In Memoriam

(1925-2014) Remembered

All legacies begin with someone, and for the Hargraves at East Central University it was Justice Rudolph Hargrave.

Rudolph Hargrave, Retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Oklahoma, passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 1 at the age of 89.

Just a year after his retirement, he talked about how he met his wife, Madeline, and how ECU was a springboard toward his law career. The discussion was recorded in an interview during the 2011 Lou Watkins Lecture by a political science and legal studies student.

“If East Central had a law school, I never would have left East Central. I loved it there. I had a job putting up the lights down at the football field because somebody would shoot them out if we didn’t. I would go down on Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon if it was a night game,” Rudolph said. “I turned on the P.A. system one time and turned it up just as loud as it would go and I sang to the girls in Knight Hall. I immediately got called to the president’s office and was told not to do that anymore. I don’t know if they didn’t like my singing or just didn’t like what I was doing.”

He eventually met his future wife, Madeline (Shipley), during the first year she was enrolled at the university.

Madeline graduated from ECU in 1949, and Rudolph, after earning about 90 hours of credit at ECU, obtained his degree from the University of Oklahoma that same year.

Rudolph took the bar exam, but before he got the results, the pair were married that same year.

“That’s easy to remember. I’ve been a lawyer 62 years and I’ve been married 62 years,” Rudolph said in 2011. “It was a good year.”

The couple made their home in Wewoka where they chose to raise their three children Cindy, John and Jana (all ECU alums).

He began his private practice of law in Wewoka, Okla., until 1964. Afterward he became the County Judge for Seminole County, Okla., from 1964-67. From 1967-69, Rudolph was Seminole County Superior Court Judge and was Seminole County District Judge from 1969-78. In 1978 he was appointed by Gov. David Boren to the Oklahoma Supreme Court and in January 1989 was elected to serve as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In 1989, Hargrave delivered the commencement address at ECU as the Distinguished Alumnus. Justice Hargrave was also honored by the namesake “Hargrave Prize” award, first given in 2013 as an annual recognition of the best three faculty papers of the Sovereignty Symposium.

Most recently, a moot courtroom in the new ECU Chickasaw Business and Conference Center, which opened in August 2013, was named in honor of Justice Hargrave after overwhelming support from family and friends. The courtroom benefits legal studies and criminal justice majors.

In honor and memory of Justice Rudolph Hargrave, the family has requested that donations be made to the Madeline Hargrave Centennial Endowment at the ECU Foundation, Inc.

The East Central University family lost a wellliked member with the tragic death of Chris Lane, a student-athlete on the Tiger baseball team, on Aug. 16, 2013.

“We have been overwhelmed and humbled by the response and outpouring of concern at this time. We appreciate the condolences and support we have received, both nationally and internationally, concerning the loss of one of our treasured studentathletes,” said East Central University President John R. Hargrave. “Chris exemplified what a studentathlete is all about, from being a model student in his business classes to being a leader on the baseball field. We will miss Chris, not only for his presence, but the impact he has made on fellow students and athletes.”

ECU has announced that a Chris Lane Memorial Fund has been established in his memory as the university is working closely with the Lane family to memorialize their son. The funds will be used according to the family’s wishes and consistent with the ECU Foundation’s mission.

Donations can be made to the ECU Foundation, Inc. at www.alumni.ecok.edu or call ECU Foundation Executive Director Phyllis Danley at 580-559-5514.

Lane was a native of Melbourne, Australia and had come to the United States to pursue an education and play baseball.

He joined ECU for the 2012-13 season as a junior catcher and was expected to be the starting catcher for the Tigers in 2014. Before wearing an orange and black uniform, Lane spent three seasons at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Okla., where he earned an associate’s degree in business administration.

While Lane was in the U.S. on a baseball scholarship, his goal wasn’t to move on and play professional baseball, but to earn a degree in finance and start a real estate business with his parents. He decided to continue to play baseball to help him reach those dreams through a scholarship, according to ECU Director of Athletics Dr. Jeff Williams. “Chris was talented enough to play baseball,” said Williams. “But he used that as a pathway to a collegiate education. Chris embodied every sense of the word

student-athlete. “Lane was a studentathlete that could be looked to for advice and support. Lane was the type of person who you thought was always having a good day, because he always had the ‘Chris Lane smile on.’” “When I think about Chris Lane, I think about a young man with a kind heart and a magnetic personality,” said ECU head baseball coach Dino Rosato. “He was a person I wanted to be around. He was a young man with great character. I am a better man for Chris having been a part of my life.”

When he decided to come to the U.S. to earn his degree, Lane probably didn’t know how many lives he would impact. Sam Malchar, one of his ECU baseball teammates, remembers Lane’s friendliness and charming personality.

“The first thing that you would notice about Chris was his strong Australian accent, which would just draw people toward him especially in Oklahoma where most people have never heard it other than in the movies,” Malchar said. “But there were a lot more reasons to talk to him than just an accent. You wanted to talk to him because he was the kind of guy who you could tell anything, one of those people you just loved to be around. He was a very witty and lighthearted guy, always able to lighten up the mood.”

Malchar also remembers his competitive fire, along with willingness and ability to buy into the team concept.

Chris was “one of those people you just loved to be around”

Peter Lane (center) accepts his son’s retired ECU jersey prior to a scrimmage against Redlands Community College.