04/11/2026
Classmates this is a teaser chapter from a book i have been writing. Based on the April 10,1979 Tornado in Lawton. I am still in the process of gauging interest, so please your feedback is important . This is the school years chapter.
The Glory Roads
From "Out of the Cellar" by Billy Cunningham.
CHAPTER 16 — The Glory Roads
(High School Years — Lawton, Oklahoma)
By the time I reached junior high and high school in Lawton, Oklahoma, life had already changed in ways most people around me could not see.
The storm had taken more than our home.
It had taken the only possessions I had ever known, the things that gave a child a sense of normalcy, identity, and belonging. What remained could not always be seen on the surface, but I carried it with me everywhere I went.
And because of that, I never really felt like I was a part of everyone else.
There was a separation that I could not fully explain at the time. I was surrounded by classmates, people I saw every day, but I did not feel connected to them in the way I once had during my earlier years. The friends from elementary school were mostly gone, and the few connections that remained were tied to sports.
That became my outlet.
Junior high passed like a blur.
I pushed myself into athletics, not just because I enjoyed it, but because it gave me somewhere to put everything I was carrying. It gave me structure. It gave me focus. It gave me a way to stay away from the pain that came with knowing we had lost so much.
Sports became more than competition.
It became escape.
It became identity.
The Word of God tells us, “Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” – Hebrews 12:1
At that time, I did not fully understand that I was running more than just physical races. I was running from something, and at the same time, I was running toward something I could not yet define.
There are moments in life that bring clarity, even when that clarity is painful.
One of those moments came when I caught my girlfriend and her best friend laughing at the way I dressed.
It was not something I had ever thought about before.
Clothing had never been a focus in my life. It was simply what I had. But in that moment, I saw myself through someone else’s eyes, and it brought a realization that stayed with me.
It showed me how different I felt.
It showed me how others could see what I had not fully acknowledged.
That moment did not break me, but it changed something.
It made me more aware.
It made me more focused.
And it made me turn inward in a way I had not before.
The Word of God tells us, “Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7
That truth became something I had to hold onto.
Because if I allowed myself to be defined by what others saw on the outside, I would lose sight of who I was meant to become.
So I focused.
I focused on school.
I focused on discipline.
And I began to lean on something deeper.
Faith.
The Word of God tells us, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you… thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” – Jeremiah 29:11
As I moved into high school, I was in great physical shape.
From the outside, it looked like everything was coming together.
But there was something else I had been living with that most people did not know.
I had very poor vision.
Not just slightly impaired.
Legally blind.
For most of my life, I had adapted without realizing it. I had learned to read movement, to anticipate direction, and to rely on instinct instead of clarity. In baseball, I had managed to perform by guessing trajectory and placement.
But when I reached ninth grade, everything changed.
The game moved faster.
The competition was stronger.
And the margin for error disappeared.
I realized that I could not see the baseball clearly until it was already at the plate.
At that level, I could not fake it anymore.
The Word of God tells us, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7
That verse became real to me in a different way.
I had to make a decision.
I had to step away from baseball.
And that was not easy.
But I adapted.
I moved into football, into a position where I did not have to rely on close vision in the same way.
And that is where something powerful began to form.
Our high school team was something special.
We had a group of athletes that I truly believe should have won a state title. We had speed, strength, and discipline working together. Our quarterback went on to play Division I football at a top ten college in Oklahoma. Our running backs had world-class speed, with one going on to become a Division I track athlete.
Our linemen were fast, aggressive, and relentless.
We had everything it took.
But what set us apart was the work.
We called it the “Glory Roads.”
Those Glory Roads were not just conditioning drills. They were one hundred yard sprints, run again and again, pushing us beyond comfort and into a place where only determination carried you forward.
They tested your lungs.
They tested your legs.
They tested your will.
And they prepared us for everything that came on Friday nights.
The Word of God tells us, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” – Philippians 4:13
Those runs were not easy.
But they built something in us.
They built endurance.
They built discipline.
They built belief.
I remember one game in particular.
We were playing a team from Oklahoma City, and we were in the huddle during a critical moment. Everything got quiet for just a second.
Then Curtis Munoz, one of our linemen, a big, husky Native American tackle, spoke up.
“Let’s run a Glory Road and score.”
There was confidence in his voice.
There was belief.
We broke the huddle.
The play was called.
And Donnie Douglas took the handoff.
He ran sixty-five yards to the end zone.
Just like that.
Our Glory Road.
That moment captured everything we had worked for.
Even though we fell short of making the state championship game because of a fumbled snap late in the season, what we built during that time stayed with me.
It taught me about perseverance.
It taught me about brotherhood.
It taught me that preparation matters, even when the outcome does not go the way you expect.
The Word of God tells us, “So run, that ye may obtain.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
We ran.
We endured.
And we became stronger because of it.
Those were the Glory Roads.
The roads that prepared us.
The roads that shaped us.
And the roads that carried me into the next chapter of my life..
