100 Years

Just some interesting triva about Oklahoma!


Oklahoma Centennial

Oklahoma is celebrating its 100th anniversary of
statehood this year. Because most people think of the
stage play "Oklahoma!" when they hear the state's name
mentioned, citizens are attempting to update the
state's image by sharing interesting state facts with
others as we celebrate our Centennial.

Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt
Eller from "Oklahoma!" but of the parking meter
(invented in OKC) and the shopping cart (invented in
Ardmore).

The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma, by
a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first "Yield"
sign was installed in Tulsa.

**Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma
as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11 distinct eco-regions.

The state has more man-made lakes than any other
state, which give us more than a million surface-acres
of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any
other state in the union. Owen Garriott is an Enid
boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from
Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City, William
Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from
Shawnee.

Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Association
and Hall of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4
and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in
the nation and ranks fourth in the production of
wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of
pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.

The state's colors are neither OU's crimson and cream
nor the orange and black of OSU but green and white.

Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is
the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600
church and more than 960,000 members.

Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester
Gould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence
"Ducky" Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney's
Donald, grew up in Watonga).

Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of
killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City's
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and various oil
booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who
are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and
fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to
live, work and play.

The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make
the rest of America aware of what Oklahoma has to
offer, besides "beautiful mornings," "fringe-laden
surreys" and "a girl who cain't say no."

The official statehood celebration will be in
November. In the meantime, individual cities are
restaging various events associated with statehood and
the settling of Indian Territory which eventually
became our state. It's a great time to be an Oklahoman
and I wanted to share this with you!

Pass this on to friends who might not know anything
about our state. Especially, since the quarter design
won't show anything informative about OKLAHOMA other
than we have scissor-tailed flycatchers and
sunflowers.

The Pensacola Dam, built in 1940 is still the World's Longest Multiple Arch Dam. At 6,565 feet in length, the dam is located on the south shores of Grand Lake O' the Cherokees between Langley and Disney.

Originally, the state of Oklahoma was set aside for the exclusive use of the Indians and was called Indian Territory . However, in 1889, the land was opened to settlers in what became known as the " Oklahoma Land Rush." On the first opening day on April 22, 1889, 50,000 people swarmed into the area. Those who tried to beat the noon starting gun were called Sooners. Hence the state's nickname

The official State Meal of Oklahoma is chicken fried steak, fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, black eyed peas and pecan pie.

FAMOUS PEOPLE OF OKLAHOMA
(this is not a complete list but just naming a few)
*Garth Brooks was born in Tulsa and grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma .
*Gene Autry,Sapulpa, Actor, musician
*Johnny Bench,Baseball great
*William "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd,Tulsa, Actor
*Paul and Thomas Braniff, Okla. City, Aviation pioneers
*Anita Bryant, Tulsa, Entertainer
*Lon Chaney
*Roy Clark, Tulsa, Musician, Actor
*Bart Conner, Olympic gold medal winner, gymnastics
*Leroy Gordon Cooper, Of Shawnee, was among the original seven US astronauts. He orbited the earth 22 times in 1963

*Joan Crawford, Lawton, Actress
*Admiral William Crowe, Former Head of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff.
*Dizzy Dean, Baseball great
*John Denver, Born, Clinton, Musician
*Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd Akins, Sallisaw, Outlaw
*Owen K. Gariott, Of Enid, US astronaut
*James Garner, Actor
*Geronimo, Fort Sill, Apache Warrior
*Vince Gill, Country singer
*Woody Guthrie, Considered by most to be the father of American Folk music, was born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie in Okemah, OK, July 14, 1912

*Mary Hart, Okla. City, TV anchorwoman
*Paul Harvey, Tulsa, Broadcast journalist
*Ron Howard, Duncan, Actor/Director
*Toby Keith, Moore, Musician
*Jean Kirkpatrick, Ambassador to the United Nations
*Gordon William "Pawnee Bill" Lillie, Pawnee, Wild West Show
*Dr. Shannon Lucid, Of Oklahoma City, a US astronaut. She was on board the space shuttle Atlantis during its flight in October of 1989

*Reba McEntire, Country and western music entertainer, actor
*Phillip C McGraw "Dr. Phil", Oklahoma City, TV Host
*Mickey Mantle, Baseball great.
*Pepper Martin, Baseball great
*Shannon Miller, Edmond, Gymnast
*Kenny Monday, Great wrestler and athlete
*Bobby Murcer, Oklahoma City, Baseball great.
*Carry Nation, Of Guthrie, led the fight for prohibition
*Bill Pickett, Ponca City, Invented bulldogging
*Brad Pitt, Shawnee, Actor
*William R. Pogue,of Okemah, among the original seven US astronauts. He returned to earth on February 8, 1974 after 84 days in space.

*Wiley Post, A Native Oklahoman and a pioneer in the field of aviation. He was the first to discover the jet stream and the first ever to design and wear a space suit

*Lynn Riggs, Author, writer "Green Grow The Lilacs" from which script Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the Broadway musical hit "Oklahoma!"

*Will Rogers, Humorist, entertainer, ambassador-at-large
*John Smith, Great wrestler and athlete
*Thomas P Stafford, Of Weatherford, US astronaut who commanded the joint United States-Soviet

*Belle Starr, Outlaw 1846-1889, was called the "Queen of the Outlaws" , "a female Jesse James"

*Willie Stargell, Baseball great

*Bill Tilghman, Bat Masterson called him "The greatest of us all." Bill Tilghman was a fearless gunfighter who rode with a badge throughout Indian Territory in the 1890's as one of the "Three Guardsmen." He was responsible of arresting dozens of hardened outlaws and criminals during his life and participated in many gunfights. After retiring from law enforcement, he was coaxed into wearing his badge one more time in 1924 at the age of 70 in a wild and woolly oil boom town of Cromwell, Oklahoma where a young drunk shot and killed him without provocation

*Bob Tway, Of Edmond, he won the PGA Championship in 1986

*Jim Thorpe, One of Oklahoma's greatest athletes. At the 1912 Olympics, the King of Sweden declared that Thorpe was "the greatest athlete in the world."

*Wayman Tisdale, Great basketball player and athlete
*Carrie Underwood, Of Checotah. American Idol winner 2005.

*Paul and Lloyd Waner, Outfielders from Harrah, OK. The only brothers in the National Baseball Hall of Fame

*JC Watts, Sooner quarterback, U.S. congressman
*Bud Wilkerson, Norman, Football