Wylie to honor Harrison, Nickell at Homecoming Friday

Don Harrison said he has powder-coated metal chairs at home.

One is purple and white, for his days as both a football player and coach at Abilene Christian University.

The other is purple and gold, honoring the years he spent as an administrator in the Wylie ISD.

Harrison, who served as the district’s superintendent for eight years until retiring in 2008, joins longtime third-grade teacher Ann Nickell as inductees this year into the Wylie Hall of Honor.

To date, there have been 49 inductees, including those honored as couples.

The first inductees in 2006 were former superintendent and coach Stanley Whisenhunt, longtime teacher Pauline Judd and Charlie and Mary Davis, WISD supporters who operated Wylie Superette across the street from the campus at Buffalo Gap and Antilley roads.

Harrison and Nickell will be inducted prior to the start of the Wylie vs. San Angelo Central homecoming football game, which begins at 7 p.m. Friday at Sandifer Stadium.

Education central to Harrison's career

Harrison said being honored this weekend has allowed him to look back at his working career without any regrets. He coached and taught before entering administration, then has spent the past 15 years in private business.

“I’ve gotten to do everything I ever wanted to do,” he said.

Harrison played football at ACU and was a member of the 1973 national championship team. In a few weeks, that close-knit group, which included future NFL standout Wilbert Montgoermy, will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

He was hired as assistant high school principal by then-principal Nick Pruitt when the high school was located at the current West Junior High campus. Ironically, Don and Carlene Harrison had just been admiring the school district on a country drive when they met the Pruitts at a local store, where Pruitt pitched the idea of joining the WISD.

Harrison had all the necessary certifications to be an administrator.

He began the fall of 1989.

He didn’t stay in the high school job long, about 18 months, before becoming principal of the middle school.

Harrison next replaced retiring Bob Ahlstrand as assistant superintendent, with a focus on curriculum and technology. He laughed at the latter, staying technology back in the day included copiers and telephones.

‘If it plugged into the wall,” he said, laughing, “it was technology.”

He survived Y2K.

“That was a big deal at the time,” he said.

Harrison would log a combined 17 years as assistant and then superintendent of the district. A highlight was moving to the current high school site in 1995. He remembers working with the electrical supervisor, whom he had coached at ACU, to “pull cable” for computers and such at the new school. They worked after hours to get that done because the scissor lift was available.

“Five miles of cable we pulled,” Harrison said.

The district has kept growing but he said the community feel has remained. After all, there is no town.

“Wylie is a school district,” he said. “That’s why you go to Wylie. It’s the school district. Everyone shows up to everything.”

In 2000, larger school districts such as Andrews, Snyder and Sweetwater to the west lost students and teachers to the I-35 corridor. Wylie’s growth was manageable, and the district could expand without incurring huge debt. The growth now is such that a record bond election is set for Nov. 7 totaling more than $260 million across three propositions.

“Growing too fast or losing enrollment have similarities,” he said of managing a school district.

When Harrison left in 2008, he said, Wylie already was looking at land across from U.S. Highways 83/84, where new campuses since have been built. Having water was key.

The physical growth of the district was impressive but Harrison said equally enjoyable “were the people you work with. And the people are involved. They want success and they expect success. Fortunately, we were able to do a lot of that.”

For 15 years, he has been employed at Precision Heating and Cooling, now Precision Mechanical. Harrison currently is the vice president.

From Iowa Park, he began his work career as a graduate assistant coach and dorm director at ACU. He married Carlene, his high school sweetheart while both were at ACU.

The couple moved to Killeen, where he was offensive and defensive line coach and taught science.

The Harrisons came back to ACU in 1979. He coached, then held other campus positions before going to the Wylie ISD.

Harrison is pleased to be chosen by the district to be in the Hall.

“It’s a fantastic honor,” he said. “It has been a good career.”

Hiring Nickell paid off

Nickell began her Wylie career in 1994, teaching third-grade reading all 23 years before she retired.

From Rule, she came to Abilene from Irving.

She taught homemaking classes in Childress and Irving before staying home for 13 years to raise the Nickell boys, Scott and Jess, who were involved in ag and graduated from Wylie.

She returned to teaching as an elementary school instructor for two years before the family moved back to West Texas.

Nickell was familiar with the district - her brothers lived here and nephews and nieces were attending Wylie schools. She landed in a growing district that expanded greatly during her career here.

She stuck with third grade, and with teaching reading. Previously, a teacher would teach every subject. She taught a bit of social studies.

“I liked that age group very much. They still liked their teacher for the most part and they could go do things on their own. They were more mature. They were getting more mature,” she said. The students wanted to please her, and Nickell got great support from parents.

A highlight of the year always was a road trip to Abilene to Safety City.

“Those were always fun, even when you got crashed into by a car,” she said, laughing.

In a blink, she continued, those young drivers were picking up younger siblings at school, “standing in the hall jingling their car keys,” Nickell said. “Just yesterday, didn’t we go to Safety City?”

She watched her kids have kids, and those first parents become grandparents as time marched on.

“It’s amazing how fast time flies,” she said.

Her biggest challenges over the years were changes in technology.

“What stayed the same were the people I worked with,” she said. “They were so helpful and generous of their time. The working together and cooperation.

“I always enjoyed our administration and fellow teaching partners. And those kids. They are always so special.”

And, Nickell added, grow up to be doctors and lawyers and such.

“They come up and speak to you … that means a lot,” she said.

Nickell is retired but her Wylie connections remain strong. Wylie is, after all, a district of generations.

One niece, Jordan Garcia, teaches first grade at Wylie East while another, Stephanie Hood,, teaches high school biology. One of Nickell’s sisters-in-law Jami Anders directs the math lab at Wylie West Intermediate while another, Sammie Anders, is a retired kindergarten teacher

Son Scott lives in Wall while Jess lives here - “a half-mile down the road from me,” mom said. They will have a son, Jase, entering kindergarten in the WISD next year.

Nickell is honored by this week’s recognition “but I feel very undeserving. I told Mr. (Terry) Hagler, ‘You know how I feel about stuff like this.’”

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Wylie to honor Harrison, Nickell at Homecoming Friday