ABILENE – Cooper High School teacher Jimmy Pogue has been honored by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine with the Community Connector Award presented by Suddenlink for his work to fight hunger in Abilene and poverty in Chinle, Arizona.

Pogue – who also serves as the play-by-play voice of Cooper football and other AISD athletics events – will be presented with the award Friday night at the end of the first quarter of the game between Cooper and Granbury at Shotwell Stadium. In honor of his recognition, Suddenlink will be making a $250 donation to the Cooper Cougars’ program in his name.

This fall, 15 schools will be spotlighted and at the end of the season, communities across Texas will rally to vote for their school to be named the Community Connection School of the Year and a chance to receive a $2,500 donation, thanks to the support of Suddenlink.

Pogue also serves as the Student Council director at Cooper, and last year began a program called “Table 20” to help provide free food to members of the Cooper community in need. And for two decades, Pogue has taken a group of Cooper students and staff members on a trip to Chinle to provide food, clothing and other supplies to the people of the Navajo nation.

“Jimmy helps organize a lot of events that help our community,” Cooper head football coach Aaron Roan said. “He organizes trips to the Navajo nation bringing food and support, and he also helped students set up ‘Table 20,’ a food bank for our school. Jimmy Pogue is a guy who is selfless and is my definition of a Community Connector.”

Pogue – who was honored as the Edwin and Agnes Jennings Teaching Excellence TLC Secondary Teacher of the Year in the AISD for the 2019-20 school year – has been teaching and calling games for Cooper and the AISD for more than 30 years and still has a passion for both.

“I’m deeply humbled to be honored as a Community Connector,” said Pogue, who was voted the Region 14 Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2019-20. “Coach Roan is a great man to work with as a teacher. I love teaching at Cooper High School because everyone is so invested in each other and the students are so kind. 

“Everyone at Cooper High School – from the administration to the custodial staff – is invested,” said Pogue, who also emcees several AISD events during each school year. “We want all our students to be successful and make sure they have every resource to do so. Everyone sends the same message of being kind and doing things the right way. I love it. I couldn’t think of being any place else other than Cooper.”