News Archives

 Whatalockeroom!

For a third consecutive year, Whataburger Field, home of the Corpus Christi Hooks, was voted as having the best Visiting Team Clubhouse in the South Division of the Texas League (AA baseball). The visiting clubhouse manager for all three years has been George Escamilla ‘85. George pledged Gridiron in spring of ’81 and has the GUS nickname “Thor.”

Dan died in 1997. A memorial tribute by the Association for Information Systems can be read at "In Memoriam."

Greatest Intramural Athletes Ever?

In 1958 The Phillipian honored Gridiron Club as the "Golden Anniversary Phillipian Outstanding Social Service Club."   The Phillipian noted GC won seven of the twelve intramural athletic events and placed in the other five. One of the keystones on those teams was Pete Riggs '59, who was named Outstanding Inercollegiate Athlete by The Phillipian. 

Pete and his wife Arleen will be attending the 2007 Reunion this August.  Pete was also named the "500th member of Gridiron." 

Click here for a reprint of the Phillipian article.

32 Uses for Beer

32 Uses for Beer (besides drinking, of course) has been posted to the Gridiron Forum (soon to be "The Old Copper Goblet").  Please note you must register to participate in the Forum.  The Forum is open to men of Gridiron, legacies and Sweethearts.  Send an email to: menofgridiron@yahoo.com  explaining why you should be registered.  We'll send you a USERNAME and PASSWORD so you can learn all of the uses for beer and participate in  our Forum.

We Need Your Help !!

Two new pages have been added; "Gridiron Roundup" and "Eighth Day."  These are two All-School Social Functions that GC conducted for the Phillips community.  Unfortunately our information on these activities is a bit sketchy.  Please click on the links to the left to add any  information, memories or lore on these events.

Urban Legend ?

 GUS President Kidnapped, Sent to Denver

One of the legends of Gridiron has been that pledges “captured” a member during their “Pledge Sneak” and locked him in a boxcar at the Enid rail yard.  The member was freed when the boxcar was opened in Albuquerque, or was it Wichita? 

There must have been some truth in this legend because Phillips’ pledging rules in 1965 stated no pledging activity would happen outside of Enid.  Consequently our pledge class “sneaked” all the way to North Enid.  Our kidnapped member, Phil Matlack, was locked in a closet while we pledges drank beer, played poker and ate pizza.

Now however, actual proof of sending kidnapped members “out of town” has surfaced.

The Spring of '61 pledge class kidnapped GUS president Houston Bowers and sent him to Denver; on a one way ticket.  The picture is of pledges Clyde McAninch (Left) and Todd Smith (Right) carrying Houston to the plane.  He is holding the ticket in his hand.

Other members of the Spring ’61 pledge class were:  Don Beal, Phil Combs, Bill Kirton, Dick Oden, Bob Poteet, Dennis Rice and Duane Temple.

Photo courtesy of Clyde McAninch

Sean Brannon Makes "AD"

Tulsa World 072606

Tulsa Will Rogers' High Scholl boys basketball coach Sean Brannon (Phillips University   and Gridiron '95) has been named the school's athletic director. Brannon replaces Clifford Criddle, who was reassigned by Tulsa Public Schools after nine years as the Rogers AD.

Brannon considered retaining his coaching duties but decided to focus on his new position. "It will be a big challenge and I'm ready to take it on," Brannon said. "It's exciting."

Keary King, who was a Rogers assistant last season, will replace Brannon as head coach.

Sean, known in GUS as “Luke Duke,” continues the Gridiron tradition of basketball prowess and excellence established by Everett Shelton ‘23, Gene Kurz ’59, Matt Price ‘91 and the 1965 “GC Riders.” 

Colorado – Wyoming Tradition Meeting Set

Dr. Jim Strain, GUS ’45, will co-host the PUAFA Legacy Foundation meeting in Denver Colorado on Sunday, August 13, 2006 at the South Broadway Christian Church, 23 Lincoln Street, Denver.  The meeting will be a social gathering for ex Phillipians, and an information session in which the speakers will talk about support for the Legacy Foundation and the addition to the Cherokee Strip museum. 

Working with Dr. Strain are Kaye Murphy, and Brenda Dryburgh.  PUAFA will be represented by Curt Jones, Barry Robinson and Jim Wright.  Attendees are encouraged to bring memorabilia they have from their PU days.

Dr. Strain joined Gridiron in the fall of 1941 and played varsity basketball for Phillips for two and a half seasons. After attending medical school at the University of Colorado, Jim practiced pediatrics in Denver from 1950 until 1983 when he took the position of Executive Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Chicago.  He served in that capacity until 1993 when returned to Denver where he continues to teach pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical School.  Jim has served on the Board of Phillips University for a number of years

 His wife of 61 years, Ruby Shepard, also attended Phillips and was a Red Pepper.  Their 4 children, Jim, John, Janet and Jeffrey (GUS’78) all attended Phillips University.  Ruby passed away on June 17th of this year.

For more information on the August 13^th  Tradition Meeting, contact Jim Strain at 330/796-9679 or Jstrain121@aol.com

“Alpine” Teaches Art in Cuba

Lowell “Alpine” Baker (GUS ‘69) is the son of  Prof. Vernon R. Baker, Sr. (GUS  ’42 and Gridiron Sponsor ‘57-‘58) and brother of  Walter L. Baker (GUS '75).

Enid News & Eagle, June 6, 2006  By Robert Barron, Staff Writer

A former Enid man is in Cuba this week trying to start an educational exchange with a leading Cuban arts school.

W. Lowell Baker is a member of Potters for Peace, an international organization working on a low-cost ceramic water filter project. He will be in Havana this week to establish an educational exchange with Instituto Superior de Arte, the only institution granting master of fine arts degrees in Cuba. While there, he will collect information on the ninth Cuban Ceramics Biennial Exhibition and several Cuban ceramic artists for publication.

Baker is a 1965 graduate of Enid High School and received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1969 from Phillips University. He graduated with a master’s in fine arts from Wichita State University in 1971.

Baker is a professor of art at the University of Alabama and went to Cuba as a representative of the university. The U.S. government prevents individuals from obtaining permission to go to Cuba.

Baker has traveled to Cuba previously and to other Third World countries teaching people how to make pottery water filters. Clean water is rare in some countries, and contaminated water often is responsible for early deaths of people who drink it.

Since 1998, potters have been developing a low-cost, colloidal silver-enhanced ceramic water filters. Tests show the filters will eliminate nearly 99 percent of most water-born diseases, and they can be made by nearly any potter in the world.

A ceramic water filter is a porous clay unit placed inside and near the top of a 5-gallon plastic receptacle with a spigot and lid. The filter is saturated with colloidal silver, which acts as a germicide and disinfectant. Impure water is poured into the can and flows out at the rate of about 1 to 1.75 liters of filtered water per hour.

Manufacture of the filters also creates a small industry for potters in undeveloped countries.

August 6, 2005 

Minutes of Gridiron Club Called Meeting