HS FOOTBALL: Former coach, athletic director John Homer looks back on time at McAlester
Dec. 3—John Homer has been a Buffalo all his life.
The 1977 McAlester graduate returned home to work in the school system in 1985, where he also coached football and baseball — including leading the football program from 2000-2003.
Homer was later named the junior high athletic director in 2005 and served nine years before ascending to being the district's athletic director in 2014 after the retirement of Billy Ray Holt.
Homer has since retired from that position earlier this year, but reflected on how far the programs and athletic department has prospered over the years.
"Over 40 years, the stuff that's changed has been unbelievable. But to be honest, kids are still kids. They still work hard for you," he said. "But everything else has. There's a lot of stuff that's changed."
Homer reminisced of his own coaching days, and said he knows first hand the countless hours of time and endless effort it takes to coach a team and be successful. But he said it's those moments that became some of his favorites during his career.
"When I look back at some of my favorite stuff, it's been spending time around the coaches," he said. "It's being in coaches meetings, on a bus ride with the staff — you've got to really like who you're coaching with because you spend more time with them than you do with your family at times."
Homer said McAlester has always been his home, and he's had fun getting to work with so many student-athletes throughout the years. He's also met many mentors and made friends that he said will forever have an impact on him.
"I've made a lot of really good friendships that will last the rest of my life. And I wouldn't have made them if I hadn't been in education," he said. " There's really good people, and I've had the chance to be around some really good ones."
McAlester will be playing in its sixth championship game on Saturday, with the Buffs looking to bring home the third football title in school history to put an emphatic end to an incredible journey.
And although he's not attending in an official capacity these days, Homer has still been in the stands every step of the way cheering on a school he loves dearly.
"It's not something you set out to do, it's just what you are," he said. "It means a lot to me to be here, because I've had chances to move to other schools and do things, and didn't want to. I wanted to be here...I'm here, I'm a Buffalo."
Contact Derek Hatridge at dhatridge@mcalesternews.com.
