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MAd I T o d a y POW RELISH TULSA. A SAVORY MIX OF PAST AND PRESENT POISED ON THE EDGE OF THE F WOW! PHOTO RE. WWW.TOURISM.TULSACHAMBER.COM / 1.800.558.3311 Where there's Williams, there's a 4- qn!lp!u% FPewPYS !uW' JOJ uapA!Esau~nlX' 10 UOM- qng~p~u Baua~ dBlda~ s~oumas-~o-~oes~' onoy~eqonromls qn!lp(uB simurga~~gousq!ds ahah dqaa Ma spI qe~a sauap ns MaII' yowa- mqalajyal.a,s MFlIleruS' lqaa,s a MEL' wp yaldap ns saw onJuaf8yqoI~.su pua!@qo~yoops v MEA 30 qawo~a lyeu e 301udmL-- e meL )o qa aAauqauaJ- uon8y !I waL sonup 3g3q3p' MaI~IUY B AIJBI deu oj o~noJrurunu!~% v MEC~ 10 qaaaJ om Mly!aT~?FIUS weh 03 !UI~SJ!IL eu p~alleq11!1E~I111 qa snuonup!u8s euopn~sal~as. rns~~mudovm~ !u onuax~~aulnG1. WE'REBUILDING THE Phillips is known around the globe as around the world. And we're positioning an innovator and technology leader. our other business lines for continued We're building on those strengths to profitable growth. provide value and opportunity to our With a solid financial foundation shareholders, customers, employees and and a strategic vision for our future, the communities in which we operate. we're taking advantage of significant We're focusing on the development of opportunities to profitably grow the new our oil and natural gas business through Phillips. That's why we're called strategic acquisitions and exploration THE PERFORMANCE COMPANY. JULY. AUGUST 2001 VOLUME 51. NUMBER 5 ~ T H E T U L S A I S S U E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FEATURES Whirl of Fortune Find out how Cushing, Glenn Pool, and luck helped transform Tulsa into the Oil Capital of the World. By Danney Goble, PhD Sophian Choice Seventy-five years after its construc- tion, the romance of the Sophian Plaza endures. By Michael Wallis Nlustration by Gil Adams State of the City Through the years, an entrepreneurial spirit has defined Tulsa. Today, it remains a thriving force with the emerging tech industry. By Holly Bailey Tulsa's Fab 5 1 Like they say, it's the people who truly make a place. A personality portfolio of fifty-one Tulsa standouts. Photography by J.D. Merryweather A Culture of Giving From JimChapman to Walt Helmerich, Tulsa's proud tradition of generosity. By Adam Buckley Cohen Tulsa Black Book With a little help from our friends, Oklahoma Today selects can't-miss T-Town destinations. D E P A R T M E N T S Contributors 6 From the Editor On the Other Side 8 Letters Chedynn "CA.." Glover, Suzanne Berrong I0 1 Marketplace Tulsa Digs I2 Across the Range From Leon to the Philbrook 14 Weekends Tahlequah: Cherokee Capital Culture 40 Calendar Sports Center 9 1 The End &~sketballD iaries 96 Cover: Photograph by Edwin R. Hurd This page: Don Wheeler CONTENTS I 5 Official Magazine of the T o d a y State of Oklahoma Since 1956 FRANK KEATING, Governor Ah Twenty years as an illustrator and thirty years as a Tulsan dictated much of the work Gil Adams did for this IOAN HENDERSON issue's "Sophian Choice" (page 48). Publisher Still, says Adarns, "I'd driven by the LOUISA McCUNE building for twenty-five years but never Editor in Chief really gave it much thought until this STEVENWALKER, WALKER CREATIVE, INC. Art Director assignment. I find it fascinating that so much colorful history exists in a STEFFIE CORCORAN, Senior Editor AIM& WINNEBERGER, Associate Editor building like the Sophian Plaza, and it ANDREA LOPEZ WALKER, Editorial Assistant continues to this day." Formerly an art AMY CASWELL, Editorial Intern director at KTUL television, Adams' Contributing Editors BURKHARD BILGER, SHEILAH BRIGHT, clients now include American Airlines, ADAM BUCKLEY COHEN, KELLY CROW, JOHN ELK III, Simon and Schuster, the Wall Street JOELEVERE'lT, GORDON GRICE, ROBERT HENRY, JOHN JERNIGAN, YOUSEF KHANFAR, TOM LUKER Journal, and the Washington Post. MAURAMCDERMOTT, J, D. MERRYWEATHER, MICHAEL WALLIS, AND NANCY WOODARD MELANIEBREEDEN, GmeralManager COLLEEN MCINTYRF, Production Manager WALT DISNEY, Advertising Director The Tulsa Worldhas laid claim to John CHARLOTTEASHWORTH, Account Executive KIM RYAN, Account Executive Wooley's talents for the past eighteen MENOY CLARK, TRAVIS COLE, TAY GAVIN, Advertising Interns years. An entertainment writer for the MINDY JOHNSON, Marketing Intern paper, Wooley's passion for music, Tulsa LISA BRECKENRIDGE, Accountant music in particular, informed his Across BECKY ISAAC, officeManager KATHY FUGATE, Circulation Assistant the Range story for this issue, "The Tulsa Sound" (page 22). Wooley says of the Tourism and Recreation JANEJAYROE, Executive Director subject, "The Tulsa sound speaks of a time when the T-Town air could-and still Tourism and Recreation Commission LT. GOV. MARYFALLIN, Chair can-be so full of music that it had its own ROBYN BATSON, STAN CLARK,JOE HARWOOD, BOYD LEE, JOE MARTIN, JANIS RICKS, HAL SMITH, weight." Wooley, who cohosts a KVOO ROBERT WATSON western swing radio show which airs To contact Oklahoma Today staffby email: Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings, [email protected] 2 lives with his family outside Foyil. [email protected] [email protected] Oklahoma Todav, winner of the 1999 Folio ~ditoridEx cellence Award IRMA Magazine of theyear, 1991,1993,1994,19% 1998 Wilbur Award Oklahoma Today (ISSN 0030-1892) is published seven times a "If this is a free country, why doesn't . year: in Januarg; F e b yM arch, May, July, September, and November by e State o Oklahoma, Oklahoma Tourism and everybody live in Tulsa?" wonders Recreation Department, 15 N. Robinson, Suite 100, Oklahoma Danney Goble, PhD. A professor of City, OK 73102. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Okla- homa Today Circulation, P.O. Box 53384, Oklahoma City, OK letters at the University of Oklahoma, . 73 152. Oklahoma City Advertjsiig Sales Office, P.O. Box 53384, Okkhoma City, OK 73152, (405)521-24% or (800) 777-1793. Sub- Goble, who wrote "Whirl of Fortune" . scription prices: $16.95 per year in the U.S.;$26.95 per year out- . side U.S. U.S. copyright @ 2001 by Oklahoma Today. Reproduction (page 42), is considered one of the . in whole or in partwithout permision is prohiiit Oklahoma To- leading authorities on Tulsa history. The dayisnot mponsibleforthe careand/orraumofunsolicitedmanu- scripts, artwork, photography, books, or any other material author of seven books and a former Tulsa submitted for possible publication. Never send original photography, manusnip& or artwork In no event shall submisiin of such resident, he wrote Tulsa! A Biography of a . unsolicited materialsubject Oklahoma Today to anydaimfor hold- City(Council Oak, 1998), a finalist for . i~nf lfaeehsoomr oaTth oedra siymoinla trh ceh Ianrgteesr.n Peat yamt oeknltaihs oumpantop duabyl.iccoatmio.n . Viiit the Oklahoma Book Award. Recipient of the McCasland Prize for outstanding teaching, Goble was also honored for his college teaching by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. 45 6 1 OKLAHOMATODAY $ JULY AUGUST 2001 1- I in Oklahoma. Tell Affordable style, US I I what you're comfort and prestige I looking for. I just waiting for you. . - - - I FORD LINCOLN MERCURY MAZDA - Where N o b o d y Beats Our Price I1 ... N o t ) V o w N o t Ever! ON THE MILE I N NORMAN, OK - 405-321-2411 800-645-2126 Open 24 hours, 7 days a week at www.reynoldsautos.com F R O M T E D I T O R Sixteen Years Dental On the Other Side HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO LEARN RELATIVELY EARLY IN LIFE THAT, IN fact, the grass is never greener. Still, while tooling around Tulsa in prepara- tion for this special Tulsaissue, we-the Okhhoma today editors-were impressed what Tulsa has to offer. You see, we live in Oklahoma City. And we're all pretty living here. We have some good friends, each of us has an easy commute, and : we all really like what we do for a living. But gallivanting through Tulsa in the early fabric of spring brought a renewed joie de vivre. One charming neighborhood after another made us sigh aloud, wondering would have such homes of our own. Terrifics hopping, good-lookingp eople, and trendy restaurants made us recall New York or San Francisco. In fact, the grass d seem greener. No joke. Even the diilooked different, less red. In the span journeys up the Turner Turn- ing ourselves in Tulsa culture. 304 NW 13thSt. . appear poised to take the tremen- 405-232-0303 ' dous potential found in its boom- COMPREHENSIVE . ing technology community into the ' city's infrastructure. In years past, . the city has been reliant on private partnerships for its development, ' . and in the future, we may see a shift toward more public endorsements ' - - . of city growth. With Mayor Susan Savage planning her exit from city ' . hall, new leadership is on the hori- At the Church Studio; AimCe stands to the : right of Warman Tisdale. zon. That, too, will determine how Tulsa intends to define itself in the coming century. ' We hope that emerging definition is framed in these pages. For that, I have many . people to thank. The shortlist includes Joe Worley (Tulsa WorM), Suzanne Wallis (the : Wallis Group), Teresa Miller (Oklahoma Center for Poets and Writers), Steve and Charlene Ripley (the Church Studio),D ewey Bartlett (Keener Oil and Gas), Karen Keith (OklahomaLiving),and the McBirney Mansion. Oklahoma's I GREEN GRASS OR NOT, PEOPLE DO MOVE ON. SUCH IS THE CASE WITH ONE Most Famous of our closest colleagues, associate editor Airnee Winneberger. A Lone Star girl, I she came to Oklahoma Today five and a half years ago as a full-time college student, Since 1957 . part-time intern, and morning school bus driver. Airnee, who knows exactly what I'm : thinking before I've thought it, has been the magazine's photo research editor for the Stillwater past three and a half years. : Tulsa As this issue hits newsstands, we will have thrown her a going-away party and I helped her pack, thinking that surely this isn't really happening. Alas, it will be. OKC . Airnee is moving with her husband, Bo, and their cats, Jasper and Roman, to Waco, coming soon to I . where her grandmother, I Edmond . and three older brothers live with and their families. We wish them the Norman . very best in this next phase of their life together. mccune@OKLAHOMA A45 Tod ay.com 8 1 OKLAHOMATODAY JULY AUGUST 2001