Northwest Classen High School to Induct Five New Hall of Fame Members

Oklahoma City, OK – Northwest Classen High School has Announced its latest class of outstanding alumni to be inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame, known as The Order of the Round Table. New inductees will be honored for their exceptional lifetime achievements and contributions to society, including a multiple Grammy-winning musician, a nationally-acclaimed equestrian and even a world-renowned roboticist.

The seventh Annual Hall of Fame banquet and formal presentation of this years’ ‘Order of the Round Table’ Class is set for Friday, November 7th in Oklahoma City and will take place at the school, located at 2801 Northwest 27th at May Avenue. For information regarding ticket sales, reserving your tickets and the evenings’ order of events, go to https:nwcfriends/org and click on ‘Hall of Fame’.

This year’s Hall of Fame honorees are Thomas Britton, Matthew Mason, Bill Maxwell Anneeeene Miller, and Jim Robinson. Brief biographies of each of the five honorees are included.

Directing the Annual Hall of Fame selection and induction is The Friends of Northwest Classen, the official alumni organization of the school, which raises funds and assists students and faculty of the school in a variety of ways.

Designating a select Hall of Fame Committee, the group invested several months and hundreds of hours soliciting nominations of notable alumni, identifying the most qualified candidates from more than 50 different nominees, then vetting each one individually to select the Hall of Fame Class for 2025.

Tom Cheatham, President of the Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation, stated the obvious: “The diversity of this years’ inductees is simply mind-blowing. How did a single, suburban high school in Oklahoma City produce such an incredibly wide range of world-class professionals who’ve excelled in so many diverse industries and careers? It’s really amazing, and these inductees are a perfect example of just how unlimited the career possibilities might be for current students at Northwest Classen, as well.”

Established in 2006, the Friends of Northwest Classen High School Foundation is a 501(c)3 whose sole purpose is to fund basic needs at the school, specifically with enhancements for faculty and students.

Tickets and table reservations to the Hall of Fame presentation dinner and program are limited to just 200 attendees. As such, those interested in attending this prestigious event are encouraged to make their reservations as early as possible.

For more information about the Northwest Classen Hall of Fame, to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, or to know about the Friends of Northwest Classen Alumni Group, visit the website at http://nwcfriends.org or email [email protected].

Tom Britton

Born in Pawhuska and raised primarily in Tulsa, Tom didn’t move to Oklahoma City and enroll at Northwest until the spring semester of his junior year, where he excelled with the Knight’s baseball team and in the classroom. After graduation in 1962, Tom headed to Oklahoma State University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management. He left Stillwater in 1968 to begin his management consulting career with Arthur Young & Company in Los Angeles for 20 years, rising to become partner-in-charge of AY’s West Region Energy Consulting practice, and then Director of Management Consulting Services in Orange County. In 1988, he left AY to join PricewaterhousCoopers initially as partner-in-charge of both the firm’s West Coast National Aerospace & Defense Industry, and the Manufacturing & Logistics Consulting practices. Ultimately, he led the West Region Retail, Consumer Products and High-Technology Industry Consulting practices. He remained there until his retirement in 2002, personally serving the needs of dozens of Fortune 500 companies. During his tenure he served as the PwC Global Chairman of High-Tech Industry Consulting and concurrently as the Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s West Region consulting practice with a combined headcount of about 1,500 professionals. Tom has remained a loyal OSU alum, serving in leadership roles in the OSU Alumni Association, the School of Industrial Engineering Cowboy Academy, and was recently inducted into the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology Hall of Fame. He’s also been recognized by Who’s Who in America. Tom is happily married to wife Deborah for more than 50 years and is the proud father of two daughters, three grandsons and two granddaughters.

Matthew Mason

Matthew Mason has always been a talented learner and thinker. Involved in everything from French Club and Debate, to Science Club and the National Honor Society at Northwest, Matthew graduated in 1970 as a National Merit Scholar leading to an academic scholarship to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston where he found his calling in the fascinating new field of robotics. He would go on to spend a decade at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, earning his Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees in Computer Science. In 1978 he joined the IBM Thomas Watson Research Center as a research visitor and upon completion of his Ph.D. in 1982, began teaching at the School of Computer Science and the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Matthew also served as the chairman of the robotics doctoral program from 1995 through 2004, and as the Director of the Robotics Institute from 2004 to 2014, where his robotics group studied the physics of grasping and manipulation, analyzing the powerful grippers used in today’s industrial automation. Mason is also Chief Scientist at Berkshire Grey, a Massachusetts-based technology company that develops integrated artificial intelligence and robotic solutions for e-commerce, retail replenishment, and logistics. Mason has published several books and written numerous scientific articles and recognition as a leading authority on robotics and its practical application to industry and the global economy.

Bill Maxwell

When Bill Maxwell graduated from Northwest in 1967, his high school credentials were meager: No National Honor Society membership; No club memberships on his resume; No varsity athletic accolades; No class valedictorian mentions. That’s because Bill’s evenings and weekends were filled performing with different bands all over Oklahoma City. Even at age 14, Bill’s talents as a drummer and percussionist were in high demand by a host of local nightclubs. Despite his early successes playing locally with legendary blues guitarist Jesse Ed Davis and the Third Avenue Blues Band, Bill moved to the Los Angeles music scene in 1972 as a member of the gospel ensemble, Andrae Crouch & the Disciples. Over the next decade, Bill would serve not only as drummer for Crouch and another Contemporary Christian band, the Winans, but also functioning as a music writer, arranger and producer. To his credit, Bill has produced eight Grammy-winning recordings for a variety of artists. In addition to forming a jazz group with Abraham Laboriel, Maxwell went on to become Musical Director for many movies and TV shows, including ‘The Jamie Foxx Show’, ‘Living Single’, ‘Martin’ and others. He even worked as a featured musician on the 2005 film ‘Walk the Line’ with Joaquin Phoenix, and would be a 2008 inductee into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. Bill has also recorded with performers like Elton John, One Republic, Billy Preston, Quincy Jones, T Bone Burnett, Leon Russell, Freddie Hubbard, Jessie J and dozens of other well-known artists. Maxwell’s work in music continues today with many projects in the works and more on the horizon. Which isn’t too bad for a man who didn’t necessarily leave his mark on his local high school, but instead opted to bestow his musical talents on the rest of the world!

Anneene ‘Annee’ Miller

In many ways, Annee was a typical student – active in Pep Club, gifted in the classroom and a member of the yearbook staff before graduating in 1966. But Annee’s upbringing was anything but typical, because her first love has always been horses! She acquired her first horse at age eight, raised her first registered foal at 14 and, after selling the foal, used the proceeds to purchase her own horse trailer at 16. Annee’s college years were spent pursuing a degree in Business Education at the University of Central Oklahoma while continuing to raise and show quarter horses. After college, she moved to Vail, Colorado in 1970, becoming a classroom teacher in a small town outside of Vail. Life changing events came about and she moved to Denver where she owned Chamber Horse Antiques and Stained Glass. Annee remained active in breeding, raising, and showing quarter horses, and in 1983, she came back to purchase land in Mustang, Oklahoma where her Starland Ranch was born. Earning a Master’s degree in Gifted Education from Oklahoma City University, Annee taught the ‘Gifted Children’ curriculum in the Mustang School District from 1985 through 2001. But horse breeding was still her passion, and today Annee and husband Jim have raised dozens of horses that have become national and international champions. Most recently, Annee’s fame has come from raising world-class Western Pleasure Horse Champions, and in the past decade she has personally captured eight World Championships, a Congress Championship and several Reserve Championships herself. Not surprisingly, Annee’s Starland Ranch is now one of the world’s premier breeders for Western Pleasure Horses.

Jim Robinson

Jim’s four years at Northwest Classen were characterized by great successes in his athletic endeavors and reasonable results in the classroom. Graduating in 1963 as a highly-decorated wrestler, Jim’s athletic skills led him to wrestle at Oklahoma State University. But after several years in Stillwater, Jim decided to leave school to begin earning a living. Starting as a truck driver for a small trucking company, within a few years Jim bought several used tank trucks of his own and in 1971, Arrow Tank Trucks was born, serving the oil and gas industry. Then in 1976, Jim’s tenacity and glowing reputation led him to launch a second successful company – Big Mac Tank Trucks – and with-it a strong transport position across central and southeastern Oklahoma. Due to his financial success, Jim would go on to co-found several oilfield service companies over the ensuing 20 years. With a keen sense of gratitude for his time at Northwest and his approaching 30th Class Reunion, Jim and Bobby Griggs founded an annual golf tournament in 1993 to stay connected to classmates. The next year, following the death of a long-time friend, Jim re-named his Annual event the Ray Moss Memorial Golf Tournament. And in 2003, Jim donated golf tournament proceeds for some much-needed repairs to the Northwest Classen cafeteria. This tournament would soon become the Northwest Classen Golf Tournament to raise money for the non-profit Friends of Northwest Classen Foundation, which Jim Co-Founded in 2005. Thanks to this vision, the Foundation has raised more than $3 million to fund improvements and programs for the students and teachers at Northwest Classen.

To buy tickets and/or sponsorships, click here >> https://nwcfriends.org/order-of-the-round-table-hall-of-fame

Press release >> https://storage.googleapis.com/msgsndr/f61R0foKqrLpi1nITiqI/media/68e51aeed2ed4728ac54a9d9.pdf