‘Better Things Ahead’
While teaching sociology in classrooms from Nebraska to New York to North Dakota, Cross was recruited to teach American Indian law and then to direct American Indian programs. He is a member of the Hvteyievlke Band of the Seminole Nation. In 1985, Cross returned to Oklahoma State University as the director of the American Indian Studies program and as a sociology professor. He retired in 2009. “If I hadn’t got that position at Tahlequah, I had considered going back to Fort Smith,” he said. “But that set me off on a different route.”
LION FILE
Taking Time to Return Four out of the past five years Larry Patten, ’77, has driven 10 hours from his home in Whitwell, Tennessee to come to a place he called home for only a few years in the 1970s. Patten graduated in 1977 from Westark Community College with an Associate of Applied Science and an Associate of Arts while studying auto mechanics. A self-described “Army brat,” his family moved regularly though he thinks of Kentucky as home. His journey to Westark began with hearing stories about the area from a friend during his own military stint in the Navy. After he was discharged, Patten came to Fort Smith and enrolled at the community college using his veteran’s benefits. Patten studied auto mechanics in the college’s garage, then located at the corner of Waldron Road and Kinkead Avenue, a location where the Lion’s Den student housing currently resides. He regularly made the dean’s list. “We had a good institution then too,” he said. After graduating and working for a few years in Fort Smith, Patten returned to Tennessee. He worked on his own repairing cars before becoming a deputy sheriff. Then he worked in construction. From 1986 until his retirement in January 2014, he worked in road construction. But since the advent of the UAFS Homecoming celebration, Patten has taken time to return to the campus where he worked for his education and his start. He enjoys seeing the changes with its growth as it has moved from a community college to a university with its expanded programs and new buildings. “They’re moving forward and progressing,” he said. “They’re giving more students the opportunity to go to school.” Patten usually brings his sister and stepdaughter with him to the event, enjoying the parade, tailgate, game and, usually, the alumni dinner. “If everything goes right, I’ll be back next year,” he said.
UAFS BELL TOWER
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JENNIFER SICKING
At 148 pounds in high school, John Cross, ’62, found himself too small for the football field and, at 5 feet 8 inches, too short to play basketball. He found his sport in boxing. “It was just a fun sport to be involved in,” said Cross. “After I won a few championships, it was even more fun.” Cross fought with the Cushing, Oklahoma, Episcopal Athletic Club, beginning his junior year in high school. While in high school he racked up 15 wins, including 10 knockouts, with four losses. He won the Oklahoma Amateur Athletic Union Championship in 1959 and 1960. In the fall of 1960, he enrolled at Central State College (now the University of Central Oklahoma). Then a boxing scholarship from Fort Smith Junior College tempted him east. Cross competed with the Fort Smith Boys Club notching an additional 29 wins, with 19 knockouts, and four losses. He won the Open Welterweight Champion title from Mid-South Regional Golden Gloves in Memphis in 1961 and the Arkansas Amateur Athletic Union Championship in 1961 and 1962. While he had opportunities to turn professional, he recalled the warnings of his first coach that boxing promoters didn’t put the
interests of the boxer first. “I just thought I better get a college degree,” he said. “I saw better things ahead of me with a college degree.” Words of Cross’ mother also resounded within him. She told her children they would need more than a high school diploma for a good job. Of Cross and his eight siblings, seven would graduate college and three would attain their graduate degrees. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in sociology, he returned to Fort Smith to work as
the associate director of the Fort Smith Boys Club and managed the Jeffrey Boys Club. Since the junior college and the club shared gym space, Cross became friends with Bill Crowder, the basketball coach. Crowder encouraged Cross to earn his master’s degree. And encouraged him... and encouraged him. “After a period of time, I think he won out,” Cross said. Cross earned his master’s in sociology from the University of Tulsa then taught for a year at Northeastern State College in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, before earning his doctorate from the University of Missouri.
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