Legends Dinner

Frederick H. “Fritz” Kate was an independent geologist for most of his career, generating prospects and owning two drilling rigs for a short time.  Fritz was involved in almost every phase of the Oklahoma City Geological Society, from serving as President to chairing every conceivable committee the Society had in operation.  A firm believer in education, he and his wife, Tim, contributed the capital to commence the Oklahoma City Geological Foundation, and the Kate Endowment was the Foundation’s first program.  Fritz was an honorary member of the OCGS and was presented the Foundation’s Legends Award posthumously in 2007.

Dennis Smith’s presence in the oil & gas industry was enormous.  From being a roughneck to CEO, he was involved in every phase of the industry.  He was a charter member of the Petroleum Club, an honorary member of the Oklahoma City Geological Society, and one of the Founding Directors of the Oklahoma City Geological Foundation.  His accomplishments outside the energy industry included membership on numerous corporate and civic boards, with many associated with OSU.  For 35 years, he was a consultant to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.  Dennis was presented with the Foundation’s Legends Award in 2007.

Robert A.  “Bob” Northcutt is a native Oklahoman from Ponca City.  Bob received his B. S. in Geological Engineering in 1956 from the University of Oklahoma.  His career as a professional geologist spans 50 years, working with both majors and small companies and as a consultant.  He spent most of that time prospecting for oil and gas in Oklahoma and adjoining states.

From 1990 to 1998, he was a consultant on the Oklahoma Geological Survey projects.  He was the author or co-author of eight articles in the “Atlas of Major Mid-Continent Gas Reservoirs.”  He was the principal author of three of the “Fluvial-Dominated Deltaic (FDD) Oil Reservoirs in Oklahoma” projects.  In addition, he contributed, either as author or co-author, to twelve presentations at the Survey’s Annual Workshop series between 1988 and 2005.  Bob’s particular area of interest is the history of oil and gas play developments in Oklahoma. 

Bob is a long-time member and actively involved in the activities of the Oklahoma City Geological Society, where he served as President from 1984-85 and was elected to Honorary Membership in 1997.  He was a long-time member of the Editorial Board of the Shale Shaker, the Journal of the Oklahoma City Geological Society, and formerly served five years as Associate Editor.  He is also an active member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and a Certified Petroleum Geologist by the AAPG Division of Professional Affairs.  Bob is a Certified Professional Geologist by the American Institute of Professional Geologists.  Bob served as President (1985), Vice President (1989) of the Oklahoma Section of AIPG, and as Membership Committee Chair of the National Board.  He was awarded the AIPG Van Couvering Award in 1993.  

The Foundation presented Bob with its Legends Award in 2008.

Since graduating with a degree in Geology from Oklahoma State University, Herbert G. Davis has had an illustrious career as a petroleum geologist, civic leader, and religious mentor.

He is a certified member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG), the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA), and the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists (SIPES).  Herb served and was involved in almost every level of activity in numerous honorary organizations and societies, including the Oklahoma City Geological Society (OCGS), serving from Treasure to President.  In 1985, he was recognized by the Society and awarded honorary life membership.

His dedication to the AAPG was equally impressive.  His contributions include chairmanship and presidency of numerous committees, specifically the House of Delegates, International Science Fair Awards, Division of Professional Affairs, Committee of Governmental Affairs, and Academic Advisory Committee.  As a member of the AAPG Foundation Trustee Associates, Herb has served as vice chairman and chairman.  In 1982, the AAPG presented him with the Distinguished Service Award.

His generous contributions, service, outstanding accomplishments, and dedicated effort to Oklahoma State University are unmatched.  Herb’s outstanding contributions include the chairmanship and presidency of many committees, including membership of the Henry G. Bennett Society and President’s Club and serving as chairman of the Board of Governors and Trustees of the OSU Foundation.

Herb Davis’s geologic experience throughout the Mid-Continent Area and Anadarko Basin led to numerous publications and papers that dealt with the geology of the Morrow-Springer sandstones, the anomalous high-pressure regimes of the Morrow-Springer, and the reserves and economics of the Anadarko Basin.

Of significant note is his ongoing dedication to serving and helping others in the field of education, specifically supporting the needs of young students who desire to further their studies in geology.  In 1980, Herb established the first President’s Distinguished Scholarship at OSU, providing a fully endowed, 4-year scholarship to deserving geology or general science student.  In 2006, through the AAPG, he created the Herbert G. & Shirley A. Davis Named Grant for an OSU Geology Student.  Through the Oklahoma City Geological Foundation, Herb also created the Herbert G. & Shirley A. Davis OSU Geology Scholarship in 2007.  Herb continues to support these programs and will serve as a model for others to follow in the future.  On many levels, these important actions of “Giving Back” will be the legacy of Herbert G. Davis.  

The Foundation is pleased and honored to recognize Herb with its 2009 Legends Award.

David G. Campbell was born and raised in Oklahoma City.  He received his Bachelor’s degree in Geology from the University of Tulsa in 1953 and his Master’s degree in Geology from the University of Oklahoma in 1957.  In 1958, he married his wife Janet, and his son, Carl, was born in 1959.

Dave served in the U. S. Naval Reserve from 1948-1952, the U. S. Army from 1953-1955, and was a communications Instructor in the US Army Reserve from 1955-1958.

Lone Star Producing Company started Dave’s professional career as a Project Geologist in 1957.  For the following 50 years, he held technical and management positions with Tenneco Oil Company, PetroCorp, Inc., and Earth Hawk Exploration, Inc., having cofounded the Company in 1980.  He retired as the Company’s President and CEO in 2009.  Throughout his career, Campbell concentrated his exploration efforts in the Mid-Continent, emphasizing the Red Fork, Morrow-Springer, and the deeper Hunton and Simpson reservoirs in the Anadarko Basin.  In addition, he was involved in extensive exploration in the Arkoma Basin. 

Throughout his career, Dave has worked tirelessly for the pursuits and endeavors of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Oklahoma City Geological Society (OCGS), having served both organizations in several capacities for nearly 40 years.  Dave was awarded a Distinguished Service Award, Honorary Life Membership from AAPG, and Honorary Life Membership from the OCGS.  Dave was also a founding Director and the first President of the Oklahoma City Geological Foundation.  Also, at various times during his professional life, Dave was active in SIPES, TGS, HGS, Sigma XI National Honorary Research Society, and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain.

Mr. Campbell has been no less active in the community, having served in various capacities and roles with the Boy Scouts of America, the YMCA, the President’s Associates at OU, the OU School of Geology & Geophysics Alumni Advisory Council, Junior Achievement of Oklahoma City, the Petroleum Club and the Beacon Club.  Dave received the Oklahoma Governor’s Art Award, in 2003, for his community service, and in 2008, he received the Inaugural Distinguished Alumni Award from the OU Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy.  For nearly 25 years, Dave has been active in the tribal affairs of the Cherokee Nation, having been appointed by Governors Keating and Henry to various positions.

Robert W. Allen was born on April 16, 1923.  He was the second of three sons of Dr. and Mrs. Edward P Allen of Oklahoma City.  His older brother Phil is deceased, and Paul lives in Oklahoma City.  In 1941, he graduated from Classen High School in Oklahoma City.  In September 1941, Bob was one of two from Oklahoma to attend the Virginia Military Institute.  On December 8, 1941, he enlisted in the US.  Army and began active duty in May 1943.  He attended the University of Pennsylvania and was then assigned to the 138th Engineer Combat Battalion.  They crossed the Rhine and went into central Germany.

After being discharged in 1946, he attended the University of Oklahoma and received his BS degree in Zoology and Geology.  He is a member of Beta Theta Pi’s social fraternity.

On August 21, 1948, he married Barbara Smith of Oklahoma City.  They have three children, Katherine Carr and Robert W. Allen, Jr of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Diane Fuller of Apple Valley, California.  There are six grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.  Bob lost Barbara on January 24, 2007.

From 1949 until 1954, Bob worked as a geologist for the Globe Oil and Refining Company in Oklahoma City.  In 1954, the family moved to Ardmore with Continental Oil Company.  He became Division Geologist for Southern Oklahoma.  In 1962, he opened his office in Ardmore as a Petroleum Geologist.

Bob has received Honorary Life Membership in the Ardmore Geologist Society, a Certificate of Merit from the Mid-Continent Section of AAPG 55-year membership, the 2003 Rotarian of the Year from the Ardmore Rotary Club, the  AAPG Robey H. Clark Award in 2005, a Special Award for Service from AAPG presented at the 2010 National Convention, in New Orleans; and a Distinguished Service Award from the Mewbourne College of Earth and Science at OU (November 12, 2010).  Bob has served as an officer on several boards: The First Presbyterian Church, where he taught Sunday School since 1956; The Ardmore Geological Society,  The Ardmore Higher Education Center; The southern Oklahoma Blood Institute; The Alumni Advisory Council for the School Of Geology and Geophysics at OU.  He is active in the Rotary Club.

Growing up in rural Oklahoma, Mr. Hamm went to work in the oil fields as a teenager and established Continental Resources in 1967 at the age of 21. He built a grassroots startup into an NYSE-traded, Top 10 oil producer in the U.S. Lower 48. As a voice for America’s oil and natural gas industry and as the leader of one of America’s top E&P companies, he has helped to make America energy independent.

Mr. Hamm also co-founded and serves as Chairman of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, which aims to preserve the millions of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity and tax revenues generated by onshore drilling and production activities within the United States. Through his work with DEPA, Mr. Hamm is widely recognized as the man who led the charge to lift America’s 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports.

Mr. Hamm’s industry leadership also includes serving as past Chairman and present board member of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, founding board member of the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board, and past president of the National Stripper Well Association. In addition, he served as Founder and Chairman of Save Domestic Oil Inc., which successfully brought a trade case against four countries trying to put American oil and gas producers out of business.

A national leader promoting health, education, and energy industry advocacy, Mr. Hamm has devoted much time and resources to championing a healthy and secure future for all Americans. Intending to find a cure for diabetes, he has donated more than $65 million to date to the world-renowned Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma. The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center is at the forefront of diabetes research – inspiring progress toward a cure, education of health care professionals and families, optimal care for those living with diabetes, and effective prevention strategies. To further spark the minds of the world’s brightest scientists, he established the Harold Hamm International Prize for Biomedical Research in Diabetes, a $250,000 biennial award celebrating the scientific achievements of an outstanding researcher, a team of researchers, or a research institution.

Mr. Hamm is dedicated to preparing the next generation of energy industry leaders. In 2012, he helped establish the Harold Hamm School of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of North Dakota. He has also funded numerous national education initiatives, including college scholarships, classroom technology, and school capital campaigns.

Mr. Hamm has received numerous awards and recognition for his contributions. Platts Global Energy Awards honored him with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his legacy of leadership, innovation, and commitment to bringing America to energy independence. Platts Global Energy Awards also has named him “CEO of the Year” and at the same time named Continental Resources “Energy Company of the Year.”

He was named the recipient of the “Chief Roughneck Award” by U.S. Steel Tubular Products and one of 13 corporate and civic leaders across the U.S. to receive the “Horatio Alger Award” for outstanding leadership and triumph over adversity to achieve success. He was also honored by Oil and Gas Investor magazine as “Executive of the Year” for Continental’s leadership in the Bakken, SCOOP, and STACK plays and his tireless efforts to lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports. In 2015, the Western Energy Alliance named him “Wildcatter of the Year” for his contributions to America’s energy security and the betterment of society. He has been named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” for creating thousands of jobs in the oil industry and continuous support of education and diabetes research. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. He was named the International Energy Policy Conference “Energy Advocate of the Year” and the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Lew O. Ward, III is Chairman of the Board of Ward Petroleum Corporation in Enid, Oklahoma.  The company operates primarily in Oklahoma, exploring the Anadarko and Arkoma basins.  Over the years, he also formed and operated Ward Drilling Company, Rambler Well Service, Ward Gas Marketing, Geronimo Trucking, Caprock Supply, and his son, Gale Force Compression Services.  Ward Petroleum was listed in Inc. magazine in 1991, 1992, and 1993 as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies.

Born on July 24, 1930, in Oklahoma City, Mr. Ward was born into the oil and gas industry.  His father was a driller, tool pusher, and later a drilling superintendent, so he spent his early years moving from one oilfield town to another.  Among them are Shawnee, Guthrie, Odessa, Texas, and Mt. Vernon, Illinois.  During the summers, he worked as a roustabout and roughneck.  Lew attended high school and junior college at Oklahoma Military Academy from 1946-50.  He received the Oklahoma Military Academy’s Distinguished Alumnae Award in 1992.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Oklahoma in 1953.  In 1996, he was inducted into The University of Oklahoma College of Engineering Distinguished Graduates Society.  He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Oklahoma.  He graduated from the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard University.

After graduation from O.U., he served as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (1953-55) as a pipeline engineer in Okinawa.  Afterward, he took a job in Tulsa with Dallas-based Delhi-Taylor Oil Corp., owned by Clint Murchison.

Lew and Myra Gungoll were married on October 29, 1955, in Enid, Oklahoma.  They have one daughter Cassidy and one son, William C. Ward.  Cassidy and her husband own Hidden Ridge, a mountain top vineyard in northern California.  Bill is the President and CEO of Ward Petroleum Corporation.

In 1956, the Wards moved to Enid, and he formed Ward-Gungoll Oil Investments with his father-in-law, Carl Gungoll.  In 1963, he formed his own company, L.O. Ward Oil Operations, which later became Ward Petroleum Corporation.

He is a past president of the Enid Rotary Club, American Business Club, and the Enid Chamber of Commerce.  The Enid Chamber of Commerce named him Businessman of the Year and, in 2007, Citizen of the Year.  In 1999, Ward Petroleum Corporation was awarded the Governor’s Earl Sneed Memorial Business in the Arts Award. 

Mr. Ward serves on the Board of Trustees of the Oklahoma Nature Conservancy.  In the past, he has been active on the U.S. Olympic Committee to raise funds from Oklahoma.

Mr. Ward serves on the National Petroleum Council. He is a Founder and board member of Sarkey’s Energy Center, the Board of Visitors of the College of Engineering at O.U., the University Board at Pepperdine University, and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

Louis McKee Ford is the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Lige Ford. Born 26 December 1928, in Lancaster, Kentucky, Louis lived in the same house where he was born most of his life.   After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Kentucky, where he studied geology and was active in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.   After graduating with a bachelor’s degree, Louis enlisted in the Army, where he remembers thinking that there was something better than parking jeeps and aspiring to get a promotion.   Louis left the army after two years returning to Kentucky to begin his geological studies.  In 1956, he graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Master of Science degree in Geology.  His thesis, which can still be purchased online, is titled “The insoluble residues of the Ste. Genevieve, Renault, and Paint Creek formations at Mt. Vernon, Somerset, and Monticello, Kentucky..”  Immediately after graduation, Louis took a geologist position with Texaco.

In 1957, Louis married Gayle Wolff after dating for only three months.  They have three daughters; Melissa Ford of Encinitas, CA, Penny Adams of Sierra Madre, California, and Wendy Mackey of Austin, Texas.  They have two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  

With his intelligence, quick wit, good mid-western work ethic, and strong moral beliefs, Louis was promoted rapidly at Texaco, with a transfer to a new city associated with each promotion.  With three young girls and some strong prompting from his wife, once in Oklahoma City, Louis decided that he would stay and quit his job at Texaco.   Louis joined Walter Duncan Associates, where he worked for many years before starting his own company, Ford Exploration, Inc. 

Louis continued to promote geology throughout his career, actively participating in several organizations. From 1987 – 1989, he was President of AAPG Mid-Continent Section.  In 1991, he was SIPES Chairman and continued his membership in this organization.  Also, in 1991, Louis was awarded Honorary Life Membership in the Oklahoma Geological Society.   He also actively supports the Society of Exploration Geophysicists and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.  Most notably, Louis, with two other visionaries, Dave Campbell and Tom Davis, had the foresight to create the Oklahoma City Geological Foundation (the precursor to the Oklahoma Geological Foundation) with the mission of supporting charitable, scientific, literary, and educational activities with primary emphasis in the science of geology and related fields.   Louis was Founding Director and President from 1999-2001 and continues to support this essential organization.

Louis has retired and now resides in Burbank, California.

Ray Horton Potts was born November 6, 1932, and grew up on a farm in central Missouri. He graduated from Gilliam High School in a class of seven students.

In 1950, he enrolled at the University of Missouri and became a member of the freshman honorary Phi Eta Sigma fraternity. He graduated in 1954 with a B.A. in Geology and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force. While waiting to be called for active duty, he worked for the California Oil Company doing surface mapping near Miles City, Montana.

In August 1954, he was called to active duty and entered the flight training program, obtaining his pilot’s wings in 1955. He spent two years in Spokane, Washington as a third pilot on a B-36 in the Strategic Air Command.

In 1957, Ray returned to the University of Missouri to obtain an M.A. in Geology. Upon graduation in 1959, he went to work for the Pure Oil Co. in Oklahoma City. While working as a geologist for the Pure, he attended law school at night, obtained a Juris Doctor’s degree, and passed the Oklahoma Bar in 1965. One year after leaving Union of California (they acquired Pure Oil Company in 1965), he and Robert L. Stephenson co-founded PSEC, Inc. Thirty years later, in 1997, PSEC, Inc. was acquired by ONEOK Resources Company. Ray is still active in the oil and gas industry with his two sons, Mark and Steve Potts.

Ray has served on many educational boards and professional associations and contributed his time and energy to countless charities.

It is with great honor that the Directors of the Oklahoma Geological Foundation present its 2013 Legend Award to Ray H. Potts.

Thomas E. Davis was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, in 1935. Okmulgee was an oil town with several major refineries and a boomtown in the 1920s. His grandfather was a pumper for Gypsy Oil Company and was the catalyst for leading him into an oil and gas career of 55 years.

After high school, he started at Oklahoma University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. He later did graduate work while working in Oklahoma City for Sinclair Oil Company. His career started on a seismic crew in Lovington, New Mexico, and led to many moves to exploration locations in Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Tom had the opportunity to resume his Geology career in Midland, Texas, with El Paso Natural Gas and spent the next 30-plus years as a geologist and manager. A highlight was his time with AMR Energy, a subsidiary of American Airlines, formed in 1977. He was the second geologist hired and became a Senior Officer before joining Viersen & Cochran in 1985. In 1996 he formed Delta Resources, Inc. He has been active in the Oklahoma City Geological Society, serving in various positions, including President. He also served as Vice-President of the Division of Professional Affairs for AAPG. He is still active in oil and gas exploration, living in Austin, Texas.

It is with great honor that the Directors of the Oklahoma Geological Foundation present its 2013 Legend Award to Thomas E. Davis.

Industry experience:                    Pickens, founder, and chairman, of BP Capital, is principally responsible for the formulation of the energy futures investment strategy of the BP Capital Energy Fund, LP, and the BP Capital Energy Equity Fund, LP. BP Capital manages one of the nation’s most successful energy-oriented investment funds. Pickens frequently utilizes his wealth of experience in the oil and gas industry to evaluate potential equity investments and energy sector themes. In July 2008, Boone launched a grass-roots campaign to reduce this country’s crippling dependence on OPEC oil. In television ads, on his Pickens Plan website, and in personal appearances, he spelled out how our dependence on OPEC oil is an addiction that threatens our economy, environment, and national security and ties our hands as a nation and a people. He has spent the time since spelling out how this country can drag itself out of this dilemma if it acts quickly and reasonably. His 2008 New York Times bestseller, The First Billion is the Hardest, also detailed what this country must do to regain its energy independence. Pickens has not been shy in predicting oil and gas prices and has been uncannily accurate. As a result, he is a frequent guest on some of the nation’s most-watched business programs (CNBC coined him the “Oracle of Oil”). While Pickens prefers personal contact in his dealings — “I’ve never been a big fan of emails. I prefer to pick up the phone and work things out.” — he has always been open to change, and has grown to “understand the power of social media, how it helped me build a 1.7-million-person (Pickens Plan) army dedicated to solving America’s energy challenges.” (A good-humored exchange between Pickens and the rapper Drake that became the talk of the Twitter universe in May 2012 drove home the social media lesson for Pickens — “it’s one of the only ways that I would ever find myself in a dialogue with a rapper like Drake,” he noted at the time.) A folk hero in global business for his tenacity in the rough-and-tumble world of mergers and acquisitions, Pickens is also aggressively pursuing many other business interests. He founded Clean Energy, a clean transportation fuels company, and took it public in May 2008 (the eighth entity he has helped go public in his career). Clean Energy is advancing the use of natural gas as a cleaner-burning and more cost-effective transportation fuel alternative to gasoline and diesel. Mesa Power is developing selective alternative energy projects in North America. Pickens was the founder of Mesa Petroleum in its various forms, beginning in 1956. Mr. Pickens’ career at Mesa spanned four decades. Under his leadership, Mesa grew to become one of the largest and most well-known independent exploration and production companies in the United States; Mesa produced more than 3 trillion cubic feet of gas and 150 million barrels of oil from 1964 to 1996.

Educational Background and Associations:               Pickens earned a degree in geology from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) in 1951. His many educational associations and honors include Honorary Doctorate of Science from Oklahoma State University (2002); Honorary Doctorate of Public Service awarded by George Washington University (1988); Francis Marion College awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities (1988); Distinguished Lecturer – Emory University School of Business (1987); Doctor of Laws conferred by Barry University, Miami Florida (1986); Named Distinguished Fellow of the College of Arts & Sciences at Oklahoma State University (1982); Henry G. Bennett Distinguished Service Award from Oklahoma State University (1982); Distinguished Alumni Award from Oklahoma State University (1982); Distinguished Fellow Award from Oklahoma State University (1980).

Professional and Industry Associations:               During his long and distinguished career, Pickens has served on numerous boards and industry associations, including the U.S. Energy Security Council (2012); advisory committee of the College Football Assistance Fund (2011); honorary member of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star Board of Directors (2011); member of the Center for BrainHealth’s Leadership Council (2011); honorary chairman of the National Hunting and Fishing Day (2011); as a trustee of the Southwestern Medical Foundation (2010), Honorary Member of the Bob Hope Theater and Education Center aboard the USS Midway Museum (2010), on the board of directors of the National Football Foundation (2009-Present), Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (2009-Present), The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc. (2007-Present) and The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation (2007-Present), Exco Resources Inc. (2005-Present, 1998-2003), a board trustee of the Cooper Aerobics Center (1989 to 1993), chairman of the board of visitors (1983, 1984), and a member of the Board of Visitors (1977 to 1986), MD Anderson Cancer Center, and as life member and chairman (1984, 1985) of the Texas Research League. He also served on the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Petroleum Council for ten years in the 1970s. Throughout his career, Pickens championed a new era of corporate accountability and is credited with making corporate management more responsive to the interests of its shareholders. In 1986, Pickens founded the non-profit United Shareholders Association to help shareholders and inform them of corporate abuses.

Civic Interests:                Throughout his professional life, Pickens has been a generous philanthropist, giving away more than $1 billion (when considering some inventive matching requirements attached to this giving, the full impact of this philanthropy approaches $2 billion). His giving has earned him regular spots on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of top U.S. philanthropists. The Pickens Foundation focuses on improving lives through grants supporting educational programs, medical research, athletics, corporate wellness, at-risk youths, the entrepreneurial process, and conservation and wildlife initiatives. In many ways, Pickens is a record-setting philanthropist. His $165 million gift to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, in 2005 is the single-largest gift for athletics in NCAA history. The $7 million donation to the American Red Cross in 2005 is the most significant individual contribution in the 150-year history of that organization.  In 2007, he raised the bar on philanthropic giving, donating $100 million to two leading Texas medical institutions, UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.  Each institution received $50 million and committed – through investments and new donations – to raise $450 million more within 25 years.  M.D. Anderson already has met this requirement. His $5 million gift to the Metropolitan YMCA of Dallas is the most significant single contribution the agency has received. Pickens is among the most generous collegiate philanthropists of all time: He has contributed nearly $500 million to OSU, split nearly in half between academics and athletics. He has also made million-dollar-plus contributions to a wide range of medical research institutions and treatment centers, including the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. To recognize his sizable donations, the Stillwater-based Oklahoma State University renamed its football stadium Boone Pickens Stadium in 2003 and dedicated the T. Boone Pickens School of Geology in 1989.  Pickens has served on many committees and boards, including American Red Cross Chairman’s Advisory Board (2005) and National Campaign for a Drug-Free America adviser (1989). Among his other civic honors, he has earned the Key to the City of Dallas (1989), Bill Clements’ Man of the Year (1989), and recognition of support from Ronald McDonald House of Amarillo, St. Anthony’s Hospital, and the Harrington Cancer Center.

Honors:              Several diverse organizations recognized Pickens for his deeds. Among them: the 2013 DCEO magazine CEO of the Year;  the 2012 Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation’s Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award; the 2011 American Football Coaches Foundation’s CEO Coach of the Year Award; the 2011 Texas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Philanthropist of the Year Award; the 2011 Dallas Community Humanitarian Award for the work of the T. Boone Pickens Foundation; the 2010 Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2010 Congressional Medal of Honor Society “Patriot Award”; the 2010 “Effecting Change Award” from 100 Women in Hedge Funds; the 2010 Presbyterian Communities and Services Each Moment Matters 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award; the 2010 “Boone Pickens Appreciation Day” in Oklahoma, declared by the Oklahoma State Legislature on May 13; the 2009 American Security Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Public Service; 2009 Time magazine “100” list of world’s most influential people; 2009 L. Austin Weeks Memorial Medal; 2009 Success magazine “Achiever of the Year” award; 2009 American Association of Political Consultants, “Public Affairs Campaign of the Year” for the Pickens Plan; 2009, 43rd annual Texas Legislative Conference “Texan of the Year” award; 2009 Franklin Institute’s Bower Award for Business Leadership; 2008 Recipient of Park Cities Quail Unlimited Lifetime Sportsman Award; 2008 Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Paschal Murray Award for Outstanding Philanthropist; 2008 National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award; 2008 Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution Award for Corporate Citizenship; 2008 Weather Channel’s Forecast Earth Hot List (10 Most Influential People or Entities in the Fight against Global Warming); and 2008 Flak Jacket Award, “Best Spokesperson: Industry,” for being “the most intrepid, daring and verbally agile communicators.” The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Inc. selected Pickens as a recipient of the 2006 Horatio Alger Award, which epitomizes those who overcome adversity and humble beginnings to achieve success. The Alger selection is but one of many honors awarded to Pickens for his achievements, including Trader Monthly’s 2006 Trader of the Year award, the Texas Business Hall of Fame (2005); Oklahoma Hall of Fame (2003), the City of Amarillo’s “Golden Nail Award” (2002); U.S. Department of Energy, Clean Cities National Partner award, ENRG (2002); INFORM’s Corporate Environmental Leadership Award (2002); Pima County Arizona Clean Cities’ Annual Transportation Award, ENRG (2001); Clean Cities’ Clean Air Challenge Award, Pickens Fuel Corp. (2001); Oil & Gas Investor’s Hart Publication list of “100 Most Influential People of the Petroleum Century” (2000); Honda Environmental Citizen Award (2000); Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (2000); California State Assembly, Clean Cities Coachella Valley Region – Environmental Citizen (2000); Tucson Regional Clean Cities National Partner Award. ENRG, (2000); Riverside County Board of Supervisors, Clean Cities Community Accomplishment Award, ENRG (2000); CALSTART’s Blue Sky Award, Pickens Fuel Corp. (2000); California State Senate Certificate of Recognition (2000); Earth Day Award (1993); Texas General Land Office’s Clean Air Texas Environmental Award (1993); Clean Across America Campaign, honored in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles for promoting natural gas (1993); Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition Achievement Award (1993); Financial World “CEO of the Decade” (1989); West Texas State University Student Senate commendation (1988); Financial Management Association National Honor Society (1988); Washington Institute for Policy Studies’ Columbia Free Enterprise Award (1987); Financial Management Association’s Outstanding Financial Executive Award (1987); Texas A&M University College of Business Administration’s Distinguished Entrepreneur (1987); Financial Management Association’s Outstanding World Executive Award (1987); Honored Executive Award from University of Tennessee (1986); The Future Business Leaders of America “Giant in the Industry” award (1985); Carnegie Mellon Crisis Man Award (1985); Stanford University Alumni Association Houston Chapter’s Houston Business Man of the Year Award (1981); and Financial World CEO of the Year (1978).

Pickens, an avid exercise enthusiast who held the top spot of the Mesa Racquetball Ladder for eight years (1979-1987), is particularly proud of his company’s pioneering fitness programs.  In 1989, Mesa was the first corporation to receive accreditation from the Institute of Aerobics Research.  Among other awards, The President’s Council Physical Fitness recognized Mesa as the “Most Physically Fit Company in America” (1985).

Personal:  Pickens lives in Dallas and is married to Toni Brinker Pickens. He has five children and 12 grandchildren.

James Owen Puckette was born in Poteau, Oklahoma, in August 1954 and grew up in Jay, Oklahoma. His father, Charles Puckette, was a soil conservationist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His mother, Oneta Puckette, was a music major from Oklahoma A&M.

Jim graduated from Jay High School in 1972 in a class of 79 students. Currently Associate Professor at Oklahoma State University, Jim earned his B.S. in Geology in 1976, followed by his M.S. in 1990 and Ph.D. in 1996, all from Oklahoma State University. Jim and Jennifer have been married for thirty-nine years. They met as freshmen at OSU. They have two children: Andrew, who works for Pepsico in Stillwater, and Sarah, who teaches science in the Peace Corps in Cameroon.

Growing up in the Ozarks, Jim had never been around oil and gas production. While a student at OSU, he visited the Bertha Rogers well a week or so before it reached total depth. As a student, he was recommended for a part-time job with Ketal Oil Producing Company (KOPCO) in Stillwater. His first job was putting their scout tickets, and OCC 1002A/drillers log files in order. While working at KOPCO, he was able to visit rigs near Stillwater and was soon bitten by the oil and gas bug.

Jim worked from 1976 to 1987 as Geologist for Ketal Oil Producing Company, Chief Geologist for Rocky Mountain Production Company, and Chief Geologist for O.R.M. Exploration Company. From 1987 to the present, he has had roles at the Boone Pickens School of Geology that include Research Assistant, Senior Research Specialist, Research Coordinator, Lecturer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor.

Jim has received numerous awards throughout his career, including most recently: Outstanding Faculty Academic Advisor, College of Arts and Sciences, 2013; University Excellence Award for Academic Advising, 2013; Awarded Chair of Geoscience Education, 2014; and the Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award by AAPG, 2014.

Jim is an active member of the AAPG, the GSA, the OCGS, and the TGS.

He has served on numerous AAPG committees, including Co-Convener of Session “Hot Plays in the Mid-Continent Region” Mid-Continent Section Meeting, 2003; Mid-Continent Section Planning Committee, 2003; Preservation of Geoscience Data Committee; Youth Educational Activities Committee; Reservoir Development Committee; and the Field Trip Leader to Cement Field during Mid-Continent Section Meetings in 2005 and 2011.

Jim Puckette has had a tremendous impact on the Geology profession and the Oklahoma oil and gas industry through his numerous publications, presentations, and mentoring of students throughout his career.

It is with great honor that the Directors of the Oklahoma Geological Foundation present Dr. James O. Puckette as a Living Legend Award recipient for 2015.

Ken Johnson was born in Brooklyn in 1934 and grew up in Queens, New York City. He attended Haverford College (a small liberal arts college outside of Philadelphia) but left after two years and returned to New York City. For the next two years, he worked at six different jobs in Manhattan and took several courses at Columbia University’s night school. While at Columbia, he enrolled in an Introductory Geology course, which was all it took. Ken decided to go west, where geology was better known, and hitch-hiked out of New York City. He planned on stopping in Kansas, Oklahoma, or Texas, and the last ride he got was from a man in Ohio driving to Oklahoma City. Hence – he ended up at the University of Oklahoma.

Ken earned his B.S. in Geology in 1959, B.S. in Geological Engineering in 1961, and M.S. in Geology in 1962, all from the University of Oklahoma, followed by his Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Illinois in 1967. Ken spent his entire career with the Oklahoma Geological Survey and the University of Oklahoma but was also very active in various state, national and international programs. Ken remains active in “retirement,” still lecturing, publishing articles in various national and regional journals, consulting, and giving his time and expertise to various geology projects.

From 1962-1999 Ken was a research geologist for the Oklahoma Geological Survey and served as Associate Director under Charlie Mankin for 22 years (1978-1999). While at the Survey, Ken mapped the Permian rocks in western Oklahoma, conducted research on the Permian throughout the Southwest, served as the Survey’s Industrial Minerals and Environmental Geologist, developed a series of guidebooks for Oklahoma field trips, organized and initially directed the OGS STATEMAP program, and was the liaison between the Survey and various local, state and federal agencies. Ken organized 23 major symposia, workshops, and OGS publications on petroleum geology, mineral resources, and environmental problems in Oklahoma and the southern Mid-Continent. Ken published more than 270 books, articles, maps, and abstracts in his spare time.

While working at the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Ken was a Visiting Professor of Geology and Geological Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. He taught graduate geology courses and directed or served on numerous M.S. and Ph.D. committees. For several years during the 1970s, Ken directed and led a 3-week Energy Fuels course in western Colorado and eastern Utah, where students and professionals studied a wide range of energy resources, including petroleum, tar sands, oil shales, coal, uranium, and nuclear stimulation of tight gas formations. Over the years, Ken organized and led several special geology field trips primarily for professional geologists and their spouses, including rafting trips through the Grand Canyon and a geology field trip to Iceland.

In addition to research, teaching, mentoring, publishing, and conducting field trips, Ken Johnson found the time to serve his profession and represent the State of Oklahoma in numerous other ways. For 20 years, Ken served on national and international committees dealing with hazardous waste disposal, karst hydrology, and karst in evaporite rocks. For 15 years, he was active in national programs seeking suitable repository sites to dispose of high-level and low-level radioactive waste. Ken chaired Oklahoma’s Hazardous Waste Management Council for 12 years and served on the Editorial Board of the journal “Earth Science and Engineering” for ten years. Ken was a member of the Environmental Advisory Board for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief Engineer for four years.

Ken is a member of the AIPG, AAPG, GSA (Senior Fellow 1995), AASG (Honorary Associate 2011 and Distinguished Service Award 2012), AGU, OCGS (Honorary Member 2000), and past member of the Association of Engineering Geologists and International Association of Hydrogeologists.

One of Ken’s favorite pastimes has been serving as an invited lecturer on 40 ocean cruises, from Antarctica to Alaska and Spitsbergen, and all places and seas in between. Dr. Kenneth Johnson has had a tremendous career spanning many geologic endeavors. His efforts have impacted many in our profession and the State of Oklahoma over the past five-plus decades.

It is with great honor that the Directors of the Oklahoma Geological Foundation present Dr. Kenneth S. Johnson as a Living Legend Award recipient for 2015.

John W. Shelton spent his childhood years in Bellmead, Texas, near the city of Waco. After graduating from Baylor University with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a minor in geology, his main goal was to marry Doris Smith, a local hometown girl. On their wedding day, they packed up and headed to Champaign, Illinois, where he attended the University of Illinois and subsequently received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees in geology.

In 1953, Dr. Shelton accepted a position with Shell Oil Company and was initially assigned to the Shell office in Denver, Colorado. He and his colleagues were instrumental in applying depositional environments to prospect evaluations. John and Doris often moved throughout the various Shell Oil entities. Along the way, their daughter Maura was born in Denver, and their son Kyle was born while they were located in Billings, Montana. Upon moving to Houston, Texas, in 1956, Dr. Shelton worked with many top scientists. With this group, he helped develop the concepts of clastic sedimentation and later growth faulting, successfully applied to petroleum exploration.

Changing career directions in 1963, John joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University, where he taught various geology courses and helped develop OSU’s Master’s degree program in geology. During his tenure at OSU, Dr. Shelton became associated with one of the top professional petroleum research groups, including Dr. Gary Stewart, Dr. Zuhair Al-Shaieb, Dr. Tommy Thompson, Dr. John Naff, and Dr. Nowell Donovan.

Dr. Shelton has authored or co-authored over 50 publications, one of the most influential being the Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin 118. “Models of Sand and Sandstone Deposits: A Methodology for Determining Sand Geometry and Trend” was published in 1973 and is still considered one of the premier studies for determining depositional environments for clastic sediments.

During the late 1960s, Shelton met Paul McDaniel, an OSU alumnus who had started a company called ERICO, a geological consulting firm based in London. In 1974, John worked part-time with ERICO on research projects in the North Sea and Mediterranean regions. In 1980, he joined ERICO full-time, which had opened an office in Tulsa to work on domestic projects. ERICO was instrumental in establishing multi-client proprietary studies in significant projects in the North Sea, Africa, China, and many other locales. With the rapid advancement of computer technology, ERICO began digitizing all North Sea well logs in 1983.

After selling ERICO, Paul McDaniel formed Masera, which continued with the geological studies concept, both domestically and internationally. In 1986, McDaniel, Shelton, and others formed Colourmap to use digital methods to prepare hardcopy maps and databases. Digitizing analog seismic sections soon followed.

John had an incredible vision of a digital future to ensure that the American Association of Petroleum Geologists would remain the world’s premier geological organization. In 1989, Mesera and Shelton contacted AAPG about the concept of digitizing all of its publications. In 1990, Masera-AAPG (predecessor of AAPG Datapages) began digitizing the entire AAPG holdings. Datapages continued the digital process to include the works of SEPM, GCAGS, and many other organizations. John Shelton directed the advancement of AAPG Datapages and Geographic Information Systems, but that was not enough. In 1997, the website “Search and Discovery” was launched as a source for online research projects. This website has become a leading geology and petroleum industry information resource center for millions of online visitors. To recognize the importance of this venue, the “John W. Shelton Search and Discovery Award” was established by AAPG in 2009 in recognition of the best contribution posted to the “Search and Discovery” website each year.

The time and energy Dr. Shelton has devoted to AAPG in leadership is virtually inconceivable. John served AAPG as Editor from 1975 to 1979 and Vice President from 1988 to 1989. Due to his dedication and vision for digital information access and dedicated service, John W. Shelton was awarded the Sidney Powers Memorial Award in 2011.  This award is the highest honor by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Because of his tireless commitment and enthusiasm, AAPG was the first professional organization to provide a digital publication format to its members.

Dr. John W. Shelton, a brilliant professional geologist, inspirational teacher, author, visionary, leader, and mentor, is a few of the monikers bestowed to his name. John will always be known as the instrumental driving force for creating AAPG Datapages and the petroleum industry website “Search and Discovery.” He truly is a Living Legend in the geological community.

The Duncan Family has long been one of Oklahoma City’s leading independent oil and gas producers and community leaders. Their privately-held company, Duncan Oil Properties, was founded in late 1981 by J. Walter Duncan, Jr. Before this, Walter operated under his name after moving to Oklahoma in the late 1940s. Most of the company’s operated wells are located in Western Oklahoma, but the company has interests in 26 states and Canada.

Walter Duncan, Jr. was born to Walter and Velma Duncan on November 26, 1916, in La Salle, Illinois, about 100 miles west of Chicago. The Duncans and most of the residents of La Salle were descendants of Irish immigrants who settled in the area in the early 19th Century to work on a canal to connect the Mississippi River with Lake Michigan. Walter came from a family of successful businessmen and community leaders, having founded the La Salle State Bank, Marquette Cement, and the Duncan Insurance Office. Walter attended St. Bede’s Academy in La Salle, and like his father, he graduated from Notre Dame University with two brothers and one son. He met his first wife, Ann Louise Burke, at Notre Dame, and they were married soon after graduation in 1938. Walter and Ann settled in southern Illinois, where Walter became involved in a widespread oil boom in partnership with his father.

Walter had many great stories about the entrepreneurs, gamblers, and hustlers during these rough-and-tumble Depression days in the oilfields of Southern Illinois. The family’s oil holdings grew thanks to Walter’s ingenuity and natural business sense. In 1949, Walter and Ann moved to Oklahoma City with their two children, Walt and Lynn, where Walter continued to expand the family oil business. They had three more children – Nick, Barbara, and Elizabeth – in Oklahoma City in the early 1950s. In partnership with fellow Notre Dame graduate Joseph I. O’Neil of Midland, Texas, he established a significant holding in what would become the SACROC Oil Field in West Texas, greatly expanding the family’s oil production. Walter had a unique business partnership with his father and two brothers – Raymond and Vincent – participating in each other’s business deals for over 50 years with little more than a handshake. Together, their business interests expanded beyond oil and gas to office, retail, motel, and multifamily real estate development. Walter was involved in ski area development with his brothers in Durango, Colorado. It is impossible to communicate how Walter impacted the business community, but to quote one of Walter’s business associates: “He epitomized the quintessential businessman, erudite, sophisticated, intelligent, but scrupulously ethical and possessed of a wonderful sense of humor.

An avid sports enthusiast, Walter followed two college football teams. One was the Fighting Irish of his alma mater, and the other was the Sooners of his home state. In the early 1980’s he helped to found the USFL and became the owner of the New Jersey Generals. After the first season, Donald Trump purchased Walter’s interest in the Generals.

Walter served on many boards, including Marquette Cement, Liberty Bank, Mercy Hospital, Casady School, and Christ the King Catholic Church. He held a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade and was a member of various private clubs and organizations. On September 7, 1984, Walter married Alma (Allie) Ward Cantrell. He embraced everything he touched, which involved his Catholic faith, family, business, and athletics. He would often be involved with a wide variety of sports while teaching the lessons of life to those with him. For many years he enjoyed his annual pheasant hunt with friends from Denver and an annual trout fishing trip with his sons and grandsons. His primary interest lay in golf, where he could often be found on the course with his wife Allie and their friends.

J. Walter Duncan, Jr. and the Duncan Family are true leaders in the Oklahoma Energy and business communities.

The Oklahoma Geologic Foundation is proud to honor J. Walter Duncan, Jr. and the Duncan Family as Historical Legends who continue to build on that legacy even today.

Robert A. Hefner III is the founder and owner of The GHK Company, a private group of companies principally in the oil and natural gas business with offices in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Hefner is a third-generation energy explorer and a 1957 graduate of the University of Oklahoma in geology. In 1959, he founded The GHK Company with Laurence A. Glover and David O’D. Kennedy, both now deceased. Hefner and GHK are well known for pioneering deep natural gas exploration and development in the Anadarko Basin of Western Oklahoma. This led to most of the technological innovation necessary to drill and produce the world’s deepest and highest-pressure natural gas wells. GHK’s historic #1 Green discovery well, with reservoir porosity up to 16% in the Springer at 21,604’, was completed in 1969, flowing natural gas at rates above 19 million cubic feet per day at over 9,000 psi. The Green was drilled to 24,453 feet, then the second deepest in the world, and recorded the world’s then highest surface pressure of 15,130 psi. The #1 Green led to the world’s first 20,000 psi wellhead, a world record string of 2 7/8 inch specially designed production tubing, and the longest continuous 5 ½  inch casing string ever run in the subsurface (24,147 feet) that retains the world record. The prolific well with the energy output of one-third of a nuclear plant led the way to the opening of the “deep over pressured” Anadarko basin. From 1972 through 1974, GHK initiated, engineered, and participated in the western world’s two deepest wells: the #1-27 Bertha Rogers well in Washita County, Oklahoma (31,441 feet total depth) and the #1-28 E.R. Baden well in Beckham County, Oklahoma (30,050 feet total depth).

Hefner appeared 18 times before Congressional committees testifying for the deregulation of newly developed natural gas in the 1970s and 1980s. His leadership in developing deep drilling and production technology, combined with his success in the movement to deregulate natural gas prices in the late 1970s, led to the commercial opening of the deep over pressured natural gas production in the Anadarko Basin. These efforts combined to allow America’s independent sector to take the lead over the major oil companies in developing the country’s oil and gas resources, a position the independent sector maintains today for the first time in history. After the deregulation of natural gas prices, The GHK Company drilled and completed over 50 high-pressure natural gas wells without a blowout due to the Company’s insistence on continuous safety training and blowout schooling for all rig and supervisory personnel. During this period, GHK conceived the idea and implemented the first real-time, off-location, by-phone lines system displaying real-time drilling parameters (depth, rate of penetration, rotary speed, weight on a bit, and natural gas shows.) In 197­­­8, GHK performed one of America’s first 3D seismic surveys and the first in real-time in the Anadarko Basin.

Hefner is recognized as the “Father of Deep Natural Gas” in Oklahoma and remains active in several regions’ oil and gas businesses. In 1997, using state-of-the-art seismic techniques tied to detailed surface mapping, GHK discovered the Potato Hills field – then one of the largest onshore natural gas fields in recent decades – in the geologically complex Ouachita overthrust belt of the Arkoma Basin in southeastern Oklahoma.

As a geologist and lover of the Earth he lives on, Hefner has held life-long environmentally friendly beliefs and has put those beliefs into action on several fronts – not only in the natural gas and oil fields but also in the development surrounding his homes and the family ranch near Guthrie, Oklahoma and the vineyard estate where he and his wife MeiLi live today.

Hefner has always been a philanthropist and actively supported the people and ideas he believed in. In late 1981, after reading a newspaper article about the demise of the project to publish Albert Einstein’s papers, Hefner immediately flew to Princeton University to meet with John Stachel, the project’s Editor in Chief, to tell him that the project was far too important to fail and to offer moral and financial support to ensure it was moved ahead out of its legal and academic morass and into its new beginning.  He became a principal encourager of and donor to the project. He was subsequently recognized in several volumes for his support. In 1987 was honored at the celebration ceremony for the first volume in front of the Einstein sculpture at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.

 In an expression of his lifelong feelings for and inspiration given by his first great mentor, Ray Alf, coupled with Hefner’s interest in science, he established two significant endowments at the Webb Schools of California, the “Raymond M. Alf Inspirational and Unbounded Teaching Chair in Science” and the “Robert A. Hefner III Endowment for Excellence in Science,” to facilitate and sustain creative teaching in science for students at Webb.  Hefner had been deeply motivated by Alf’s “Total Biology” class at Webb in 1950 so much that he turned his future career from architecture, which he had loved since he was eight, to science and geology.

Hefner has been a lifelong supporter of the arts. While in China’s Sichuan Province in 1985, studying natural gas resources for the Ministry of Petroleum, Hefner was struck by the depth of integration of Deng’s reforms and the pervasive entrepreneurial spirit that had taken root.  While there, he became confident that these reforms were unstoppable and that China would transform itself into a modern, dominant global power before the 21st century. As a lifelong artist himself, he believed that the great explosions in the arts of the Renaissance and the late 1800s and early 1900s were sparked by momentous rapid human change. So, seeing that China, the oldest continuing culture, was entering a significant rate of human change, he sought to learn what was happening in the arts. On his arrival in Beijing from Sichuan, he learned of the Sixth National Exhibition of contemporary oil painting, where he purchased his first painting, “The Wish,” a painting that tells the story of the beginning of China’s great transition. He realized he was experiencing an explosion of bottled-up creativity expressed by China’s oil painters as they transitioned from the strictures of Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the freedoms of Deng’s modern China. From that day on, he became a relentless and discerning collector of this particular period of Chinese oil paintings. Today, The Hefner Collection (www.hefnercollection.com) numbers approximately 300 pieces and is the most important private collection representing art of the Post-Cultural Revolution period. In 1997, he published Through an Open Door: Selections from the Robert A. Hefner III Collection of Contemporary Chinese Oil Paintings.

Hefner and his wife, MeiLi, because of their belief that the relationship between China and the U.S. will be the most important for global stability and economic growth during the 21st century, initiated 2004 The Hefner China Fund, which brings rising young Chinese government officials to study in the fields of energy, culture, and foreign policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. In 2005, the Hefners established the Hefner Initiative program (www.hefnerfoundation.org), which funds cultural exchange trips for outstanding Chinese and American high school students, including the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics.                   

In 2009, John Wiley & Sons published his book The Grand Energy Transition (www.The-GET.com), which introduces a revolutionary way to look at the evolution of energy within civilization and forecasts the best possible comprehensive solution to today’s and our future’s continuing energy needs. The book has been endorsed by many national figures, including former U.S. Energy Secretary James Schlesinger, Ted Turner, Donald Trump, John Podesta, Christopher Flavin, and Lord Nicholas Stern.

Hefner is a member of numerous professional societies and organizations, including the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the American Association of Professional Landmen, the American Institute of Professional Geologists, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists. He is also a Founding Director of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, has served on the Board of Directors of the Alliance to Save Energy, on the Advisory Council for the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. He is a Member of the International Council at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a former Director of the American Clean Skies Foundation, an original member of Singapore’s International Advisory Panel on Energy, is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London, and a Fellow National in The Explorers Club. He was elected to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2010 and named Creative Oklahoma’s Creativity Ambassador in 2017.

Hefner has had a lifelong fascination with many forms of exploration and adventure. In 2005 he was a member of a team to visit France’s Chauvet Cave and its extraordinary 30,000-year-old paintings. Earlier in his career, he undertook a diving expedition off Bermuda with a Smithsonian Institution group and Teddy Tucker, one of the most famous shipwreck explorers of all time, to study, record, and raise parts of the Spanish galley “Tankard” collection, information that today resides in the Smithsonian archives. In 2001, he descended off Bermuda in “Alvin,” Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Deep Submergence Vehicle, to a depth of 6,500 feet to retrieve certain deep-growing corals that led to further understanding of ancient oceanic climates. In 1986, he led an expedition in Tibet with Chinese explorer and artist Chen Qiang to explore the Lake Namtso area, camping with Tibetan nomads and discovering caves adorned with well-preserved rock art paintings. Hefner’s article about these cave paintings was published in the Journal of South Asian Studies 6 in 1990. Subsequently, and for many years, Hefner has been President of the Bradshaw Foundation, which fosters exploration for and preservation of ancient rock art and cave paintings worldwide as well as extensive DNA research defining the early human migrations and the early population of the earth. A true Renaissance man, Hefner has a plethora of interests and, at age 65, took up martial arts and, in 2003, received his Black Belt in Shinseiryu-Kitaido. He continues his martial arts and maintains a second-degree black belt.

Hefner has a continuing and keen interest in politics and has known every president of the U.S. from Nixon onward. He has given dozens of speeches and radio and television interviews worldwide. He has written and been featured in a plethora of international newspapers and magazines, including the China Daily, the China Daily Business Weekly, Beijing Review, China Petroleum Business Newspaper, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Dallas Morning Times, Daily Oklahoman,  Foreign Affairs,  The New Yorker, Town & Country, The Economist, The Globe & Mail, Business Times Singapore, and Singapore’s Straits Times, and was the subject of a Newsweek article on energy by Fareed Zakaria.

Hefner has three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren and resides with his wife MeiLi in Charlottesville, Virginia, and London. His current creative endeavors include Ramiiisol Vineyard, which he and his wife have established at their Virginia estate. Its mission statement is to accomplish Thomas Jefferson’s dream of producing world-class natural Virginia wine.

The Oklahoma Geological Foundation is proud to honor Robert A. Hefner III as an Oklahoma oil and gas Legend.

Richard D. Fritz

Harrison L. Townes

Ronnie K. Irani

Dr. Norman J. Hyne

Dr. Gary F. Stewart