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Ridgell McKinney, picking up his diploma last year. He gets another chance tomorrow, in front of kids who’ll just go, “Wow, his last name sounds so familiar.”
On the Collin County Web site, it says Ridgell McKinney — whose great-great grandfather Collin McKinney is the man for whom Collin County and McKinney are named — got his high school diploma on September 27, 2007. Only took him, oh, 73 years to actually get the thing — since, well, he kinda dropped out of high school right before graduation. Seems the historian “couldn’t bring himself to tell his teacher that a friend was responsible for the knuckle cracking during a test,” so he dropped out before he failed the class — that’ll show ’em, right? Also got a nice proclamation last year.
Anyway, McKinney’s back in the national news today because the 94-year-old will formally get his diploma from McKinney Boyd High School this evening, during graduation ceremonies. Only, “Church and fellow history group members will party with him after the ceremony.” Which doesn’t sound nearly as awesome as chugging Boone’s Farm and sneaking Marlboro Reds in the Loos Field House parking lot. –Robert Wilonsky
