Three more outstanding Cooper Cougars will take their place in the Cooper High School Hall of Fame during a ceremony on Friday, Sept. 13, at the Cooper Auditorium.
Former students Anita Blanton and Dr. Leslie Hutchins, along with former band director Jack Nall, will be inducted in the ceremony. With the induction of these three Cougars, the Cooper Hall of Fame has 94 members since it began in 1993. Executive Director of the Paramount Theatre George Levesque will host a question-and-answer session with the three inductees during the ceremony.
Here's a brief bio of each of the 2024 inductees:
Anita Blanton
Blanton is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who joined FOX 32 to anchor Good Day Chicago in 2022. She joined the WFLD-TV family after nine years as an evening anchor for WAVY-TV10/WVBT FOX43 in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
She began her journalism career as a reporter at KTXS-TV in Abilene before heading to Central Texas to work at KWTX-TV in Waco, WRIC-TV in Richmond, Virginia, and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She has covered President George W. Bush and has been part of team coverage of several high-profile stories. She field-anchored annual coverage from the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing on the event’s anniversary for three years.
At Cooper, Blanton was the vice president of the Student Council, a member of PALS, and voted the Homecoming Queen, Prom Queen, and Female Student-Athlete of the Year.
Blanton was also a member of the National Honor Society and Academic Decathlon teams and broke the school record in the 200-meter dash as a member of the track and field team. She is a proud alumna of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where she is a former Miss Hampton University, earning a degree in Broadcast Journalism and Political Science.
Blanton has received the Silver Star Legacy Award from the Urban League of Hampton Roads in Virginia and has been honored as a 2023 Game Changer and one of Chicago’s Top 30 Most Influential Black Women. She deeply loves music, and was selected to sing the National Anthem for the Oklahoma City Thunder twice. Blanton is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Dr. Leslie Hutchins
Dr. Hutchins is a distinguished neurosurgeon in Abilene. With a career spanning more than a decade, she has served as the Chair of Neurosurgery at Hendrick Health System since October 2023.
Dr. Hutchins graduated as the Cooper valedictorian in 2000. She pursued her undergraduate studies at Abilene Christian University, earning a dual bachelor of science degree in biology and biochemistry/molecular biology, graduating summa cum laude in 2004. She received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in 2008.
She began her professional career as part of the Neurosurgery Clinical Faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University. Later, Dr. Hutchins worked as a neurosurgeon at Shannon Hospital in San Angelo before joining Hendrick Hospital in 2017. In May, she was also honored as a Fellow of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.
Dr. Hutchins balances her professional commitments with her role as a mother to her daughter, Talia Piper Hutchins. She is a member of Altamesa Church of Christ and enjoys spending time on her hobby farm, where she raises ducks, guineas, turkeys, chickens, and donkeys. Her dedication to her family and community is a testament to her multifaceted approach to life and work.
Jack Nall
Jack Nall is the man who put the “Awesome” in the Awesome Cooper Band. In 1979, Nall became head band director at Cooper High School, overseeing the program’s growth from 140 to 500-plus members during his 15-year tenure. The concert and marching bands enjoyed unparalleled success during this time and were awarded UIL Sweepstakes every year he was the director.
Eight of his bands made state marching contest appearances, with two finishing in the top five. The Awesome Cooper Band also performed at two NFL games, where it was introduced as the “largest marching band in Texas.” In 1990, it appeared in the “101st Tournament of Roses Parade” as the largest marching band to perform in the traditional parade.
An accomplished musician, Nall played trombone for the Amarillo Symphony, Odessa/Midland Symphony, Abilene Symphony, and Dave Ritter’s Tiffany Brass. Through the years, he played approximately 35 professional rodeos and accompanied celebrities like Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers, Chet Atkins, Ray Price, Johnny Cash, and Doc Severenson.
In 1994, he moved into administration in Abilene ISD, serving as an assistant principal, principal, and Director of Secondary Education. During that time, he was selected as Texas Secondary Principal of the Year by TCTA (Texas Classroom Teachers Association). After 37 years in education, he retired in 2009. In 2021, The Cooper Band Alumni established The Jack and Donna Nall Scholarship Fund to award a scholarship yearly to a Cooper Band Student pursuing a music degree. Jack & Donna now live in The Villages, Florida. They have three sons, Heath (Jennifer), Shane (Amber), and Chad (Marcie), and five grandchildren.