Helmerich Provides $1 Million For Memorial Stadium Renovation

Aug. 2, 2001

NORMAN, Okla. - Walter H. Helmerich III of Tulsa, through The Helmerich Foundation, has joined a growing list of major donors to the University of Oklahoma's $100 million Great Expectations: The Campaign for Sooner Sports with his $1 million gift in support of the massive renovation of the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, OU Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione announced today.

Designed to provide OU's football program with a national championship-quality facility, the $65 million stadium project will renovate all facility structures and amenities, replace current seating, and add new seating - including 2,200 club seats and 27 sky suites - to bring capacity to more than 80,000.

Brick and cast stone will be added to the stadium's exterior walls, giving the stadium a level of beauty in keeping with surrounding historic campus buildings. Renovations to the stadium are expected to start just after the 2001 football season and be complete in time for the 2003 season.

"On behalf of the entire University of Oklahoma family and OU football fans everywhere, we deeply appreciate this exceptional gift from Walter Helmerich, whose generous support, leadership and involvement make an enormously positive difference in the academic and athletic resources of his alma mater," said OU President David L. Boren.

"The renovation and expansion of Memorial Stadium is perhaps the biggest single project this University has embraced. It is our dream, our mission, to give OU's football team and fans a facility in keeping with our status as one of the country's most storied football programs," said Castiglione. "We're extremely grateful for leaders like Walter Helmerich who are helping us vigorously pursue this dream to make it a reality."

A Tulsa native and a member of a pioneer Oklahoma family, Helmerich earned his bachelor's degree in English in 1948 at OU and his MBA from Harvard in 1950. He is chairman of Helmerich and Payne, Inc., one of the world's largest drilling companies.

"As an alumnus of the University, I am justifiably proud of OU's recent achievements in both academics and athletics," said Helmerich. "I am happy to be in a position to offer my support to the continuation of this exciting period in OU history."

The Helmerich Foundation also has made a $1 million gift to the OU Libraries Endowment in honor of Helmerich's wife, Peggy, and endowed the formal gardens between OU's Bizzell Memorial Library and Adams Hall, also in his wife's honor. Helmerich served as a member of OU's Reach for Excellence Campaign Committee, and is a founder of the President's Associates program and, through his company, of the Sarkeys Energy Center.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Helmerich Provides $1 Million For Memorial Stadium Renovation

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