One “how are you doing today?” from a Sapulpa band student in a Buc-ee’s checkout line was enough to bring a man from Kentucky 11 hours to Sapulpa.
He wouldn’t give his last name. He goes by “just Bill from Kentucky,” and on Friday night he was in the stands to watch the Sapulpa band perform at halftime of the Chieftains’ game against Coweta.
The chance encounter happened while Sapulpa’s Band was on its trip to Tennessee last year. Bill had been asked to bring back some fudge from a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and he said the request meant stopping at Buc-ee’s on a weekend—something he tries to avoid when he can. “I like Buc-ee’s, but it’s a madhouse on the weekends,” Bill said.
It got worse when he pulled into the parking lot, Bill said. Two big charter buses pulled in ahead of him, and once inside he found about “30 people in every checkout line.” Bill, who describes himself as “the kind of person who will start a conversation with anybody,” was unusually miffed and stood in line silent, “just wanting to hurry and get back on the road,” he said.
Then a new line opened up, and Bill ended up behind a student named Colin Ingram, who turned around and asked him, “how are you doing today?”
Bill said he was floored. “First,” he said, “the young man wasn’t on his phone. Second, Colin had gone out of his way to be kind and say hello to a complete stranger.”
“Look at this guy,” Bill said. “He’s not only paying attention to the world happening around him, he’s learned how to function in society by engaging with other people.”
Bill said he told Ingram plainly that “you have a leg up on your peers,” he said. “Tell your parents that they’re doing a good job. I went in to give him a fist bump, and he actually shook my hand,” he said.
Bill said he wanted to do something for the band as a token of appreciation for Ingram’s kindness, so he bought the whole band pizza. Later, he made some other donations to the band program, and reached out to Band Director Whitney Yokum by email.
“I told her, I’m coming to see you guys perform, but I’m not going to give a lot of notice, because I don’t want anyone to make it a big deal,” he said.
That seems to be the way Bill goes. He made the 11-hour drive for the Sapulpa-Coweta game Friday, Oct. 30, to see the band at halftime. Nobody knew he was coming until he arrived. He spent most of the time he was there in the bandstand, talking with the directors and students, and watching the band from the best seat in the stadium.
“My son—he’s 24 now—was in band,” he said. “My ex-wife and I were involved in band boosters. We know this world,” he said, in recognition of grueling hours of practice and the long Saturdays at competitions.
Bill said he’s “just really happy to see how Sapulpa’s doing things, with everything that’s going on in the world.”
You can catch the last band performance of the season on Friday, November 6th at halftime during Sapulpa’s game against Will Rogers High School.