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Government/Other

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• Colonel (Leroy) Gordon Cooper, Jr., last of the Mercury 7 Astronauts to fly and "the greatest pilot you ever saw"
  Gordon Cooper's bio at NASA
  Cooper's Astronaut Hall of Fame page
• Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford (USAF, Ret.), astronaut in Gemini (Gemini 6 and 9) and Apollo space programs (Apollo 10 and Apollo-Soyuz).
  Stafford's Bio at NASA
• Will Rogers, world-famous comedian, political commentator, actor, ambassador of good will, and national "Poet Lariat"
  The Official Will Rogers Home Page
• Wiley Post, Aviation pioneer
• Larry Jones, founder of Feed the Children
• Jeanne Kirkpatrick, former US Ambassador to the United Nations
• Wilma Mankiller, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
• Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Carl Albert
• US Senator Robert S. Kerr, co-founder of the Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Inc. and the Kerr-McClellan Arkansas River Navigational System
• Alice Mary Robertson, 1st US Congresswoman, Founder of Tulsa University
• Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee syllabary
• Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart

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Sports

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• Jim Thorpe, First president of the American Professional Football Association, multiple Olympic Gold Medalist, named the "Greatest Athlete of the first half of the 20th Century, Charter Enshrinee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
  Jim Thorpe's page at the Pro Football Hall of Fame
  The Official Site of Jim Thorpe.
• Shannon Miller, multiple Olympic medalist in gymnastics
• Troy Aikman, Super Bowl MVP, quarterback for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys
• Mickey Mantle, Hall of Fame member of the New York Yankees baseball team; holder of the World Series record for most home runs; jersey number (7) retired by the Yankees
  Yankees QuickTime movies on Mickey Mantle:
  Mickey Mantle - Part 1 (6.4MB Quicktime)
  Mickey Mantle - Part 2 (6.9MB Quicktime)
  Mickey Mantle - Part 3 (6.6MB Quicktime)
  Mickey Mantle images at the New York Yankees Web site.
• Johnny Bench, Hall of Fame catcher for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team
  Johnny's page at the Cincinnati Reds Web site.
• Willie Stargell, member of the World Series Champion Pittsburgh Pirates
• Joe Carter, World Series MVP
• Mark Price, All-Star guard for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers
• Bud Wilkinson, former coach of the University of Oklahoma football team (which won three NCAA National Championships (two back-to back) and set the record for most consecutive wins under his leadership), and former coach of the NFL's St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals
• Barry Switzer, former coach of the University of Oklahoma football team (which won three NCAA National Championships (two back-to-back) and won more games than any other team during his tenure), and current coach of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys
• Henry "Hank" Iba, legendary coach of the Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and US National basketball teams
• Darrell Royal, legendary football coach of the University of Texas at Austin, was not only an Oklahoman, but a graduate of the University of Oklahoma who played and coached under Bud Wilkinson.
• Lane Frost, rodeo champion and subject of the motion picture 8 Seconds
• Dan Dailey, winningest cowboy in rodeo history
• Freckles Brown, legendary rodeo cowboy

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Military

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• General Clarence Tinker, first American Indian general, US Army
• General Stand Watie, CSA, Cherokee general commanding Indian forces of the Army of the Confederate States of America; last Confederate general to surrender
• Admiral William Crowe, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

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Entertainment
Hoyt Axton singer/songwriter	Roy Clark singer/songwriter	Reba McEntire country singer
Roger Miller singer/songwriter	Woody Guthrie influential folk singer	Garth Brooks singer
Vince Gill singer/songwriter	Mason Williams musician	Lon Chaney Sr. classic horror film actor
Joan Crawford actress	James Garner actor	Ron Howard actor/director
Tom Mix early western movie actor	Chuck Norris movie/TV star	Curt Gowdy sports commentator
Jim Lehrer TV journalist	Bill Moyers TV journalist	Paul Harvey radio commentator

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Arts/Sciences

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• Tony Hillerman, Journalist, Historian, and Mystery Author
• Frederic Remington, western artist
• Langston Hughes, Black author
• Ralph W. Ellison, Black Author
• Angie Debo, noted historian and author
• Dr. French Anderson, "Father of gene therapy"
• Dr. John Sabolich, pioneer of advanced prosthetics
• Hank Snow, reknowned expert in forensic science; performed identification of suspected corpse of the Sundance Kid

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Legal

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• Carry Nation, temperance advocate
• Belle Starr, 19th century outlaw
• Charles Arthur Pretty Boy Floyd, '30s gangster
• The Three Guardsmen:
  • Bill Tilghman (Featured in the TNT movie You Know My Name)
  • Heck Thomas
  • Chris Madsen

• Parking meters were first used in Oklahoma City.
• Shopping carts were first used in Oklahoma City.
• NEXRAD (NEXt generation weather RADar, aka WSR-88a) was invented by a pair of professors on the faculty of the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology, and the Operational Support Facility for the NEXRAD program is located at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.
• The world's first school of petroleum geology was established at the University of Oklahoma.
• Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater, has one of the top three colleges of veterinary medicine.
• The School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, established in 1960, is the premier school in the world for radar and mesoscale (thunderstorms, tornados, etc.) meteorology.
• Oklahoma is the "buckle" of the "Tornado Belt," with more tornados per year than any other state.
• The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw words okla, meaning people, and homa, meaning red, which translates to land of the red people.

• the Oklahoma Capitol is the only US state capitol to have an operational oil well beneath it? (BTW--it is called Rosebud 1.)
• the first Boy Scout Troop in the US was formed in Pawhuska in 1909?
• billionaire J. Paul Getty began his oil empire in Tulsa?
• Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, fathers of western swing music, began their careers in Oklahoma?
• the comic strip Dick Tracy was created by Chester Gould, an Oklahoman?
• the Oklahoma National Guard, federalized into the US Army's 45th Infantry Division, served more combat hours in World War II and Korea than any other US unit?
• Fred Jones Manufacturing of Oklahoma City is the largest single supplier to Ford Motor Company in the world?
• the YB-40 Gunship (heavily armed and armored B-17 bomber) was built by Boeing in Oklahoma during World War II?
• the aluminum block for the engine in the Chevrolet Corvette is built by Mercury Marine in Oklahoma?
• Tulsa Port of Catoosa, just north of Tulsa, is the US's largest inland port, and is the northernmost ice-free port in the world?

• Western History
  • National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center, Oklahoma City
  • Fort Sill, Lawton
  • Five Civilized Tribes Museum, Muskogee
  • restored Ft. Gibson Stockade, near Muskogee
  • Tsa-La-Gi Cherokee Cultural Center, Tahlequah
  • No Man's Land Historical Museum, Panhandle State University, Goodwell
  • Museum of the Cherokee Strip, Enid
  • Spiro Mounds Archaeological State Park, Spiro
• Memorials, Museums, and Halls of Fame
  • Will Rogers Memorial, Claremore
  • JM Davis Gun Museum, Claremore
  • the USS Batfish, WWII US submarine, Muskogee
  • the 45th Infantry Division Museum, Oklahoma City
  • the Firefighter's Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City
  • Jim Thorpe House, Yale
• Museums of Science, Art, and Natural History
  • Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, University of Oklahoma, Norman
  • Kirkpatrick Center Omniplex Science Museum and Planetarium, Oklahoma City
  • Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Tulsa
  • Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa
• Other Attractions
  • Ouachita National Forest
  • Thunder Valley, NHRA-sanctioned drag racing, south of Norman
  • Remington Park Race Track (horse racing), Oklahoma City
  • Blue Ribbon Downs (horse racing), Sallisaw

• The University of Oklahoma
• The Oklahoma State Government Information Server
• The Oklahoma Department of Tourism
• Oklahoma WWW Servers
• Oklahoma Two-Year Colleges
• Internet Oklahoma (IONet)
• Pioneer Library System of Cleveland, McClain and Pottawatomie Counties
  • The Pioneer Library System Explorer on-line catalog.

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General Facts about Oklahoma

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