Landry Classic Saves Lives

Tom Landry Classic Presented by 7-Eleven Saturday, August 30, 2008 Gerald J. Ford Stadium, SMU Plano West vs. Southlake Carroll, 4:30 p.m. Highland Park vs. Red Oak, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at schools week of game and at stadium 1 ½ hour before start. $6 students/ $8 adults When Kris Cumnock rolls up his sleeves to plan and produce the Tom Landry Classic each year, he faces many challenges. There are teams and coaches to recruit and schedule, venues to book, sponsorships to raise and a seemingly countless number of details to work out. But the weight of all these tasks melts away when he thinks about the Classic's true mission: raising college scholarship assistance for high school students. Cumnock and PPI Marketing put on the annual high school doubleheader to honor the late Hall of Fame coach and to award the Tom Landry Scholarships. This year's Landry Classic will include Plano West vs. Southlake Carroll and Highland Park vs. Red Oak taking the field at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium. The event will put the teams on center stage in Zero Week and also provide scholarship opportunities for both schools. West and Carroll football players aren't the only student-athletes eligible to apply for Landry Scholarships. In fact, all senior game/event participants including team student manager and trainers, cheerleaders, spirit and drill team performers as well as band members, can apply for scholarship opportunities. "Athletic competition is certainly an integral part of this event. It not only provides contests for the fans enjoyment, but it also helps prepare the young men and women involved in those contests for the highs and lows that life inevitably brings," Cumnock said. "It is the off-the-field aspect of this event, however, that forms the foundation the Tom Landry Classic will stand on for years to come." To date, the Landry Classic and its corporate partners have awarded more than $340,000 in college scholarship assistance to student-athletes who have reflected the qualities Coach Landry exhibited including community service, integrity, leadership and academic excellence. The impact a Landry Scholarship made in one student-athlete's life still touches the hearts of Cumnock and his co-workers. "I had a high school football coach call me and ask me to look at one of his player's application. He said the player's grades weren't the best, but asked us to read the kid's entire application before turning him down," Cumnock said. The player's life just didn't make sense to him. One of his teachers kept telling him that this was the best years of his life, which caused him to fear the future. His grades and school life were suffering because he had to work nights and weekends to support an alcoholic mother who was the only parent in his life. The future appeared even bleaker when strangers started hanging out at his apartment, bringing drug us into his mother's life. To top it off, his coach kept bugging him to fill out an application for a scholarship he knew he could never achieve. The student went along with the process just to get his coach of his back. His life changed for the better when that same coach informed him that he had won a Landry Scholarship. "First I thought he was fooling, then I was shocked, then I just sat down in his office and cried into my hands. I was honored and I was very proud of myself. That night was when I started thinking about college," the student said in a letter. "The night of the Scholarship Banquet was very special. It was special because my mom stayed sober so she could go, and it was even more special because she told me that she was proud of me. She had never told me that before." The student went on to record a high college GPA and is now a freelance graphic artist for three Fortune 500 companies. "You and Wal-Mart [the scholarship's sponsor] saved my life," he told Cumnock. "His story perfectly illustrates the mission of the Tom Landry classic..." Cumnock said. "...to assist in the development of the young people who participate in it."