McFarlin chamber's Person of Impact
WISD coach accepts award on behalf of entire community

Chamber director Glen Greeney with Randy McFarlin, the chamber's choice for Person of Impact in 2007.

Head football coach and athletic director Randy McFarlin was honored as the Whitehouse Chamber of Commerce's Person of Impact at the annual awards dinner Tuesday night.

Director Glen Greeney presented the award to a surprised McFarlin, who led last year's Wildcat football team to an area championship.

"This is not really a sports award based on success, but the way that you have helped bring this community together," said Greeney.

McFarlin came to WISD in 2004, bringing with him a tradition of winning from his previous position at Daingerfield. His revamped Wildcat gameplan took hold in his third year, and the team's performance caught area opponents, as well as many hometown fans, by surprise.

"This is a great honor, but the key to winning is a total team effort," said McFarlin, who thanked the business community for its support in allowing windows to be painted and buying ads for programs. "This is an award the entire community can share, because everyone had a part in the success of this football team."

New this year to the chamber's awards dinner was a silent auction, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Whitehouse Community Library.

The chamber also recognized Educators of the Year from all WISD campuses: Teresa Walker, Cain Elementary; Jill Herrington, Brown Elementary; Becka Gee, Higgins Intermediate; Tina Moore, Holloway Middle School; Cynthia Andrews, Whitehouse Junior High; and David Bell, Whitehouse High School. (See page 5A for related photos.)

The chamber dinner was held in the cafeteria of Whitehouse High School, with approximately 150 people attending. Rep. Leo Berman served as master of ceremonies and took credit for the addition of VIP tables to the annual event.

"When Sandra Knackstedt invited me to be here, I told her I wanted to buy a table," said Berman. "She said they didn't have tables, and I told her they needed to get some in here."

The suggestion was a success, as the chamber sold 14 VIP tables at $100 each.

Berman introduced featured speaker Tom Mullins, president of the Tyler Economic Development Council and the Tyler Chamber of Commerce.

Mullins spoke of a prosperous future for the Tyler/ Whitehouse area and said Smith County was poised to be a regional center for education.

"You can build a lot of economy around education," he said, noting that a nursing student could go from LVN to PhD without leaving Tyler.

Mullins also predicted the Tyler/Whitehouse area would weather setbacks in the real estate/construction market better than the state in general and praised the emergence of economic diversity.

"We're ver y fortunate to have dollars coming into our economy from a lot of different directions," he said. "If something goes down, hopefully something else will go up."

Chamber President Brent Conaway also spoke, briefly reviewing some of the changes and highlights for the chamber over the past year. He noted that the membership has tripled and that the chamber will soon have a storefront, sharing office space with the Tri County Leader.