Michael Shive has so much fun at his job he doesn’t even consider it work.
Shive, 45, is a longtime Altus resident and a big kid at heart. He’s the recreation director for the City of Altus and enjoys the various activities as much as the participants, who can be youngsters or senior citizens.
“I love it,” he said. “Where else do you get to go and have fun? At the recreation department, you get to have fun all day. It’s something different all the time.”
Shive boasts that he has the privilege of being around energetic children during summer camps where they shoot off rockets, swim and compete in online e-gaming that includes Fortnite, Mario Cart, Smash Brothers, Madden Football and Call of Duty.
At the same time, Shive enjoys community-oriented events like hot-air balloon festivals, concerts and classes for senior citizens.
At times, however, the job can be stressful. In 2021 when the COVID-19 virus was at its height, Shive led the recreation department down a new path that focused on outdoor activities including biking and fishing.
“As strained as it was, we put families back outdoors,” he said.
But 2021 wasn’t all about recreation. Shive and his crew partnered with the state health department during the COVID vaccine rollout. They opened the community center and loaned staff members to help the health department do what was necessary as residents flooded the center looking to receive the vaccine.
“We offered up golf carts to transport senior citizens from their cars to the community center and back,” Shive said. “It was a well-oiled machine as people came in, got their shots and waited their mandatory 15 minutes and went back to their cars.”
In some cases, people living as far away as Broken Arrow drove to Altus to receive their vaccine shots because of the quick turnaround time. Later, the recreation department helped establish a drive-thru vaccine lineup at a municipal airport hangar.
Shive, born and raised in Altus, couldn’t think of a better job anywhere.
“I have a wonderful staff and (city) leadership that is very progressive,” he said. “I look forward to getting up and coming to work. I work with great people who make me look good.”
When Shive started as recreational director six years ago, the department’s main focus was on the aquatics center and youth sports, but Shive admits recreation is much more than sports. That’s why he implemented exercise classes for senior citizens and the online e-gaming for youngsters, which included Oklahoma’s first high school state championship tournament for Call of Duty.
The e-gaming competitions were handled virtually the first two years because of the pandemic, but this year was an in-person tournament with gaming consoles made available to every player.
The recreation department also hosted its first hot-air balloon festival with 500 balloons firing off at the Altus Municipal Airport. About 5,000 people attended the event, which included helicopter and airplane rides and food truck vendors.
“It was a very big success for our first one,” Shive said. “We want to grow it into a multiday event.”
The balloons were unable to take off as planned because of weather conditions, so the 500 balloons fired off their burners at night as concert music played in one of the hangars.
Earlier this year, the recreation department also hosted an aviation camp to 92 students who built Styrofoam gliders, drones and balsa wood biplanes. The students also shot off rockets during an open house.
One of the premier sporting events put on by the recreation department in 2021 was the annual triathlon, which had to be reduced to a biathlon because of the COVID-19 virus. The swim portion of the contest was eliminated, leaving the event as a 15-mile bike ride and 5K run. Shive said he hopes to return to a triathlon after work at the Altus reservoir is complete.
With such an array of recreational activities for all age groups, Shive said he and his colleagues are trying to “grow the community so people want to stay or move here as well as developing a quality of life for people on the (Altus Air Force) base.”