Before it became Carl Albert

One of the top junior colleges in LeFlore County , or should I say the only JC in LeFlore County , wasn’t always Carl Albert State College. Before it was Carl Albert, it was called Poteau Community College , or PJC. Some people used to say, “If Poteau had a college, it would be PU.”

Carl Albert’s campus wasn’t where it is now or wasn’t near as nice. It has two-story dorms, an administration office, a library, baseball field, a basketball gym and tennis courts, all the things you would expect a college campus to have. PJC, however, didn’t even have a so-called campus, nor a basketball gym and a baseball field. My first year in college was at PJC in Poteau, when it was housed at Pansy Kidd Junior High! In the back of Pansy Kidd Junior High, no less. Oh, PJC played baseball, but I can’t tell you where the field was, because I never went to a game. And I assume it had basketball and the games were in the old junior high gym, across the street from Sherman Floyd’s house. Coach Floyd was the Poteau High School football coach and his daughter Toni went to PJC, because I knew her as a pretty but chubby-cheeked girl. Yep, Toni and Georgia Kay Ollie, daughter of lumber tycoon George Ollie, were two of the prettiest girls on “campus.”

There wasn’t even a parking lot for students. We parked wherever we could find a place, on the street next to Coach Floyd’s house, by the junior gym, etc. PJC didn’t have a cafeteria, to my knowledge, only a little “hamburger place” across the street from Pansy Kidd Jr. High, where all the junior high kids ate right along with the “junior college” students. There were no dorms, just a few apartments scattered around the neighborhood. The student union was a room where some of us gathered to play cards, dominos, laugh or just have a good time. I don’t even remember any of the teacher’s names, just that I took English, algebra and a few other courses. I worked in the afternoons for Hal Dowden in Babcock & Sons Hobby Shop making trophy bases. That’s how I got through (financially) my first year of college. After a year I left with several A’s, a 3.6 GPA, a pocketful of money. (It was a very small pocket since Hal paid so well), and transferred to Northeastern in Tahlequah. Northeastern was not quite so easy. I sank to a 2.2 and left after a year to join the Air Force to keep from being drafted into the Army.

Now, I understand Carl Albert not only has another campus in Sallisaw, but is ticketed for four-year status next year. My, how times have changed.