketball programs into powerhouses, the release states. His football team record was 110-46 with nine conference championships and several playoff entries.His basketball teams boasted 299 wins and only 73 losses, won 10 county championships, seven conference titles, nine district and two regional championships. Two basketball teams advanced to the state tournament, and the basketball teams went undefeated at home for nine consecutive years.

According to the release, Blankenship was a charter member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the National High School Coaches Association. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame in 1972. Active with First Baptist Church at Spiro for 55 years, he served as deacon and Sunday school teacher.

Donors may mail donations to Gerald Blankenship Scholarship, Spiro Education Foundation, 101 N. Main St., Spiro, OK 74959. Checks should be made payable to the Spiro Education Foundation with a memo indicating the donation is for the Blankenship Scholarship. Redwine said donors’ names would be kept confidential.

Questions, comments or suggestions about the project may be directed to Strange at (405) 612-8210 or mikestrange48@gmail.com, Redwine said. Committee members also are seeking names and contact information for Blankenship’s former students, he said.

There were some things Spiro senior linebacker Cole McKinney said he wished he could have done better this season.

Checking on the stats, however, McKinney shouldn’t find too much fault in his performance.

For the third consecutive season, McKinney led the Bulldogs in tackles and was a major contributor for a Spiro team that reeled off eight straight wins. McKinney finished with 182 total tackles (52 unassisted) and also led the team with 13 sacks. He is the Times Record Oklahoma Defensive Player of the Year.

“Taking in the season as a whole, I feel that I played well,” McKinney said. “There is always things that I can look back on and say ‘I made a mistake’ or ‘I can improve,’ but, I feel overall that I can say I had a pretty good year.”

In a win against Idabel, he recorded 15 tackles and four sacks. Against Valliant, he had 20 tackles and a sack in a win that extended the Bulldogs’ streak to seven straight wins.

“He probably averaged about 15 tackles a game and in two or three games, he had over 20,” Spiro coach Chris Bunch said. “He just has a knack to get to the ball.”

Bunch said one of the things which made McKinney an even better player as a senior was mostly avoiding injury, as opposed to the previous two seasons.

“I feel like he stayed healthy for one thing,” Bunch said. “The last two years, he kind of had a problem with his shoulder a little bit but this year, he stayed healthier and he also contributed on the offensive side of the ball a lot more, too.

“Probably the biggest thing that he improved on this season is he did a lot better job of leading, not necessarily in tackles but also being a leader on the team, he was a captain of the team and I think all of that helped him.”

Of all the wins McKinney enjoyed as a senior, he said the team’s victory against Stigler in the 3A-8 opener was his most memorable. He had a team-high 14 tackles and also caught a touchdown pass in the Bulldogs’ 17-14 win.

“It was our first district game against one of our rivals,” he said. “Our offense played well and our defense played together and with energy. It made for a great experience.”

While McKinney turned in a stellar season at linebacker, he made sure to spread the accolades around.

“It’s a great honor but I can’t take all the credit,” he said. “I couldn’t have accomplished that if it wasn’t for our defensive line. They ran every play hard and created opportunities for me to step in and make a play.”

One of Oklahoma's coaching icons announced his retirement Tuesday.

Chris Bunch, who spent more than 50 years at Spiro as head coach, assistant coach and a student, is retiring, the district announced in a statement. Bunch, who was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018, spent the past 31 seasons leading the Bulldog program after 14 years as an assistant.

"Coach Bunch has committed his life to making a difference in the lives of Spiro students and athletes for almost half a century," Spiro superintendent Richard Haynes said in a release. "Spiro Public Schools will forever be indebted to his leadership and investment in our school."

Bunch graduated from Spiro in 1972. He received a bachelor's and master's from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, where he also lettered in football for four seasons.

It's easy to see why Bunch earned his Hall of Fame recognition. He ranks 23rd all-time for wins (228) among Oklahoma high school football coaches, and he has the most wins of any Black coach in state history. He coached 519 total games during his Spiro tenure and won 16 district titles, including nine of those as head coach.

He was named the East All-State football coach in 2005. He also helped coach three state championship track teams (boys: 1979, 1999; girls: 2017) and was a part of four runners-up finishes.

Bunch coached 18 All-State football players and was a coach for the program in six different decades. His first win as head coach came Sept. 21, 1990, in a 39-12 win against Checotah.

"The level of success Coach Bunch has accomplished on the field is impressive, but the positive impact he has made on myself and so many other young men is nothing short of incredible," said Mustang coach Lee Blankenship, who was Spiro's quarterback in 2003. "He exemplifies 'Hall of Fame,' and I'm proud to call him Coach."

Spiro went 8-2 in 2020 and fell to Adair in the third round of the Class 2A playoffs.