OKLAHOMA CITY (May 20, 2022) – Ray Vaughn Track, named for the founder of Oklahoma Christian's athletic department, was rededicated during a ceremony on Friday morning that celebrated recent upgrades to the facility.
The track, on the northwest corner of the OC campus, opened in the early 1990s but had fallen into disrepair, so much so that OC hadn't hosted its annual Ray Vaughn Track Classic since 2010. Last summer, construction began on a $700,000 renovation project that includes a new six-lane, all-weather track. Field-area areas also have been upgraded.
When it's finished, the facility also will include restrooms, improved bleachers and restoration of a building built by Vaughn in the 1960s, in the early days of the track. A building to be named for a pair of OC track and field legends – former head coach Randy Heath and former Olympian and assistant coach Jeff Bennett – also will be constructed.
A sidewalk has been installed to the west of the Bobby Murcer Indoor Training Facility (used by OC's baseball program) to guide visitors to the track.
"This is the track that the university needs," OC President John deSteiguer said. "We have such a storied program in track and field. There are many men and women who have become All-Americans at this institution because of the legacy that coach Vaughn brought to us."
The track and field facility is named for Ray Vaughn Sr., who served as OC's athletic director from 1958 (when OC moved from Bartlesville to Oklahoma City) until his death in September 1980.
He coached OC's basketball team for four years as it transitioned into four-year competition, and likewise built the fledgling college's track and field and cross country programs. He eventually handed off cross country to his assistant, Randy Heath, in 1969, and did the same with track and field in 1979. Heath coached through May 2015, when one of Heath's former runners,
Wade Miller, became the Eagles' track and field coach, after having already served as cross country coach since 2012.
"Coach Vaughn was a giant for this university," deSteiguer said. "Because he did so well and was so connected and brought in student-athletes that gave us recognition and a name, our very strong academic programs had to quickly follow suit to keep up. It wasn't just Ray Vaughn's coaching – it was his mentoring and his (ability to) guide young men to live lives that are worthy to the calling that God has for us."
Three couples (all OC alumni) gave sizable gifts toward the project – Vaughn's son, Ray Vaughn Jr., and his wife Suzanne, Barry and Lynn Mitchell (Vaughn Sr.'s daughter) and Dennis and Dena Lovett. The infield at the track has been renamed for the Lovetts.
Track and field alumni also contributed more than $165,000 toward the project in a little more than two months. A good number of program alumni attended the ceremony.
"It's going to be one of the best tracks in our conference and one that will see a lot of activity," said Ray Vaughn Jr., who spoke at the ceremony. "We had significant (fundraising) participation in a project that was sorely needed. It was our last athletic facility (at OC) that had not been renovated. Now we have all of the athletic venues in top-notch condition and ready for competition."
Miller said the new track will help the program immensely. For the past several years, the OC track and field programs weren't able to use to facility for training, forcing them to practice at off-campus facilities.
"Throughout the fundraising process, our team was really, really encouraged," Miller said. "I know there was a lot of work that went into that … and there was so much encouragement that we got. That is one benefit. The second thing this track allows us is the ability to be together more. We've been spread out at a couple of different places (off campus). Now we'll be able to be together in one location and grow together as a team. That will allow us to be more cohesive and support each other a little bit better.
"With being spread out, there was also commute time, so we gain some of that time back, that we'll be able to use on the track, in the weight room or in our studies."
CEREMONY HIGHLIGHTS
