photo / phil shockley
Larry Shell Recognition Day at the Cowboy Corral
Saturday, Oct. 5 ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center Join the OSU Alumni Association in celebrating the career and achievements of President Larry Shell, who is retiring after more than 30 years of service to his alma mater. The day will include a special recognition during the Cowboy Corral Pep Rally followed by a reception for alumni, family and friends to share memories and well wishes. The pep rally will be held 2½ hours prior to kickoff of the game against Kansas State.
For more information, visit orangeconnection.org/shell or call 405-744-5368.
27
A friend to 24
FA l l 2 0 1 3
Larry Shell was preparing himself for a life of agriculture when he graduated from Glencoe High School in 1966. “I came to college just to get the paper,” Shell says. “My grades weren’t all that good, and all I wanted to do was teach vocational agriculture. I wonder a lot of times how that kid from Glencoe, Okla., got to be president of the OSU Alumni Association.” Shell will retire this fall having served the Alumni Association since 1990 and the university since 1982. For more than 30 years, he has been a friend to tens of thousands of Cowboys whose paths he has crossed. But it almost didn’t happen.
A New Beginning at OSU Shell graduated with a bachelor’s in agricultural education from OSU in 1970. He and his wife, Christy, lived four years in Dora, N.M., and another four in Fairview, Okla., while he taught in public schools. His teaching career lasted eight years before he was hired as the executive secretary of the Oklahoma FFA. Shell traveled around the state and across the country meeting people and making connections. He says he found the work rewarding, but the time away from his family took its toll. “I had spent the last three or four summers at camps with state officers, and I hadn’t seen my son play little league baseball,” Shell says. In the fall of 1981, he got a phone call from Joe Hughes with the OSU Animal Science Department. He told Shell about a new position at the OSU Foundation he thought Shell would be perfect for. In January, Shell met with OSU Foundation President Charles Platt. “I thought it couldn’t hurt to visit with him, but I really had no desire to ask anyone for money,” Shell says. “Mr. Platt convinced me it was more about creating relationships and building trust than it was asking people for money.” continues
all Cowboys OSU Alumni Association President Larry Shell reflects on more than 30 years of service to OSU. S TO R Y BY C H A S E CA R T E R
P O R T R A I T BY PH I L S H O C K LE Y
25
PHOTO s / OSU FOUNDATION
from Cente nnial Histo
ries Series
“We went through some difficult times wondering whether we were going to be able to get it done, but seeing the NRC built and knowing you had a part in all of that makes you feel good,” Shell says.
people was more endearing to me than the actual asking.” Gill says one of his favorite memories was when Shell told him he wanted to apply for the job. “If you’d had a camera on my face,” Gill says. “My first reaction was one of shock, but then I got a big smile on my face. We still laugh about that today.” Shell’s move to the Alumni Association marked the beginning of a period of significant growth at the organization. “We were at a takeoff point where we were getting more programs, and we had to have someone to manage them,” Gill says. “That’s the operations side of the business, and Larry is very good at the nuts and bolts.” With Shell as vice president, Gill says he was able to devote more time to fundraising and strategic planning. Their pairing had great synergy, he says, and it came from their mutual respect and different strengths. “If two people agree all the time, one of them isn’t necessary,” Gill says. “I was more of a big-picture thinker, and Larry was a doer. He knew the details; he talked to the staff; he made sure things got done, and that’s how our relationship worked.”
A Friendly Opportunity
Points of Pride
It was 1990 when Alumni Association Executive Director Jerry Gill was looking to fill the No. 2 position on his staff. “Because of Larry’s background, I asked him to chair the search committee while he was working at the Foundation,” Gill says. “We got it down to probably three or five candidates when Larry asked to come see me.” Unbeknownst to Gill, Shell had already met with OSU President John Campbell, who Shell knew from his FFA days. “When John Campbell became president at OSU, he wanted a stronger presence in the Alumni Association,” Shell says. “I’d been at the Foundation long enough to know I had enjoyed my time there, but the opportunity of developing friendships, connecting and engaging
During his first decade at the Alumni Association, Shell wore a variety of hats in addition to managing the staff. He served as membership director for several years, assisted chapters and helped create the Cowboys for Higher Education advocacy program. One year, he even directed OSU’s biggest tradition — Homecoming. “I thank God for our graduate student Lance Laubach, because I wouldn’t have made it on my own,” Shell says. Working with so many Alumni Association programs gave Shell a greater understanding of the organization and what goes on behind the scenes. “It’s always more than you think,” Shell says. “I think those times helped me out a lot.” continues
Left: College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Dr. Joseph W. Alexander, left, and Larry Shell watch Charlotte Ownby adjust the controls of an electron microscope. A $150,000 gift from the Sarkeys Foundation paid for the microscope. RIGHt: During the campaign to raise money for the 21st Century Center project, Larry Shell and other OSU Foundation marketers crisscrossed the U.S. with a 40-pound projector used to tell the story of the forthcoming research center.
After much soul searching, Shell accepted the job and became OSU’s first constituent fundraiser serving the College of Agriculture in 1982. During his eight years with the OSU Foundation, Shell met thousands of people and quite a few characters. “There was an elderly lady in Tulsa I worked with for about two years,” Shell recalls. “She had a dog named Booger, and every time I would go visit, that dog would jump on my lap and pee. Then, she would take me out to lunch at the Summit Club — wet pants and all. She got the biggest kick out of that.” He also remembers the first large gift he ever got and Platt’s unexpected response. “We were in the $15 million campaign for the Noble Research Center, and I got a gift for $100,000,” Shell says. “I came in feeling pretty big, and I told Mr. Platt I had a $100,000 gift. I thought he’d jump up with joy, and he said, ‘Well that’s good. You only need 149 more just like it.’” Shell and the Foundation team ultimately raised the $15 million to construct the facility north of the Edmon Low Library.
26
FA l l 2 0 1 3
The Alumni Association hired Anne Scott in 1997 to direct its student programs, including Homecoming. During her 10 years at the organization, OSU’s Homecoming celebration was named best in the nation, and one highly popular program was created. “We started Grandparent University in 2003,” Scott says. “If Larry agreed you could take on a project like GPU, then you could count on the fact he would be there to support you and give you the tools to get it done right.” Scott says Shell was always open to new ideas and would always listen to the suggestions of the Alumni Association’s staff, but there was one famous line that would follow the pitch. “He would say, ‘Sure, you can do it, but it can’t cost anything,’” Scott says. “That’s always Larry’s standard. You can do it if it’ll pay for itself, justify the staff time and be a real value to OSU alumni.” Chad Weiberg made the move from OSU athletics to the Alumni Association when Shell hired him in 1999 to oversee the organization’s field operations. “He knew everything there was to know about alumni relations as a profession and as a business,” Weiberg says. “He provided mentoring, counsel and guidance,
photo / phil shockley
28
FA l l 2 0 1 3
Shell says one of the things he’s most but then he let you run the programs and proud of is seeing the staff who have served implement the things you wanted to do.” the Alumni Association go on to do great Weiberg says the most important thing things at other institutions. Scott, Weiberg he learned from watching Shell was how and Malone are three examples, he says. he dealt with people. Scott is the director of alumni rela“This is a people business, and that’s tions at Texas Woman’s University in such an important part of it,” Weiberg Denton. Malone is the executive director says. “He had the right mix of diploof the University of Texas at Arlington’s macy, but he would tell it like it was, too. Alumni Association. Weiberg is the senior There’s an art to that, and I’ve tried to associate athletic director for development emulate it.” in Kansas State’s athletic department. Lora Malone was working in OSU’s “To see some of the staff that came Office of High School and College through here and what they’ve been able Relations when Shell approached her to accomplish is pretty special,” Shell says. in 1999 about joining the Alumni “You would hope they learned something Association. while they were here that helped them.” “He is so genuine, and you can instantly tell he is a man of true character,” Malone says. “People are drawn to him A Place to Hang Your Hat because he is who he is, no matter what situation he’s in.” OSU would not have the Malone served as the Alumni ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center Association’s membership and marketing without the tireless efforts of Gill, Shell director for many years before taking a and the Alumni Association’s board of seat beside Shell as the vice president of directors and fundraisers. programming. She says she couldn’t have “We had the programming and the made it to where she is in her career withstaffing, but our overarching priority was out Shell’s mentoring. on facilities and financing,” Gill says. “We “Larry was such a good teacher, and wanted a place to house the staff, but I’m sure that comes from his ag days,” more importantly, we wanted a place for Malone says. “Everything he did, he alumni to call home on campus.” taught along with being a leader. That In 1995, the Alumni Association was really what gave me the tools to move received two commitments that started the on. He’s an educator at the best level.” ball rolling on the fundraising. Shell continued to oversee the Alumni Association’s programming and staff while Gill and
“I’ve spent more hours of my life in this building with this staff on this job than I have with anyone else.” — Larry Shell
photo / gary lawson
other fundraisers helped raise the $15 million to create the Alumni Association’s first dedicated home on campus. “I think the facility gave the Alumni Association an identity of its own it never had by being housed in the Student Union,” Shell says. “It’s been a great addition to the campus and is used by the university, the Alumni Association and the community.” When construction began in 2003, Gill says it didn’t take long to realize more oversight was necessary. “We needed to coordinate a weekly meeting with the general contractor and all of the subcontractors, and I put Larry in charge of that,” Gill says.
“For 18 months, I was like a construction manager,” Shell says. “I put on my hardhat every day and many times found myself in an interesting position between the construction company and the architects.” Malone recalls Shell sloshing through knee-high mud many days on the construction site. Anyone who knows Shell knows he’s quite fond of his cowboy boots, Malone says, so he would wear mud boots to protect them. “He wanted it built to the expectations of the graduates,” Malone says. “He would put those boots on every day. That building is amazing, and you can see him all the way through it.”
The building itself has “just the right amount of orange,” according to Shell. “Larry and I walked through the building when it was pretty much finished,” Gill says. “And the most gratifying thing about it was we looked at it and we said, ‘Yes, this is what we envisioned it to be.’” New Title, New Expectations Gill announced his retirement in 2006. For the No. 2 man at the Alumni Association, the announcement was a wake-up call. “I really thought I would retire before Jerry did,” Shell says. “Right or wrong, I continues
29
In the end, Shell says it’s all about the enjoyed working with the staff, handling relationships he and the staff have built the finances and the day-to-day operaon campus, around the community and tions. I didn’t have any true intentions of with peer organizations across the nation being the president.” that have helped the Alumni Association Shell was named the interim president become what it is today. by the board before assuming the position “We’ve turned back to our true mission in 2009. of connections and engagement,” Shell “I’m very proud the Alumni says. “We’re going to play a vital role in Association promoted him,” Gill says. the future of OSU by re-engaging alumni “Larry had more than 20 years of expeand making their relationship to OSU so rience at OSU and with the Alumni significant that it’s going to help in everyAssociation. He understands the relationthing the university does.” ships, where we came from and where we want to go. He was a natural fit.” The Alumni Association has seen The Road Ahead another era of rapid growth under Shell’s tenure as president. The number of regionAs Shell prepares to retire at the end ally based chapters and watch clubs has of October, it’s been noted by several more than doubled in the last three years, people, including Shell himself, that, eclipsing 100 for the first time this fall. “Larry isn’t retiring; he’s getting back to Enhancements have also been made to both his roots.” the alumni and student awards programs. Shell has continued to be a key figure “Homecoming is twice the size it used in the agriculture industry during his time to be,” Shell says. “And the whole concept at the Alumni Association. He travels the of social media and the way we communicountry showing sheep and judging livecate is new. We’re also seeing the Official stock, which are both activities he plans OSU Class Ring become a significant to continue. tradition on campus.” “Christy retired a year ago,” Shell says With OSU graduating more than 4,000 of his bride of 44 years. “She gets great students a year, Shell says the Alumni joy in social work on behalf of others. Association is challenged with using essenWe’re also going to enjoy our five grandtially the same resources while providing children and the things they’re involved and maintaining the same level of service in.” to a much larger group of people. After 23 years at the Alumni Former colleagues credit Shell’s Association, Shell recognizes the decades of experience and his passion for impact the university, the staff and OSU for guiding the Alumni Association the thousands of alumni he’s met have to its current position. made on his life. “Most people don’t realize all the “In reality, I’ve spent more hours of things Larry has done,” Gill says. “He’s my life in this building with this staff given his blood, sweat and tears, all of his on this job than I have with anyone best years, all of his leadership abilities. else,” Shell says. “I know at some He’s given himself. And he didn’t do it for point in time, I’ll miss parts of that, Larry Shell. He did it for Oklahoma State but what parts I don’t know.” University and its alumni.” “He’s a dyed-in-the-wool OSU graduate, and I think he’s a wonderful example of the product this university turns out,” Scott says. “I love the direction the Alumni Association is going now in terms of really serving the alumni, and I can see Larry’s handprint all over that.” “He’s been a constant advocate for the university and one of the best it will ever see,” Malone says.
30
FA l l 2 0 1 3
It is impossible to estimate how many friendships Shell has made with Cowboys and Cowgirls during his time at OSU. One of his favorite things to do is walk through the Cowboy Corral game day events at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center. “It’s amazing how many people I’ll know,” Shell says. “Lora Malone used to kid me that we couldn’t go anywhere without meeting someone I know, and I never really thought about that. But the experiences in my life have been such that I have met a lot of people, and it’s nice to have friends.” Shell has some advice for his fellow OSU graduates whose lives, like his, may not always go as planned. “Be thankful you had an opportunity to attend a university such as Oklahoma State that prepares you for life, and not just a career. Be open-minded to the opportunities placed in front of you. They may or may not be in the field in which you were educated, but the skills and the knowledge you gained at Oklahoma State will have prepared you for just about anything if you put forth the effort.”