Dintinguished Alumni Award 2013
Allen Durrett and his lab partner in Vertebrate Anatomy were so offended by the relentless reek of formaldehyde that they surreptitiously doctored their allotment of the stuff with vanilla extract and Old Spice.
Their covert enterprise was indelibly revealed just as the liquids conjoined; the proverbial cat bolted out of the bag as if mice were the dissection du jour.
The immediate result of their naïve experimentation was malodorous mayhem in the Amarillo College Biology Department, yet the enduring consequence of that episode would be Durrett’s ensuing decision to switch his academic focus from medicine to law.
“Those three smells combined to nauseate everyone in the whole lab. Professor Steve Dutton was not at all pleased by our little stunt,” Durrett recalled the infamous laboratory incident of 1974. “I’m pretty sure it’s why I made my lowest grade at AC.
“I realized that if the best I could make in that class was a C, medical school was probably out of the question. I think Professor Dutton is the reason I became a lawyer.”
A lawyer he indeed became, but Durrett also ascended to successful farmer and rancher, civic leader, and true-blue advocate of Amarillo College.
These are among the attributes that made the partner in Durrett Cattle Company an easy choice to receive the Amarillo College Distinguished Alumni Award for 2013.
“We are thrilled to be able to honor such a first-class individual as Allen Durrett,” AC President Paul Matney said. “Everybody knows Allen. He has humbly and generously contributed a great deal of resources, time and energy to our community and to this College. He is an excellent choice for this award.”
Durrett is well-versed and highly immersed in the Amarillo Community. He has served on the boards of, among others, Harrington Cancer Center, St. Andrews Episcopal School, Amarillo Symphony and Amarillo Area Foundation, for which he not only became a founding member of the Legacy Fund, but also served as co-chair of the ACE Campaign that ensures access to higher education for qualified preparatory students at several Amarillo schools.
Durrett’s return to AC was in a similar leadership capacity. He served throughout the bulk of the 1990s on the AC Foundation Board of Directors, including a stint as chairman, making it a priority to bolster scholarship opportunities.
He and wife Leisa enjoy world travel and have enrolled in a number of continuing education courses at AC over the years, particularly to hone their mutual interest in foreign languages such as French and Russian.
As Distinguished Alumnus, Durrett will speak at the AC Honors Convocation on April 21st at the Amarillo Civic Center. He will also be the guest of honor at a special event—possibly a luncheon—being planned for next fall.
A graduate of Tascosa High School, Durrett made short work of his academic challenges at AC, earning an associate of science degree in pre-law in just a single school year, that of 1974-1975. Waylaid only by the C he made in Vertebrate Anatomy, Durrett made A’s in every other class he attempted at the College.
Durrett then transferred his credits to the University of Texas at Austin, where he received both his baccalaureate and law degrees.
“I wasn’t ready right out of high school to attend a big university, but thanks to AC I think I was ready when I finally got there,” Durrett said.
“I had a great experience at AC. It was much more sophisticated than high school, but you didn’t get lost. I think it laid the perfect foundation for my time at the University of Texas.”
Durrett, who braved a hefty total of 23 credit hours in the spring semester of 1975—and received 8 A’s for his trouble—can’t explain why he was in such a hurry to complete his associate degree. But it is clear he is enamored of speed-associated activities; he was initially drawn to AC by the lure of Intermediate Skiing.
“I’ve always loved to ski and that skiing course is really why I decided to attend AC,” Durrett admits. “It was taught at the Polk Street Campus on a Velcro-type slope covered with little Styrofoam balls. It was a blast.”
Remarkably, Durrett even found time to join a fraternity while zipping through AC. Compared to his rancid laboratory caper, his fraternal high jinx were merely garden-variety.
“My grandmother, who lived down the street from the Washington Street Campus, called me one night to sternly inform me that my fraternity name badge was discovered right next to a footprint in her neighbor’s rose garden,” Durrett said. “That was a little embarrassing.”
It’s been big footsteps ever since for Allen Durrett, with many an ambrosial rose popping up in their wake.