The Oklahoma Military Academy Alumni Association has announced the recipients of its Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Awards for 2008.
The recipients will be honored at the annual Oklahoma Military Academy Reunion June 6-7 at Rogers State University in Claremore.
The Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Awards represent the highest honors that can be bestowed upon an alumnus of the Oklahoma Military Academy. Currently, more than 1,200 alumni remain active with the OMA Alumni Association.
This year, nearly 250 OMA alumni, spouses and guests will return to RSU’s “College Hill” to attend a variety of reunion activities including the Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony on June 7.
Inducted into the OMA Hall of Fame will be Bill Harris of Edmond, Okla. Distinguished Alumni include Gerald Breeding of Edmond, Okla., Charles Emerson of Oklahoma City, Scott Graham of Broken Arrow, Okla., Gene Howard of Tulsa and Gene Little of Inola, Okla. Reunion adjutant is Tom Anderson of Olympia, Wash.
“We are pleased to present the Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni Awards to these men who have brought honor to the Oklahoma Military Academy through their many years of dedicated service to their communities and country,” said Dr. Larry Rice, RSU President Designate.
OMA reunion events will include a golf tournament and opening reception on Friday, June 6. A cadet memorial service, Hall of Fame and Distinguished Alumni awards ceremony, alumni luncheon and dinner and dance are scheduled for Saturday, June 7, in Bushyhead Fieldhouse on the RSU campus in Claremore.
Following is more information about the honorees.
Gerald Breeding
Breeding graduated from the Oklahoma Military Academy in 1955. Two years later he received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa. He graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate receiving a Regular Army commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army in May 1957. He reported to active duty at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1957 and led a long and distinguished military career, including service in Vietnam. He formed his own company, Breeding Investment Corporation, which specialized in real estate development, property management and brokerage of commercial real estate. After working as a real estate appraiser in Florida, he returned to Midwest City, Okla., where he currently serves as owner and president of the Glenn E. Breeding Company, a commercial real estate business.
Charles Emerson
Emerson attended Oklahoma Military Academy for two and a half years, graduating from high school in 1955, and spending his first semester of college at OMA. He subsequently earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Oklahoma. During 1957-1960, he served in the U.S. Army Security Agency, and was stationed in Germany and England. Upon completion of his military service, Emerson worked at Tinker Air Force Base. He became skilled in the operation and programming of IBM and RCA computers. During the next 30 years he worked on computer information systems, developing and programming computers for several companies including AT&T and Lucent. During his business career, he also taught computer science courses at the university level.
Scott Graham
Graham graduated high school from Oklahoma Military Academy in 1953 and went on to attend George Washington University
and the University of Oklahoma School of Law. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1960 and remained in the Reserves
until 1964. In 1963 he became vice president and general counsel of the First National Bank of Broken Arrow and in 1966 was elected chairman of the board, a post he still holds today. In 1981 he became chairman of the board of the First National Bank of Coweta and served as chairman until 2007.
Gene Howard
Howard attended high school at the Oklahoma Military Academy for three years. In 1944, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving two years during World War II in the Philippines and Japan, and was discharged as a Staff Sergeant in 1946. In 1949, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force and was recalled to active duty during the Berlin Crisis. He subsequently attended the University of Oklahoma and earned a Juris Doctorate degree in 1951. He has been an attorney at law since 1952, and is currently a senior partner at Howard and Widdows, Attorneys and Predecessors. Howard served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1958 to 1962, and the Oklahoma Senate from 1964 to 1982. He was President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate from 1975 to 1981. He also served eight years as Chairman of the Oklahoma State and Education Group Insurance Board. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a Lieutenant Colonel (with active and reserve service).
Gene Little
Little attended three years of high school and two years of college at the Oklahoma Military Academy, graduating in 1956. He went on to attend the University of Oklahoma and the University of Tulsa. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, Little worked at Teledyne Semiconductor, where he served various roles for 17 years. In 1979, he joined Philips Semiconductor as a Fabrication Planning Manager for the U.S. plant in Orem, Utah, as well as Integrated Circuit Wafer Fabrication Facilities in Caen, France, and the Netherlands.
Bill Harris
Harris attended high school and junior college at the Oklahoma Military Academy, graduating in 1954. He continued his education at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University), completing a bachelor’s degree in geology in 1956. Subsequently, he continued his education with post-graduate work at the University of Houston. In 1958, he entered the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant, and was later assigned to the Specialist School Command, U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. Upon completion of his military service, he worked as a geologist and oil scout for Cities Service Oil Co. and as an engineer with Schlumberger for 37 years until his retirement in 1998. As the former president of the OMA Alumni Association, he has worked tirelessly on behalf of the association.