Former governor heads list of eight inductees to state Hall of Fame

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Former Governor Frank Keating and former major league outfielder Bobby Murcer are among eight inductees to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame this year. <br/><br/>Keating, who was Oklahoma's

Sunday, June 5th 2005, 10:49 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Former Governor Frank Keating and former major league outfielder Bobby Murcer are among eight inductees to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame this year.

Keating, who was Oklahoma's governor from 1995 to 2003, and Murcer will join former Oklahoma City Mayor Andrew Coats, philanthropist Nancy Payne Ellis, banker Gilbert Gibson Sr., businessman Peter Meinig, artist Edward Ruscha and oil man Cyril Wagner Jr. in a Nov. 17 induction ceremony in Oklahoma City.

Keating served as Oklahoma's governor at the time of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19, 1995, and also helped win a public vote on a right-to-work law and led efforts for tort reform, tax cuts, road improvements and education reform.

Prior to his two terms as governor, Keating also served in the Oklahoma House and Senate, as a U.S. Attorney and in executive positions in the federal treasury, justice and housing departments for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

He is currently the president and chief executive officer for the American Council of Life Insurers.

Murcer, an Oklahoma City native, played 17 seasons in the major leagues and was a five-time All-Star and a Gold Glove-winning center fielder. In his career with the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs, Murcer was a .277 career hitter with 252 home runs and 1,043 RBIs.

After his retirement, Murcer won three Emmy Awards for live sports coverage as the voice of the Yankees.

Coats, a former Oklahoma County district attorney, served as mayor of Oklahoma City from 1983 to 1987 before becoming president of a law firm. He later became dean of the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and the school's regents named the law school building Andrew M. Coats Hall.

Ellis, of Oklahoma City, was the first female chairman of the Oklahoma State University Foundation and has also worked with several hospitals and the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. While she was board chairman of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, the museum raised $40 million and constructed a new museum downtown.

She is currently president of the Payne Education Center, which trains teachers to educate children with dyslexia.

Gibson, a former Lawton dentist, was a founding director and chairman of Citizens Bank and First Commercial Bank in Lawton. He served in appointed roles for Governors George Nigh, Henry Bellmon, David Walters and Keating and is a past chairman of The State Chamber.

Currently, Gibson serves on the Oklahoma Board of IBC Bank.

Meinig is a former director of the Williams Cos. Inc. and The Williams Communication Group Inc. of Tulsa. He serves on the board of trustees of the University of Tulsa and is also chairman of Cornell University's board of trustees. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of HM International Inc. of Tulsa.

Ruscha, a former Oklahoma City resident, is an internationally known artist whose work has been shown at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, Calif. and New York City, the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Miami Art Museum and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.

Wagner, a University of Oklahoma geology graduate, founded Wagner & Brown Ltd., one of the largest privately held independent oil and gas exploration companies in the nation.