Bill O'Neal Retires
Trammel Trace Tribune, May 22, 2003Submitted by Marylee Knight
Longtime Panola College history teacher Bill O'Neal retired from the history department after 33 years at that post. "Teacher" is not adequate to describe this academic scholar, superb lecturer and inspiration to his students. He is also a popular writer of historical books, baseball history and lately, children's books. His list of publications includes around thirty books.
O'Neal's fame is widespread. He has been in demand as a lecturer and seminar leader for historical study groups, especially in the west and Midwest. He has done television and radio programs. He has sparked a widespread interest in local history since moving to this part of the state.
He attendee Corsicana High School and Navarro College and he assumed leadership roles at both schools. At Navarro he was elected President of Phi Theta Kappa, the community college honor fraternity. He was later to sponsor the chapter at Panola.
Bill started his professional career as a high school football coach, coming to Panola College from that post at Waskom High School.
A family man, O'Neal has raised four daughters and seen all of them graduate from college, some with post graduate degrees and at least one holds the PhD degree. His wife also teaches at Panola College.
While at Panola, Bill has been known as an inspirational teacher of American history. He has led his students to participate in the making of history by re-enacting some of its events and flavors. Some of his students designed and wore period costumes of the era studied. Others prepared foods as our forefathers did. Classes made reproductions of weapons of war, assembled them at the college and fired them. Recognized as the teacher with the strongest voice on campus, this tool added greatly to his authority.
Panola College wisely chose Bill O'Neal to deliver the main address at its graduation ceremony last Friday. He told the 93 graduates what it was like when they first arrived at the college, with some too timid to step into the classroom and others already focused on their future. He said he always loves students sense of adventure and energy and will always find them interesting.
"What is in your heart? Whatever it is, you need to have your career around it," he said, describing how much pleasure and satisfaction he's taken from his years in the classroom. "It's not been work - it's just been fun for me. I've loved every minute of it."
Dr. Gregory Powell, Panola College President, praised O'Neal for reaching so many of those lives through his energy in the classroom, his character and his many achievements.
O'Neal is the longest serving member of Panola College's faculty, Powell said, and is retiring at the top of his game. He has authored almost 30 books, written more than 300 book reviews and has been featured on several documentaries on TNT, TNN, the BBC and other networks.
"When he told me he was retiring, I hated it because he is such an inspiration to everyone," Powell said. "He is a role model for any instructor."
O'Neal has been along time associate and friend of Cecil Williams, founding editor and publisher of Tatum's Trammel Trace Tribune. They met at Navarro College where Williams was a teacher. "Everyone always knew that Bill would go to the top of any profession that he chose. At Navarro, he was immediately recognizes as a leader. I was honored to be the sponsor of Zeta Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa while Bill was president."
"We have traveled together through tough conditions in Mexico and in the western states. Bill made history come alive for me. I've always claimed him as a student even though he never took my classes."
As a retired teacher, O'Neal will spend more time writing books and traveling. At Panola he led several classes to Europe to study history and on an odyssey around Texas to visit shrines of history and to absorb the feeling. Perhaps he will lead future groups on longer and more comprehensive tours. He will certainly remain in demand as a speaker for his historical groups. Perhaps the college will lure him back to the classroom with some tempting offer.
With the retirement of Bill O'Neal, future students at Panola College will miss out on one of the best lecturers in community colleges. Indeed, he was named a Minnie Stevens Piper teacher by an academic board of scholars. That award is only presented to the top ten college professors in Texas colleges and universities. The academic world will truly miss Bill O'Neal.