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All Aboard

Rangerette Express dedicated to second director

See REVELS on Page 7B

Shelbi Crews / THE FLARE

ON THE COVER: Sophomores Stephanie Aumiller (center) and Nikki Fulps perform in “All Aboard.”

Location: Dodson Auditorium

Ticket Price: $20

Showtimes: 7 p.m. Friday & Saturday1 p.m. Saturday matinee

Box Oɉ ce: 903-983-8179

Email: revels@kilgore.edu

RevelsThe

Flar

eSECTIONBFRIDAY

APRIL 12, 2013

Special Edition2013

“My plan is to attend the Thursday, Friday and Saturday night performances,” Covin said. “We will have to wait and see if my health and the weather permit.”

Austin Head, “conductor,” will take the audience on an imaginary train ride celebrating Covin’s 90th birthday as well as her 20th year of retirement from director.

A few balcony tickets remain for Saturday’s performances. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased until 4 p.m. Friday at the Revels box office located in the Rangerette Gym south entrance or an hour before each performance in Dodson Auditorium. All seats are reserved.

Tickets may also be reserved by calling 903-983-8179. A credit card is required to purchase tickets by phone.

The show will be slightly different from last year’s, with fewer videos of behind-the-scene action and more focus on dance numbers.

“This year it is much harder to choose what is special about the performance because this means so much and we’ve put so much hard work into every single aspect of it,” said Stephanie Aumiller, Rangerette captain.

The prestigious 70-member dance-drill team will perform solo and group dance numbers, as well as singing and music.

“I am so blessed to have been chosen as captain this year. I am looking forward to performing my solo,” Aumiller said. “It is

All aboard! The Rangerettes proudly present “The Rangerette Express.”

The Rangerette’s 68th annual spring show continues 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday in Dodson Auditorium. It is only fitting that Revels is dedicated to the woman who has changed the lives of hundreds of young women for more than a decade: Deana Bolton Covin, former Rangerette director.

MAEGAN MITCHELL • Staff Writer

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Director: Dana Blair Assistant Director:Shelley Wayne

RangerettesOfficers Directors

Managers

Oɉ cers (from left): Lt. Arlin Busano, Lt. Morgan Berger, Capt. Stephanie Aumiller, Lt. Mackenzie Jardell and Lt. Briana McLaughlin

Managers: Front row (from left): Austin Head and Jake EstelBack row (from left): Danual Fountain, Harrison Bara, Cody Davis and Julian Bara

Dedicated PerfectionSecond Rangerette director celebrating 90th birthday, 20th year of retirement

Deana Bolton Covin, in 1992, sits before the gridiron props used in performances by the Rangerettes.O. Rufus Lovett / Special to THE FLARE

MAEGAN MITCHELLStaff Writer

This year’s Revels is dedicated to a special person who has had an impact on hundreds of young women: Deana Bolton Covin, in honor of her 90th birthday as well

as her 20th year of retirement from being Rangerette director.

From a very young age, Covin, the second director of the Rangerettes, learned to be the best in everything she participated in.

“I once asked my mother what she did to make me always want to be the best. She responded with ‘I didn’t do anything. I just wished I could have put more of what you have into your brother,’” Covin said.

Her career at KC began in 1966 as a physical education instructor in bowling and golf, but it wasn’t until 1972 that she began her work with the Rangerettes as assistant director.

In 1979, Covin became director of the Rangerettes after the retirement of founder Gussie Nell Davis.

“I had had it in my mind that I would work with the Rangerettes the second I saw them because I love to dance,” Covin said. “The Rangerettes are the best thing that has ever happened.”

Covin served 27 years as a member of the KC faculty and was a part of the Rangerettes for 21 of those years.

Passing on many traditions that Miss Davis left behind, Covin became well-known for her drive to create a dance-drill team line that performed with perfection.

“To be a Rangerette you have to work hard, but to be a director you have to work hard too,” Covin said.

Though Covin retired in 1993, she has

continued to touch the lives of hundreds of young women, staying as active as possible with the Rangerettes.

Covin is involved with the Rangerettes Forever organization, where she volunteers her time, money and support.

In September 2001, the Rangerette Gym was named in her honor, becoming the Deana Bolton Covin Rangerette Gym.

In a speech in 1999 introducing Covin as KC Ex-Teacher of the Year, longtime Rangerette supporter Mike Miller said

it best, “Today we salute a woman who epitomizes success… dedicated, driven, articulately detailed and organized, talented, devoted and loving. To me and to countless others… she is simply THE BEST.”

To be a Rangerette you have to work hard, but to be a director you have to work hard too.”“ Deana Bolton Covin, Rangerette director from 1979-1993

O. Rufus Lovett / Special to THE FLARECourtesy Photo

Deana Bolton Covin, in 1989, directs pregame as the Rangerettes enter R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium.

Arnodean Selden (Deana Bolton Covin) was drum major for the Lumberjack Band at Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College from 1939-1942.

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Inside LookRangerette Revels continues 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday in Dodson Auditorium. The show

features the Rangerettes, Rangerette managers and the KC Twirlers. The show is sponsored and produced by the Zwick Foundation, Southwest Dairy Farmers, Spirit of America and the Rangerettes Forever.

Freshman Taylor Mackintosh showcases the Fosse style in “Steam Heat.” Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

The Rangerettes tap during the opening number, “All

Aboard.” Lauren LaBoyteaux/ THE FLARE

Director Dana Blair instructs the Rangerettes during rehearsal.

Randi Vinson-Davis / THE FLARE

Marli Kimball and Manager Harrison Bara steam things up in the freshman Rangerette number “Steam Heat.”

Gabe Espinosa / THE FLARE

Whitney Early, Keller sophomore, touches up her makeup in the dressing room. Randi Vinson-Davis / THE FLARE

For more Revels photos see our slideshow at [OLÅHYLVUSPUL�JVT

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Sophomore Swingsters (from left) Whitney Robertson, Briana McLaughlin and Stephanie Aumiller perform to “East Texas Oil” in Act I. Cara Herbert / THE FLARE

Captain Stephanie Aumiller leaps in her solo “Don’t Stop Believin’” at the beginning of Act II.

Randi Vinson-Davis / THE FLARE

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Chip Clips

Arlin Busano, Flint sophomore, performs her solo as Alice Spencer, cinematographer, records for Chip Hale’s documentary fi lm which covers the 75-year history of the Rangerettes.

Director Chip Hale (left) interviews O. Rufus Lovett, photography instructor, concerning Lovett’s documentation of Rangerettes through the years. The interview will be included in Hale’s upcoming documentary, “Sweethearts of the Gridiron: An American Tradition” which celebrates the history of the Rangerette organization.

Kris Dobbins / THE FLARE

Jamie Maldonado / Special to THE FLARE

Looking to preserve their history a little further, Chip Hale set out this past January to create “Sweethearts of the Gridiron: an American Story,” a rich, in-depth and personal historical documentary that will share with the world the roots of the ’Rettes.

Hale, a KC alumnus who graduated in 1996, moved to Los Angeles in 2001 after finishing his degree in television and film production at the University of North Texas. Beginning his career in the independent film world, Hale spent the last 12 years directing films for Warner Brothers, producing and directing his own films and staying in touch with KC by directing the art for the cover photo for Revels. In 2012, he was approached by KC to do a 15-minute showcase film about the Rangerettes for the anticipated 75-year anniversary in 2014.

Hale accepted the job but soon found out that to do justice for the historical dance team, he would need to create a full-length documentary.

“You want me to encompass 75 years into 15 minutes?” Hale asked, sarcastically.

Co-producing this documentary is Mikaela Addison, a former Rangerette whose enthusiasm for the project is paralleled only by Hale’s. With more than 500 gigabytes of old video

footage collected already (an average feature-length movie is between two and five gigs), the two acknowledge the amount of work that needs to ensue. This includes hours of interviews, historical research, video production, photography and a ton of editing, in order to capture the true essence of the vivid history of the Rangerettes.

Hale’s crew is interviewing five sophomore and five freshman ’Rettes who are currently on the line. The sophomores include Stephanie Aumiller, Arlin Busano, Leslie Clothier, Katy Hunter, Briana Mclaughlin and Mary Alice Van Natta. The freshmen interviewed are Tori Boaze, Julia Goebel, Kaitlin Hanus, Jenna Helduser and Robin Richardson.

City officials, historians, aspiring ’Rette trainees, KC staff and the few remaining women from the first 1940 line are also on the interview list to provide personal insight into the world of Kilgore College’s world renown dance-team.

“Halftime wouldn’t be what it is today without the 1940 first line,” Hale said, “and we want to preserve that link to the oil boom” which was the era in which the Rangerettes were created and the event that put Kilgore on the map.

One of the main focuses of the film will be the historical aspect of the team along with the how’s and why’s of its creation.

“With 75 years to work with, we don’t have to stretch any stories,” Addison said.

For instance, Hale shared a small bit of information they will use in the film:

“One tradition the Rangerettes still have to this day, since the beginning is the no walking on grass. Most of us thought it was a

rule that Miss Davis made, when actually it was a rule that Dr. Masters put into place to preserve the new landscaping for the new college.”

Intrigued by the colorful history of Kilgore, the two have gained permission from the East Texas Oil Museum and the city of Kilgore to all historical

records and documents to ensure the quality of the film.

“People have been very supportive of the work that we are doing and have helped us out tremendously,” Hale said.

Expecting the 90-110 minute film to be ready just in time for the 75th Revels anniversary in 2014, the

crew is working tirelessly to create the best Rangerette and Kilgore documentary ever produced.

“My goal is to bring a positive light to the Rangerettes, Kilgore College and the city of Kilgore. They are a true American art form, and we really want to bring people to Kilgore,” Hale noted.

TRAVIS HULL • Staff Writer

For nearly 75 years the Rangerettes have preserved a tradition, a tradition they created–the halftime dance performance. Every drill

team that dances during its team’s halftime owes its roots to the 1940 first Rangerette line.

You want me to encompass 75 years into 15 minutes?”

–Chip Hale, fi lm director“

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The iconic decades-old “Smile” sign hangs from the balcony in Dodson Auditorium.

Sophomores (from left) Ria Romano, Jessica Stovall, Brianna Hines and Caitlyn Glorioso strike a pose in “Tickets Please” in Act I.

Revels: Twirlers to perform 1940s-style routine

Jonathen Ruesch / THE FLARE

Cara Herbert / THE FLARE

Taylon Sharer / THE FLARE

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Shelbi Crews / THE FLARE

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Managers (from left) Cody Davis, Danual Fountain, Harrison Bara and Austin Head entertain in “Mule Train.”

Rangerette Captain Stephanie Aumiller does fouettes during her solo “Don’t Stop Believin.’”

Rangerette Manager Julian Bara plays the cello during “Dining Car.”

Sophomore Rangerette Hannah Prince carries her suitcase in “All Aboard.”

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FROM PAGE 1B

bitter-sweet because it is the last time I will be performing with my class. However, I am excited for the freshmen as they will be experiencing Revels for the first time.”

Zwick Management, Southwest Dairy Farmers, Rangerettes Forever and Spirit of America Productions as well as several local businesses, families and individuals are sponsoring the show.

Shelley Wayne, choreographer for 20 years, has created the sophomore dance as well as an elaborate ending number. Several outside choreographers have also contributed to the production.

The twirlers will also be performing in Revels this year with a 1940s inspired routine.

The twirlers are dedicating their performance to Deana Bolton Covin who started as a twirling instructor and was the founder of Tops in Twirling summer camp at KC.

Every spring, this performance is the focal point of the Rangerettes’ practices since it takes many weeks of preparation.

“The girls look forward to this performance because it is the highlight of their year. They perform all their different styles of dance,” said Dana Blair, director. “They work very hard and we can’t wait to see everyone out there.”

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Erin Oian, Gussie Nell Davis Rangerette Residence house manager, stands in front of the uniform that she wore as a member of the 61st line in 2000. Oian is leaving after seven years of being the house manager. She has been a part of the organization for the past 13 years. She hopes to return to working with radio/television as well as developing her clothing line.

Cara Herbert / THE FLARE

DEZIRAE BURNETTStaff Writer

The living room walls are bare, adorned with only the ghosts of the pictures that once hung on them. Soon the rest of the small apartment will be as sparse

as those walls. After serving as the Gussie Nell Davis Rangerette Residence house manager for seven years, Erin Oian is packing her belongings and setting out to write a new chapter in her life.

Memories linger in the shadows of the intimate living space–memories of her first encounter with the Rangerettes as a young girl living in Kansas watching the “kicking cowgirls” jump split in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade–and memories of her days on the Junior Blue Performance Team dancing at Houston Rockets and Oilers games. Displayed near the entrance of the apartment is a framed, faded Rangerette uniform, the very uniform she wore during her two years on the team. And in the corner of the living room, nestled between the dining table and the back door is a mannequin adorned with a seemingly harmless pink, quarter-sleeved, peasant top-like blouse, another memoir of her past.

“I think it’s just the love of the organization,” Oian said on why she has continued to be so involved in Rangerettes. “My favorite part of it all is showoffs. Seeing the freshman be announced and perform for the first time. Knowing their lives are about to change and they don’t even know it.”

That’s why she has stayed a part of the organization for the past 13 years, whether it be as a member of the team, the residence manager or the president of the Forever organization–changing girls’ lives like it changed hers.

Tryout number 24, Erin Oian, became a member of the Rangerette 61st line in 2000. That year, the Rangerettes received their first invitation to perform at the Texas Black Tie and Boots Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., for the first inauguration of former president George

W. Bush. All travel was put on hold her sophomore year, however, because of the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001.

“I didn’t mind though,” Oian said. “Going through 9/11 with that group of girls made us all realize the importance of the sisterhood.” Her eyes shone with adoration as she was reminded of the horror of that year and how her team members kept each other strong.

Four years later, after receiving her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism with a minor in public relations from the University of Houston, Oian was working in radio in the Houston area when her former Rangerette Forever and long-time friend Katherine Heller Zwick flew Oian to her home in Santa Barbra, Calif., for Easter weekend.

Sitting by the pool that weekend, Zwick set a long roll of papers down on a table. Before the women laid the first blueprints for the Gussie Nell Davis Rangerette Residence, and pointing to a room on the corner of the page Zwick announced, “And that’s where you’re going to live.”

Oian’s work began in 2006 when the residence opened. For the past seven years, her days have been filled with a variety of jobs from decorating for the holidays, baking cookies for the football team, making sure the house is cleaned, to planning the family barbecue, having game nights and making sure everything is up to regulation standards; each day a little different from the last.

“That’s one thing about this job–I don’t have a ‘normal’ day,” Oian said.

Her time with Rangerettes has not all been party planning and good times. Three years ago she discovered an abnormal lump in her chest.

“I was young and healthy,” Oian said, “so I ignored it.”However, as weeks passed the lump Oian had felt

continued to grow larger. Three months after first discovering it, she decided it was time to go to the doctor. Even before her official diagnosis, Oian knew she had cancer.

“After my biopsies, I went on Web M.D., which is the

devil,” Oian said. That night she called her doctor and told him she knew.

She spent the weekend alone and got it all out, letting what she already knew to be true set in. The following Monday, she visited her doctor. Oian was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 29. But only once did she break down, the day of her diagnosis in the parking lot when she called to break the news to her mother.

Her diagnosis was followed by six months of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy, six and a half weeks of radiation and a six-shot clinical trial for a breast cancer vaccine.

“I remember telling my nurses I was lucky to have breast cancer, “ Oian said.

She saw her illness as a way to show her Rangerettes–“her girls”–how to live and conquer.

Jan. 13, 2011, just before her 30th birthday, Oian was given the good news that she was cancer free. Today she is an active member of her 12-person survivor group out of Tyler. The committee meets once a month to plan social events for survivors and newly diagnosed young women.

Her passion for Rangerettes is now paired with a new passion that was developed during her fight with the cancer. Oian has her own clothing line of specially made patient “gowns” for people with cancer. During the weeks after her diagnosis, Oian had to go to doctor’s appointments three and four times a week and after a while she couldn’t handle the oppressing hospital gowns anymore. She had her own design of patient top made in Kilgore. Soon patients at M.D. Anderson were asking where they could get one of their own.

After the year ends, Oian plans to live in Longview and work part time at the Rangerette Residence. She hopes to continue developing her clothing line and someday work in radio/television again. Soon her days will be filled with traveling, guitar, hot air balloon rides and a 5K.

“I’m just looking forward to living life to the fullest,” Oian said.

It’s surreal to think that a year ago I was sitting in the audience in Dodson Auditorium, giddy as a school

girl, counting down the minutes until Rangerette Revels 2012 began.

I had only been to one Revels before, my freshman year, and it was like nothing I had ever seen. Being from a small town and from a small drill team, Revels was Broadway to my Vaudeville. I remember how awe-inspired I was by the young women on stage. They were only a year or two older than I was and yet they seemed to dance with a maturity of being much older than that.

I was introduced to the organization when I was in the seventh grade, when my middle school drill team director told us the history behind drill team. That next summer I attended my first mini-camp and saw the Rangerettes perform for the first time. I was instantly enamored. From that point on I told everyone, “I’m going to be a Rangerette.”

My dance career continued into high school where I was captain of my team for three years. My Rangerette dream was pushed to the back burner at the beginning of my senior year. I sustained a serious back injury that kept me off the

dance floor for months. After three months of physical therapy I was told I might never be able to dance again, at least not at the caliber that it took to be a Rangerette. But I was determined to see my dream become a reality. And that’s just what I did.

In April 2012, I was released from therapy with an OK to dance. I trained for weeks. I set up motivational signs all over my house: “You will be on Line 73,” “Red, white and blue bound,” “Have you kicked today?” I spent my summer at my high school perfecting my solo and working kick technique, and when pre-training week at arrived, I realized there was no way I could have prepared myself for the tryout process.

That week was one of the hardest but most rewarding weeks of my life. I didn’t watch a single solo. I didn’t watch any girl on model night. I looked away during all the markings. I put myself in a bubble for the entire week. When the sign dropped, I saw my number and thought, “I was number two... number two is on the

sign...,” and then it hit me. I had made it! I became the first person from my hometown of Huntington to become a Rangerette.

My life changed forever that day. I gained the friendships I had always felt I lacked in high school. I gained a support system. I have been taught how to learn by example and to observe my surroundings. I have learned how to be a lady, how to manage my time and how to be accountable for not only myself but my classmates as well.

The rules we follow are difficult, but as time has passed I have learned that each and every rule has been put into place for a reason that still applies today just as much as it did when they first went into effect. It takes all of those things and more to make being a Rangerette mean what it does.

Football season consisted of grueling heat, tedious practices and a successful winning streak by the Rangers. I kicked finale in the second annual “Christmas Extravaganza” and traveled to Washington, D.C., to dance at the Texas State Society Black Tie and Boots Ball. And then all of a sudden, it was Revels season. Where had the time gone? Just yesterday I had seen my number on that sign.

And now it’s Revels season, full of long

practices and more difficult dancing than I have ever done. Sitting in the audience last year, there is no way I could have possibly known the time and the dedication that goes into a production like Revels. Each routine is meticulously polished and performed over and over again until it is exactly the way it should be - not to mention the huge props that have had to be hand painted or built or contact papered.

The entire show is like a well-oiled machine of perfectly timed entrances and quick and quiet set changes. But I know what the ending effect looks like and I’m proud to put in the hours I have to make it happen.

The red, white and blue uniform hanging in my closet continues to catch my breath each time I see it. Knowing that I am one of the few and the proud, that I am one of the lucky ones, that I was chosen to be a part of such a rich history, and to know that uniform is mine forever makes all of the memories I have made, the tears I have shed, the hours I have put in and the laughter I have shared worth every minute of it.

Dezirae Burnett is a freshman communications major from Huntington.

DEZIRAE BURNETTStaɈ Writer

Revels role-reversal has freshman kicking high

Leaving with aS!"#$

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Randi Vinson-Davis / THE FLARE

Randi Vinson-Davis / THE FLARE

Lauren LaBoyteaux / THE FLARE

Sonia Garza / THE FLARE

ABOVE: Austin Head, Rebecca Fertitta, Nikki Fulps, Julia Harkness, Bethaney Metreyeon and Jordan Ewing dance to “Handbrake Jam” in Act II. LEFT: Julia Harkness puts on her Rangerette smile during “Chattanooga Choo Choo” in Act II.

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“All Aboard” - Rangerettes“One Way Ticket” - Kelsey Johnson

“Tickets Please” - Rangerettes“I Follow Rivers” - Julia Goebel

“East Texas Oil”- Sophomore Swingsters

“Say My Name” - Freshman Swingsters“Dining Car” - Rangerettes

“Amazing Grace”- Breanna Burns and Robin Richardson“Hopeless Wanderers” - Rangerettes“I Dreamed A Dream” - Arlin Busano

“Dedication”- Honoring Mrs. Deana Covin

“Choo Choo Cha Boogie” - KC Twirlers

ACT I“All Aboard”

“Crazy Train” - Rangerettes“Don’t Stop Believin’”

- Stephanie Aumiller“Steam Heat” - Freshman Rangerettes“Wrecked Metal” - Rangerette Offi cers

“Handbrake Jam” - Bethaney Metreyeon, Julia Harkness, Nikki Fulps,

Rebecca Fertitta and Jordyn Ewing“Mule Train” - Rangerette Managers

“Upside Down” - Rangerettes“Locomotion” - Briana McLaughlin, Thalia

Molina and Angie Gonzalez“Love Train” - Skit“Seasons of Love”

- Sophomore Rangerettes“A Look Back” - Video

“Goodbye” - Austin Head“The Rangerette Extravaganza”

- Rangerettes

ACT II“The Fun Has Just Begun”

ACT I“All Aboard”

ACT II“The Fun Has Just Begun”

Kris

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TOP PHOTO: Austin Head, Kilgore freshman, strikes a pose in his monologue before the “I Follow Rivers” number.

Briana McLaughlin (left) and Ally Honeycutt entertain the audience with a hip-hop routine to “Tickets Please” in Act I.

KC Twirlers (from left) Lori Bernal, Rachel Armistead and Tori Dheil pose during their “Choo Choo Cha Boogie” at the end of Act I.

Freshman Rangerettes (from left) Marli Kimball, Taylor Macintosh, Libby Power, Ashley Cloud and Jenna Helduser jump in “Steam Heat” during Act II.