Hall of Fame Inductees

2012 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Honorees

Seven outstanding Oklahomans have been selected for induction into the 85th class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. These accomplished Oklahomans will join the cast of 648 individuals who have been inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame since 1928. The honorees were officially announced at a luncheon on May 10 hosted by the Oklahoma Heritage Association at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum. New inductees were presented to a roomful of past Oklahoma Hall of Fame honorees.

2012 Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductees are:

Stan Clark, Tulsa/Stillwater, Bart Conner, Chicago, IL/Norman, Tom L. Ward, Shattuck/Oklahoma City, Suzanne Warren, Greenwich, CT/Tulsa, Lee R. West, Clayton/Oklahoma City, Ronald White, Seminole/Oklahoma City and Edith Kinney Gaylord, Oklahoma City, who will be inducted posthumously.

The honorees will be formally inducted to the Hall on Nov. 12 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. Also in November, their portraits will be added to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Gallery at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum. Their biographies, photos and fun facts will be accessed through touch screen computers in the same gallery.

Stan Clark, Tulsa/Stillwater
A native Tulsan, Clark resides in Stillwater where he has built one of Oklahoma’s most recognized brands and become one of our state’s greatest ambassadors. The Stan Clark Companies known as the “Three Amigos” include the flagship Eskimo Joe’s, Mexico Joe’s, Joseppi’s, and Eskimo Joe’s Promotional Products Group. The Eskimo Joe logo, featuring the smiling cartoon Eskimo Joe and his canine friend, Buffy, was created in 1975 by a freshman art student at OSU.

In addition to sponsoring a scholarship at Oklahoma State University in the College of Education, The Stan Clark Companies donations include the South Entry Plaza of the Boone Pickens Stadium, the Stillwater Public Education Foundation, Coaches vs Cancer, Oklahoma Project Women, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. This year Clark received the 2012 Mike Synar Award for Special Olympics Oklahoma. Clark Companies also have sponsored the Juke Joint Jog for more than 20 years and the Three Amigos’ United Way Golf Classic for sixteen years, both benefitting the Stillwater Area United Way.

Clark’s fun loving spirit and personal warmth has permeated every aspect of his company and brand, making Eskimo Joe’s a Stillwater institution, a statewide tourist attraction and a globally recognized brand.

Bart Conner, Chicago, IL/Norman
Conner is the only American gymnast to win Gold Medals at every level of national and international competition. Conner has been a USA Champion, NCAA Champion, Pan-American Games Champion, World Champion, World Cup Champion, and an Olympic Champion. He was a member of three Olympic Teams—1976, 1980, and 1984. It was in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics where he made a dramatic comeback from his second torn biceps injury to win two Gold Medals.In the fall of 1976, Conner moved from his hometown of Morton Grove, Illinois, to Norman to attend the University of Oklahoma and be coached by Paul Ziert. While at OU, Conner earned 14 NCAA All-American honors and led his team to two NCAA team titles. After graduating with a degree in Journalism PR in 1984, Conner went into business with Ziert. Today, they own several gymnastics related business interests, including the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy.

Conner still enjoys high visibility as a public speaker and TV color commentator for ESPN. In 1996, Conner married Romanian Olympic Champion Nadia Comaneci. Today, he serves on the boards of several charities including Special Olympics International and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Conner has been inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame, and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Edith Kinney Gaylord, Oklahoma City
Edith Kinney Gaylord was a pioneer journalist and philanthropist with a life-long passion for the news business. She was born in Oklahoma City to Inez Kinney Gaylord and E.K. Gaylord, the editor and publisher of The Daily Oklahoman and The Oklahoma City Times. She attended Colorado College, where she later served as trustee, and in 1937 graduated from Wells College.

Gaylord was the first woman on the general news staff of the Associated Press Washington Bureau. An early assignment to cover First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s press conferences quickly developed into a close friendship. Gaylord became the First Lady’s media liaison and then secretary of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Press Conference Association. In 1944, she was elected president of the Women’s National Press Club.

Over her lifetime, Gaylord supported many organizations and projects, often anonymously. Her interests, ranging from education and health to the arts and environment, were diverse. In 1982, she founded two foundations to carry on her giving. Through Inasmuch Foundation, her legacy continues to lessen suffering and enrich the quality of lives it touches. Investments of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation build the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information. To date, giving from both foundations exceeds $130-million.

Tom L. Ward, Shattuck/Oklahoma City
Ward, born in Shattuck, has served as chairman and chief executive officer of SandRidge Energy, Inc. since June 2006. Prior to this he served as president, chief operating officer, and a director of Chesapeake Energy Corporation, he co-founded with Aubrey K. McClendon.

In 2006, Ward and his son, Trent, co-founded White Fields, Inc., a home for severely abused and neglected boys. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Petroleum Land Management. Ward is a member of the Professional Basketball Club, LLC, which owns the Thunder, Oklahoma’s only major sports franchise, of the Board of Trustees of Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, and The First Tee. He is also a member of the Economic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and the Board of Visitors for the OU Health Sciences Center, Department of Medicine.

Ward has provided scholarship funds to Oklahoma colleges and universities to increase students access to higher education and encourage them to remain in Oklahoma to live and work after they have completed their degree.

Suzanne Warren, Greenwich, CT/Tulsa
Warren grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and attended Rider College, the University of Connecticut, and graduated from Florida Atlantic University with B.A. and M.Ed. degrees. Following graduation she was employed by the Palm Beach County School System. She worked in several programs funded by federal grants for disadvantaged and low-income students both as a resource teacher and director, in addition to teaching adult education. Warren works to raise public awareness and funding for Tulsa’s arts and social service organizations.

Currently she serves as a director/trustee of the Children’s Hospital Foundation at Saint Francis and the Mental Health Association Advisory Board. She is a past director of Cascia Hall Preparatory School, Monte Cassino School, Ronald McDonald House, Tulsa Opera, and The Tulsa Philharmonic. She has served as honorary chair of the Red Ribbon 10 Year celebration, which provides home care for patients with AIDS. As a trustee for the Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis, Warren helped launch the Painted Pony Ball, the annual fundraiser that benefits the Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis. Through her work with the event, she helped build and financially support the organization so that no family or child in the region is turned away for the lack of ability to pay.

Lee R. West, Clayton/Oklahoma City
Born in Clayton, Lee R. West received his Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. West was admitted to the Oklahoma State Bar in 1956 and engaged in private practice until 1961 when he became a member of the faculty at the University of Oklahoma College of Law where he taught torts, damages, evidence, trial practice and workmen’s compensation.

During the 1962-1963 term he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law Teaching at Harvard Law School where he received an LLM degree. In 1963 he returned to private practice and also served as Labor Arbitrator for the National Mediation Board. West was appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon to serve as District Judge for the 22^nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as Special Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals. He was appointed by President Richard Nixon to be a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C. and was designated Acting Chairman by President Jimmy Carter. West reentered private practice until his appointment to the Federal Bench where he also served as Chief Judge of the Western District of Oklahoma. Since taking senior status in 1994 he has remained active hearing cases at both District and Circuit levels and serving as a settlement judge in complex and protracted cases.

Ronald White, Seminole/Oklahoma City
A graduate of Seminole High School, Ronald H. White received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma. Following residency, he served in the U.S. Navy in Da Nang, Viet Nam and at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He completed a fellowship in cardiology at the OU Health Sciences Center and entered private practice, specializing in diagnostic and interventional cardiology. He attended one of the first balloon angioplasty training courses in Switzerland and subsequently performed the first procedure in Oklahoma. He was co-founder of the American Society of Cardiovascular Interventionalists and Oklahoma Heart Hospital and founder of Oklahoma Cardiovascular Associates, the state’s largest cardiovascular physician group with satellite clinics in over 40 cities. White served two terms on the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma and as chairman three years. He is beginning his second term as a State Regent for Higher Education, receiving appointments from Governors Boren, Nigh, Henry and Fallin. He served on the board of directors of Oklahoma Gas and Electric, was a member of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and a trustee for the OU Foundation, Oklahoma Zoological Society and Westminster Day School.

He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Oklahoma Heritage Association, the OU College of Health Advisory Board, and the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum.