Thursday, February 17, 2011

Why, It's a Major Award

I have a confession. Sometimes I forget to take my camera to important events. Like Christmas. Or like when your dad is receiving a major award. The events in this post took place on October 1st, but are too important to let slide without a major post, and since I finally got some pictures together, here it is.
My dad has been a teacher and coach at Moapa Valley High School for 37 years. Yes. For 37 YEARS he has been teaching, inspiring, and changing the lives of students and athletes. This is always how I will remember my dad.

















I have been attending football, basketball, and track events at MVHS since before I could walk, and I gotta tell you, I have always been proud to say my dad was the coach.
When we found out the school was naming the football and track field after my dad, we all made every effort to be there to see him get a small piece of the recognition he deserves.
All you have to do is look at this group of people who all came to see my dad and you know that he is loved.
Pictured: Uncle Mike, Grandpa and Grandma Q, Baden, Taden, Tiffany, Jake, Charles, Kollin, Chase, Blakely, Uncle Tracy, Kaitlyn, Kelsey, Frank, Grandma Keel, Truman, Cassidy (sadly, no James.), John, Sandy, Art, Hillari. Front row: Aunt Laurie, Isaac, Keith, Finley, Lexi, Sareny, Grammy Jo, Rhys, Holli Jo, Joshua, Liz. And though he isn't pictured, I think we all felt the presence of my Grandpa Keel, who would have been so proud of my dad.
In addition to all the family members who came, I talked to one of my dad's old students who told me she drove several hours to be there after she saw the announcement in the newspaper.
Here is my dad standing by Larry Moses, who was principal at MVHS when I was there.
My Dad was honored during halftime, and the school really went all out to make this a special event.
 The current principal made some very nice remarks, and the cheerleaders used their pom-poms to spell out W-E (heart) K-E-E-L. Now, I've never been overly fond of cheerleaders, but that was actually really special and appreciated.
The sign had been covered up with cloth for the big reveal, and the when the people tried to take it down, it got stuck. There were a couple of moments when we wondered if they were going to manage to get it down, but they did.
The principal told us later he would have ran over there himself and somehow managed to uncover the sign.
My mom has always been my dad's biggest fan! These events actually took place on her birthday.
Here I am with my snuggly girl watching the events.











Sareny and Joshie at the game. Josh wanted to wear this hat the whole time...











Before the game started, we had a nice dinner in the school lunchroom. This is the only photo I have of that event, but you can see that Finley is sporting her Pink Floyd shirt.

And here is one of the reasons why we love my dad so much. He is so good at playing with the kids, and they all love him. Although I can't tell from the look on Rhysie's face if he is actually loving this exact moment...
The kids had fun playing outside in the water.
And here is a nice shot of Sareny's missing teeth.
These gals helped supervise the kids.
Another photo with tia Lexi.
And I absolutely love this picture! It is completely darling. The only thing it is missing is Josh and Charlie, and then it would be perfect.
Anyway, it was a really great weekend.

15 comments:

Jolynn said...

Nice post Hill. It even brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. It was such a memorable weekend, and I'm sure it meant a lot to Dad that all of you were there for it. That last picture is a fav. Isaac is trying to give us his very best smile.

Anonymous said...

Good thing you have a super cool brother-in-law who likes to take pictures and buy his nieces cool things like Pink Floyd shirts! That was such a fun weekend. I'm glad we all got to be there.

Lexi said...

love the post, and my dad. he is pretty amazing and im glad we were all able to be there. that last picture is so cute of all the kids.

Jeff said...

Well now,this will be a first for me to comment on a post. It was quite an honor to have the field named after me but it was more of an honor to have all the family there. I just do what I love doing and to be honored for it is still hadr to comprehend. Thanks to eberyone for coming in support of the event. Good post and pics Hill.

Anonymous said...

I think that this is fabulous. Congratulations!

Anonymous said...

SO awesome! How wonderful to have so many people be able to be there! Congrats!

T Rex Mom said...

This is just wonderful. First, your dad rocks. As does your mom. They were always so kind to me and I have nothing but fond memories of hanging out with Coach Keel on long bus trips. He was always very nice to me, even if I was one of those pesky cheerleaders.

How wonderful for him. Gosh, I need to get back to MVHS - I haven't been back in such a long time. Everything will have new names by the time I'm back there!

Tanya said...

This is a super cool honor for your dad and your family. I hope they talked about his many wins over the course of his career. The picture of your family is amazing. It's been years since I have seen you all. And I admit, I love that it is called Keel Field!

Anonymous said...

Hill, good job! That was such a big weekend and I also don't bring my camera when I should, so I copied your pics to put in our scrapbook.

cassidy said...

Good post, Hill! You have some good pictures that I am going to have to steal. I don't have many good ones from the game - they're all blurry. I'm so glad Tru and I made it out there for Dad's major award. It was such a huge honor for Dad and I am so glad it happened.

P.S. A comment from Dad? That's a first. Way to go, Hilli. He better comment on my blog when I finally post about this.

Kandice and Rob said...

Hillary, that's really really really cool! Did you bawl your eyes out? I bet that was such a neat feeling seeing your dad honored like that :) Very cool.

holli jo said...

Great post, Hilli. But Johnny is mad you didn't give him credit for taking the pics. And now I'm mad that I didn't think to post about this first!

But you did such a good job on it, so way to go.

Amy O'Neill said...

Wow! What an honor for your dad!! I am sure your family was so proud! That is so neat that the school went all out to honor him.

Vicki said...

Congrats to your dad, he deserves the recognition! I really appreciate all the help and support he gave us in track and I hope that he realizes the impact he had on all of us!

Gardner Family said...

That is too cool! And the menacing pirate? Awesome! Good thing your school mascot wasn't something wimpy looking or vague (a "monsoon", like a high school around here). What a wonderful tribute. Yay for your dad!