[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Saturday, July 12, 1997

Troy Aikman remembers typing teacher

By JERRY FINK Tulsa World

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Quarterback Troy Aikman gives his high school typing teacher a passing grade.

The Dallas Cowboys star has nominated Jean Froman to be National Football League Teacher of the Year.

Winners of the competition, which includes five NFL Teachers of the Month as well as Teacher of the Year, are selected during the regular football season.

Apparently, Aikman was a legend on the keyboard before becoming one on the scoreboard.

"He was always so calm and poised," recalled Froman, 53, who taught Aikman Typing I and II in the early '80s at Henryetta High School.

Able to type 80 words a minute without mistakes, the football star won a regional typing contest sponsored by Oklahoma State Tech in Okmulgee in 1984.

Froman thinks he could have been a pro - typist that is.

"He is such a perfectionist," she said.

After Aikman graduated from high school, he went on to the University of Oklahoma then to UCLA and finally to the Cowboys.

Froman, an Okmulgee resident and dean of students at Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, left Henryetta to pursue a career in Indian education after Aikman went away to college.

Although she hasn't been in touch with him the past three years because of his busy schedule, they remain friends.

"It is an honor to be nominated by such an outstanding young man who has achieved the ultimate in success," Froman said. "He was certainly a winner in the classroom, too.

"The reward of education is seeing students like Troy reach their potential. He is one in a million, and having him in the classroom was indeed a pleasure.

"Although our career paths have taken different directions, our friendship has always remained the same. Troy has kept his promise to always keep in touch with friendships he values."

Froman often counseled him and, once, before a football career had been decided upon, suggested he become an NFL quarterback.

"He just looked at me and said: 'You're dreaming,' " she said.

Aikman was 14 when he took his first typing class.

He told Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" two years ago he took the class to meet girls. Froman said Aikman took typing because he knew he could use it in college.

She said she counseled Aikman whenever he needed help.

"In class or outside, I would like to think that I always was there for him," she said.

When Aikman was troubled by something, he sought Froman's advice.

"Troy and I just really developed a friendship. I always gave him a lot of positive reinforcement inside and outside the classroom," she said.

And in gratitude and respect, he placed her in contention to possibly become the next NFL Teacher of the Year, an honor shared by only seven other teachers or former teachers.

For the past seven years, professional football players have been nominating high school and elementary school teachers who have had the most profound affect on their lives.

"What happens is during the offseason players can nominate their former teachers for the award," said NFL spokesman Beth Colleton.

About 100 teachers a year are nominated by active players.

A panel chooses 10 finalists, who are announced in August, and each month during the regular season a Teacher of the Month is selected.

Colleton said the chosen teacher and her school each receive $2,500.

In January, a Teacher of the Year is selected from the five remaining out of the 10 finalists. That teacher and the teacher's school each receive $5,000.

Colleton said the names of all the nominees not chosen are kept on file to be reviewed each year along with the latest candidates.

"All nominations remain in the mix," she said.