Out of more than 100 applicants, seven Oklahomans will be inducted into the 84th class of the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
This year’s inductees include Gen. Tommy Franks, businessman Harold Hamm, former Harlem Globetrotter Marques Haynes,
former state first lady Cathy Keating, former Williams Companies CEO
Steve Malcolm, singer/songwriter Roger Miller and Elizabeth Warren, who
recently served as assistant to President Barack Obama.
“They have to have made an impact in their field of work, in the community, in our country or in our world in some meaningful, unique way,” said Shannon Rich, executive director, Oklahoma Heritage Museum.
Each inductee has selected a family member, friend or colleague to present them at the ceremony. Once honored at the formal induction ceremony, inductees will have their portraits on display to the public in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Gallery at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum, 1400 Classen Drive.
Each of the seven inductees is being honored for very different reasons. For example, Keating is being honored for her international prayer service following the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing and for the creation of the nonprofit Friends of the Oklahoma Governor’s Mansion organization.
Miller, perhaps best-known for “King of the Road,” will be posthumously inducted, and his wife will accept the award on his behalf.
“I’m very proud of the class we’re inducting,” Rich said. “I think we have a very diverse group of people.”
The black-tie dinner and ceremony will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens. For more information, call 235-4458 or visit oklahomaheritage.com. —Carmen Forman
