Oklahoma is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colorado to the northwest. Partially in the western extreme of the Upland South, it is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the 50 United States. Its residents are known as Oklahomans and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla, 'people' and humma, which translates as 'red'. Oklahoma is also known informally by its nickname, "The Sooner State", in reference to the Sooners, American settlers who staked their claims in formerly American Indian-owned lands until the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 authorized the Land Rush of 1889 opening the land to settlement.
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to the Presbyterian School for Girls, which was established in 1882 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, then a town in Indian Territory, and which evolved into an institution of higher education named Henry Kendall College by 1894. The college moved to Tulsa, another town in the Creek Nation in 1904, before the state of Oklahoma was created. In 1920, Kendall College was renamed the University of Tulsa.
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the state of Oklahoma. In Fall 2023, the university had 32,676 students enrolled, most at its main campus in Norman. Employing nearly 4,000 faculty members, the university offers 174 baccalaureate programs, 199 master's programs, 101 doctoral programs, and 88 certificate programs.
James Mountain Inhofe is an American retired politician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he is the longest serving U.S. senator from Oklahoma. He served in various elected offices in the state of Oklahoma for nearly sixty years, between 1966 and 2023.
Robert Anthony Stoops is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Arlington Renegades of the United Football League (UFL). He was the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1999 through the 2016 season, and on an interim basis during the 2021 Alamo Bowl. He led the Oklahoma Sooners to a record of 191–48 over his career. His 2000 Oklahoma Sooners football team won the 2001 Orange Bowl, which served as the BCS National Championship Game, and earned a consensus national championship. Since 2020, Stoops has been a head coach with the XFL, coaching the Renegades in 2020 and has been re-signed for 2023. Stoops' Renegades won the XFL Championship in 2023.
The Bedlam Series was the best name given to the Oklahoma–Oklahoma State rivalry. It refers to the athletics rivalry between Oklahoma State University Cowboys and Cowgirls and the University of Oklahoma Sooners of the Big 12 Conference. Both schools were also members of the Big Eight Conference before the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, and both were divisional rivals in the Big 12 South Division prior to 2011. The rivalry concluded as an annual conference matchup after 2023–24 season, after which Oklahoma joined the Southeastern Conference. 40 years of the rivalry's games were played without the teams playing in the same conference, and it is possible that the series may continue beyond that date.
The University of Tulsa College of Law is the law school of the private University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma. For 2023, U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Tulsa College of Law at No. 111 among all law schools in the United States. It is the only law school in the Tulsa Metropolitan Area and northeastern Oklahoma.
David Lyle Boren is a retired American lawyer and politician from Oklahoma. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as 21st governor of Oklahoma from 1975 to 1979 and three terms in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1994. A conservative Democrat, to date, he is the last in his party to have served as U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. He was the 13th and second-longest serving president of the University of Oklahoma from 1994 to 2018. He was the longest serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. On September 20, 2017, Boren officially announced his retirement as president of the University of Oklahoma, effective June 30, 2018.
Kathryn Louise Taylor was elected the 38th mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 4, 2006, in the city's largest voter turnout for a mayoral election. She defeated Republican incumbent Mayor Bill Lafortune to become Tulsa's second female mayor.
Arthur Grant Evans was the third president of University of Tulsa and then the second president of the University of Oklahoma. Born to English parents in India, and educated in London, he emigrated to North America in 1883 and lived briefly in Canada.
The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Board of Regents.
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Big 12 Conference. The program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful in history, having won 944 games and possessing a .725 winning percentage, both sixth all-time. Oklahoma has appeared in the AP poll 897 times, including 101 No. 1 rankings, both third all-time. The program claims seven national championships, 50 conference championships, 167 first-team All-Americans, and seven Heisman Trophy winners. The school has had 29 former players and coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and holds the record for the longest winning streak in Division I history with 47 straight victories. Oklahoma is also the only program with which four coaches have won more than 100 games each.
Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University, is a private college in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Founded in 1880 as the Indian University by missionary Almon C. Bacone, it was originally affiliated with the mission arm of what is now American Baptist Churches USA. Renamed as Bacone College in the early 20th century, it is the oldest continuously operated institution of higher education in Oklahoma. The liberal arts college has had strong historic ties to several tribal nations, including the Muscogee and Cherokee. The Bacone College Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Muskogee County, Oklahoma since 2014.
The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is an art museum on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma State–Tulsa football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between Oklahoma State and Tulsa. The two teams first played each other in 1914, and the rivalry has been played on and off for a total of 75 games as of 2021.
Malik Benjamin "Shake" Milton is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Southern Methodist University (SMU) from 2015 to 2018. Milton was drafted 54th overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks, and was then traded to the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night. He signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in July of 2023 and was traded to the Detroit Pistons. in February of 2024. On March 2nd, he signed with the New York Knicks after completing a buyout with the Pistons. He has also played for the Delaware Blue Coats of the NBA G League.
John Michael O'Connor is an American attorney and politician who served as the 19th attorney general of Oklahoma between 2021 and 2023. O’Connor was previously a shareholder of Hall Estill and a nominee to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, and the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Kevin Ray Hern is an American businessman and politician from Oklahoma. A Republican, he is a member of the United States House of Representatives for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district. Born in Missouri and raised in Pope County, Arkansas, Hern graduated from Arkansas Tech University in 1986 and briefly attended the Georgia Institute of Technology before returning to Arkansas to work for McDonald's the following year. In 1997 he bought his first McDonald's franchise and in 1999 he earned his MBA degree from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. After moving to Oklahoma in 1999, Hern expanded his McDonald's franchises, eventually owning 18 franchises in the Tulsa metropolitan area. In 2018, he ran his first campaign for office and was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
Monroe Nichols IV is an American politician and former college football player who has served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 72nd district since 2016. He is the first African-American to represent the district. In July 2023, he announced he would not seek re-election to the Oklahoma House in order to run in the 2024 Tulsa mayoral election.
Joseph Harroz Jr. is an American lawyer and academic administrator. Harroz is the 15th and current president of the University of Oklahoma, and has served in that role since May 9, 2020. He previously served as the Dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Law and served as interim president after the resignation of James L. Gallogly from 2019 to 2020.
