Phones rang off the hook at Mills University Studies High School in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday morning, roughly 12 hours after one of school’s own — Kris Allen — was named American Idol.
“Parents, alumni, media. … we’re getting calls from anyone and everywhere, three or four times what we normally get,” said school secretary Angela Frierson. “Everyone is just very excited, very ecstatic. There’s been a lot of screaming.”
Adam Lambert, Paula Abdul and Kris Allen
Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images
This, however, was the first call from a sports writer.
Make no mistake, Allen, a 2003 Mills graduate, was no athlete. Not one that any one at state's 39th largest high school could remember.
“He might have played a freshman or JV sport, but he definitely didn’t play basketball,” said Mills athletic director and varsity basketball coach Leo Olberts.
Music was Allen’s game and viola his specialty, earning a spot on Arkansas’s All-State orchestra.
“He wasn’t an athlete but definitely musically inclined,” Mills Principal Janice Haynes said. “And very studious.”
But quiet.
Very quiet.
Unlike his outgoing younger brother Daniel, a cheerleader, Allen was extremely reserved and laid back. Haynes said she didn’t even know Allen could sing.
“When they told me he was auditioning for American Idol I was thinking ‘Yeah right, he doesn’t even sing,’ “ Haynes said. “Oh my gosh, he can sing!”
Allen’s studious and artistic talents are consistent with the 35-year-old school, named after powerful Democratic congressmen Wilbur D. Mills. Newsweek named it one of the top 100 public schools in the country from 2003-07.
But no one confuses it for an athletic powerhouse.
The Comets have won three state baseball crowns, a state boys basketball title (2004) and four state bowling championships.
The football teams have gone a combined 25-26 the last five seasons.
“(The school) had a good run in baseball a few years back, but it’s not really that well known athletically,” said ArkansasSports360.com sports writer Phil Seaton. “They haven’t produced big name guys like Darren McFadden or guys like that.”
2009 American Idol Champ, Kris Allen
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
The biggest athletic name currently is Christopher Roberts, who won the state 5A 110-meter hurdles title Saturday in a time of 14.81 seconds.
Clearly, the most famous athletic Mills graduate is Chicago Bears defensive tackle Marcus Harrison, who starred at Arkansas.
While Harrison starred on the high school fields, Allen’s girlfriend and now wife Katy O’Connell Allen, was a Mills cheerleader.
That is largely the extent of Allen’s athletic ties, though his upset victory over heavily favorite Adam Lambert has inspired many “underdog” sports clichés.
Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, a 50-to-1 longshot, had nothing on Allen.
“They said (Allen) was a dark horse but we all had faith he’d pull it out,” Haynes said. “He is so well-rounded and so wholesome I think he appealed to just about everyone.”
Haynes hopes Allen will be able to squeeze in a moment to appear at the school’s graduation Saturday. The school is in the midst of making up American Idol T-shirts, posters and banners whether Allen can make the graduation ceremony or not.
“I can’t describe the buzz around here,” Haynes said. “It’s difficult to get my regular job done right now but we’re all enjoying the heck out of it.”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
