Inola High School Scores Multi-Million-Dollar T-Mobile Grand Prize

Inola High School has been named the grand prize winner of T-Mobile’s Friday Night Lights competition, securing a multi-million dollar grant to upgrade its athletics facilities. The announcement, made Tuesday morning on the T-Mobile Friday Night Lights website, revealed that Inola’s Longhorns would receive a transformative $2 million prize, which includes a new scoreboard, an upgraded weight room, and a $100,000 grant for the school.

The victory comes after an intense nationwide competition, where Inola stood out among more than 1,700 schools from across the country. Thanks to an outpouring of support from the Inola community, local businesses, alumni, and even celebrities, the small Oklahoma town was able to outpace much larger schools in the race for the prize.

Inola High School was one of 16 finalists selected in October for the chance to win the substantial grant. While many of the schools in the competition were significantly larger, Inola's effort was bolstered by a strong social media campaign and a viral TikTok video.

The video, which reenacted a popular T-Mobile commercial, garnered widespread attention and helped the school close the gap in the competition. Teachers and students worked tirelessly, traveling around town and into nearby cities like Tulsa, urging people to vote for Inola on Instagram.

"We are going around and campaigning to businesses and hopefully putting our posters up that people can scan as they pass by," said student Graycie Eagleton.

For Inola teachers like Deleea Meeker, the victory is deeply personal. “The money will redo our entire football stadium, it will renew our scoreboard, and it will also completely renew our weight room. Gronk (Rob Gronkowski) is going to come redo the weight room,” said Meeker.

The school’s athletic facilities, including its turf, sound system, and multi-use weight room, have been in desperate need of upgrades. The $100,000 additional grant will be directed toward general improvements to the school system as well.

The town’s small size has made the victory even sweeter.

“This would just really benefit our community and our school as a whole,” said Eagleton. "We are from a little rural town in Oklahoma, so we don’t have a ton of money. This would greatly benefit us."

The final phase of the competition involved rallying votes on Instagram, where participants liked a pinned video to show their support. With more than 17,000 entries from 50 states, Inola's efforts shone through with 1.1 million likes. The campaign brought together people of all ages, including alumni from decades past, to help push the school to victory.

On Tuesday, Inola High School is celebrating the victory with a large assembly. The winning announcement marks a monumental moment for the school and its community. With the prize in hand, the Longhorns can now look forward to enhanced facilities and the promise of a brighter future for their athletic programs.

Related Story: Inola High School Pushes For Last-Minute Votes In $2 Million Competition

Congratulations to Inola High School!