Back under the lights

The Permian Panthers of 2009 were treated to a pep rally Saturday honoring former Panthers — the class of 1989 to be exact.

The community-wide pep rally was part of the weekend reunion for the class of 1989. The class was immortalized in H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger’s best-selling book “Friday Night Lights.” Bissinger spent the 1988 football season with the team.

This year’s Panthers got a look at how the Panthers of yesteryear still have that school spirit that Mojo is famous for. The crowd of about 1,000 was often standing as former broadcaster Kurt Kiser, Coach Gary Gaines and 1988 star player Don Billingsley spoke.

Billingsley and Gaines mentioned the famous football season of 1988, which ended in a tough loss to Dallas Carter in the semifinal.

Gaines let out several memories of his own while also telling his incoming 2009 team of how the storied program is now in their hands.

“It’s been 20 years since I left here and came back,” he told the crowd. “You walk the halls today, there’s a new band hall … but the traditions are still here.”

Gaines came back to Mojo in the spring after leaving Permian almost two decades ago for coaching jobs elsewhere.

Many of the alumni toured the campus after the pep rally to see a school that was somewhat bigger than they remembered.

“It’s changed, it’s grown,” said Coleman resident Tracy Zarauskas Allen as she was with a group looking at the football locker rooms.

“It makes me have chills,” her long-time friend and classmate Enida Henderson of Oklahoma City said. “It has grown so much. It changes all the time, and I miss it terribly.”

It was also a trip down memory lane for Don Billingsley, a senior Panther running back on the 1988 team. He told the crowd Saturday morning “I always draw back on my memories in the weight room and on the mats” while living his current life. His said the work ethic and skills he learned as a Panther have served him well throughout his life.

“Friday Night Lights” author H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger also showed up, signing autographs after the pep rally. Though he did not speak during the pep rally, he said he felt “the wounds have healed” following the release of his book and the often-negative reactions the book provoked locally. As for the town, he said the racism and excesses he described in his book had faded, and he said he gives the city credit for that.

“The town has changed. It changed for the better, it is more enlightened,” Bissinger said. “I hope they don’t revert back to the old days where football was the only thing that counted. That’s the danger.”

Bissinger’s book also became a hit movie directed by Peter Berg and starring Billy Bob Thornton as Gaines. NBC also has a hit TV series based loosely on the book.

Permian High’s drumline, cheerleaders, Lady Cats and Panther Paws also performed for the crowd during the Saturday event. The reunion wrapped up Saturday night with an evening concert at Graham Central Station.