Senior Passes

Gold Key Club

Union Public Schools invites senior citizens to become Gold Key Club members and attend any of our school-sponsored activities as our guest.

The Gold Key Pass gives Union supporters who are at least 62 years of age and living on a retirement income free admittance to home athletic events as well as the many outstanding performances and programs hosted by the Union Fine Arts Department.

For more information about obtaining a Gold Key Pass, call the Education Service Center at (918) 357-4321 or email us.

Meet One Super Fan - Joel Hartman

Joel Hartman, center, was named the 2009 Union Basketball Fan of the Year! Pictured are, first row (left to right) Allison Christian, Kourtney Egge,  Joel Hartman, McKenzie Garcia, Howard Scarborough, Rodney Patterson; and second row, Levi Giese, Carrington Fox, Sterling Ballard and Tyler Rice.

The Union Basketball Booster Club honored Joel Hartman as their first annual “Fan of the Year” award on April 9,2009. at the basketball banquet.

The Union Basketball Booster Club wanted to honor a Fan of the Year for their commitment, attendance at games, and overall spirit of support of both the girls and boys basketball programs.  As the booster club was watching who they could honor, they continually saw a man in the stand who they found had no family connection to a Union student.

Joel Hartman had just become a Redskin fan, having made friends with Union students when they visited Woodland Terrace Retirement Community in February for the annual senior prom coordinated by High School Leadership students. Since the prom, Mr. Hartman became a regular attendance fixture at Union basketball games..  

Mr. Hartman was born and raised in southeastern Pennsylvania.  His father was a high school coach, so Joel was an early student of athletics.  His education extended beyond high school through college, seminary, and graduate school, where he received a doctorate in Rural Sociology.  He was a tenured associate professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia for nearly 40 years.  Since fully retiring nearly a year-and-a-half ago, he decided it was time to move away from Missouri and re-locate closer to one of his children.  He decided to make Tulsa his new home where his daughter Anita and her husband Ron reside.

Prior to his recent move, he was provided background information regarding the excellent high school sports in the state of Oklahoma and particularly the sports programs at Union High School where one of his granddaughters graduated in 2007.  Mr. Hartman started attending the Union basketball games with Ron and Anita, and it didn’t take long for him to get “hooked."  He attended most of the regular season games this year and he even traveled to Skiatook and Catoosa for the playoffs, and eventually to Oklahoma City for the state tournament.

Mr. Hartman says that he has not only enjoyed watching the growth and development of both the girls’ and boys’ teams, he has also appreciated the character, sportsmanship, and integrity displayed by both the student-athletes and coaches.