Archive for the ‘CES Spotlight’ Category

Over 25 different camps will be taking place at ORU this summer. Between athletic and academic camps ORU will be abuzz with the activities of camp life. Some camps will be utilizing the many different amenities that ORU Conference and Event Services provides including full service housing and food services. One of the largest camps will be the National Championship competition for the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA), the country’s largest home school speech and debate league. In this multiday competition hundreds of the country’s finest young scholars will descend upon the ORU campus along with their families to take advantage of all ORU CES has to offer.

Click here to see a full list of summer camps.

Click here to view camp photos on the ORU CES Facebook page.

Follow @ORUCES on Twitter.

A year to the day from ground breaking, ORU’s Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center was toured, dedicated, and opened for business on February 1, 2013.

The new, state-of-the-art building is the first to be built on ORU’s campus in over 30 years and is a place for students to hang out, grab a burrito from Moe’s Southwest Grill, a cup of coffee from Jazzman’s Café and Bakery, or just watch some television on Oklahoma’s largest television. The first floor of the Hammer Center features Student Association offices where ORU’s student council can plan events and ideas for the campus. Opposite of the offices is a cozy student living room, complete with chairs, couches, and a fireplace. Further into the student center, food and fun collide to create the best social atmosphere available in “this or any parallel universe.” To the left are wonderful vendors like Moe’s Southwest Grill or Jazzman’s Café and Bakery where students can grab food with their meal plan. Across from the restaurants is the biggest television screen in all of Oklahoma complete with couches and chairs for lounging. In the farthest back corner is a gaming area—two pool tables, Xbox’s, Wii’s, and computers. Overall the first floor is a great area for students to take a break from studying. Upstairs, the Hammer Center becomes a quiet place for Alumni to meet in their offices. Directly across from their offices is a seating area that is secluded from the rest of the building—a great place to have large meetings or small banquets.

Click here to take a virtual tour of the Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center!

Click here to view a map of the ORU Campus!

The all-new Armand Hammer Alumni-Student Center will be dedicated on February 1, 2013 at approximately 12:15 p.m. Oral Roberts University students, alumni, faculty and staff are eagerly awaiting the opening of the first major building to be constructed on the ORU campus in over 30 years.

“The ORU community is thrilled for the unveiling of this beautiful new building,” said ORU President Mark Rutland. “I want to personally thank all of the alumni and friends of the university whose generous gifts made the construction of this facility possible.”

The dedication ceremony will include remarks from students, alumni and ORU President Mark Rutland as well as a formal ribbon cutting and a prayer of dedication. After the ceremony, attendees will have an opportunity to see the new state-of-the-art facility.

Visitors will find the ground floor of the center is a recreational area for students. It houses the Student Association Offices and features two dining areas, multiple gaming stations as well as the largest television in Oklahoma. The second floor is home to ORU’s Alumni and Development Offices and offers an alumni lounge as well as various conference rooms for alumni and donor events.

“Having the resources in-house to entirely pay for the Hammer Center is a testament to the commitment that our alumni and friends have for the vision of ORU,” said ORU Executive Vice President for University Advancement Ossie Mills. “Our alumni and friends believe in this university and continue to show their support through giving their time, talent and treasure.”

ORU has experienced an unprecedented resurgence over the past several years. They have successfully eliminated $55 million in long-term debt. Since 2009, the university has also completed nearly $40 million in campus improvements to residence halls, Christ’s Chapel, the Learning Resources/Graduate Center, the Aerobics Center, the Mabee Center, the Prayer Tower and Timko-Barton Hall.

In addition to these on campus improvements ORU has experienced four straight years of enrollment growth. This past fall they welcomed the largest incoming freshman class in 10 years along with their third year of freshman retention over 80%.

Still fine at 40: Built in 1972, ORU’s Mabee Center remains an effective venue today

By BILL HAISTEN World Sports Writer
Published: 12/21/2012 2:05 AM
Last Modified: 12/21/2012 3:30 AM
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Mabee’s opening night World Sports Writer Barry Lewis was at the Mabee Center on its opening night in 1972. Read his blog to see what he thought about it as an 11-year-old.

The construction of Dallas’ Reunion Arena was completed in 1980. Within 15 years, the building was considered outdated. In 2009, it was demolished.

The construction of Oral Roberts University’s Mabee Center was completed in 1972. At the age of 40, the arena has aged beautifully – both in its appearance and viability.

In his 1985 autobiography, the Rev. Oral Roberts – who founded the university in 1963 – bragged about the Mabee Center, writing that there was “nothing like it in the state and few like it in the country.”

While the arena’s exterior and interior have a decidedly ’70s look, the Frank Wallace-designed Mabee Center remains an effective venue for events ranging from Golden Eagle basketball to Christian concerts, from church services to inter-tribal pow-wows, and from high school commencement ceremonies to the annual Miss Oklahoma pageant.

When “the “The Price is Right Live!” game show recently was conducted in the Mabee Center’s Johnston Theatre, it attracted a near-sellout crowd. Those in attendance were given the chance to win appliances, vacations and cars.

The Mabee Center is the site of about 300 events each year, arena general manager Tony Winters reports. The next one is set for 2 p.m. Saturday, when the University of Tulsa and ORU basketball teams clash in the Mayor’s Cup contest.

Seated behind the Golden Eagle bench – as he is for most home games – will be Richard Fuqua, the former ORU superstar who played his 1972-73 senior season at the Mabee Center. At the time, the arena commonly was referred to as “The House That Fuqua Built.”

“The first time I ever walked into the Mabee Center, it was amazing,” Fuqua, now a 62-year-old juvenile detention counselor for Tulsa County, said this week. “It was immaculate. We had a great locker room that had everything. It even had a jacuzzi.”

With 16 performances of at least 40 points – including a 49-points-on-49-shots outburst against Illinois State on Feb. 14, 1973 – Fuqua had a career scoring average of 27.1.

“The first time that anyone would see the Mabee Center, it would just blow their mind,” Fuqua said this week. “It’s still so well-kept today.”

Mabee Center maintenance always has been “a high priority” for the university, Winters said.

“It got painted every year. All seats and carpet cleaned,” he said. “Our staff just took a real pride in the building.

“Some places will close the doors on a dirty house. We won’t do that. After every event – even if there isn’t an event the next day – we clean the building. Because it was so ingeniously built, and so well-built – that’s why it’s still so very nice today.”

In his autobiography, Roberts wrote that he revealed his grand plan – to build a state-of-the-art arena on the ORU campus – during a 1970 meeting with 11 of his closest associates. Roberts asked his associates to make the first contributions on the spot, with cash from their wallets. Roberts collected $257.

The fund-raising campaign quickly gained traction. From the John Mabee Foundation of Tulsa, Roberts received a gift of $1 million.

Originally, the Mabee Center was expected to be a $5 million project. The cost wound up being $11 million, according to the Roberts book. If a comparable arena were built today – at 105,000 square feet and with a seating capacity of 10,575 for basketball – the cost would be in the range of $80 million to $100 million, Winters said.

Ted Owens would coach the ORU basketball team in 1985-87, but he experienced the Mabee Center for the first time in March 1974 – when he was the Kansas Jayhawks’ coach and ORU hosted the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

After Kansas outlasted the Eddie Sutton-coached Creighton Bluejays 55-54, the Jayhawks were matched with ORU for the regional championship – and a berth in the Final Four. In the most significant game ever played at the Mabee Center – two weeks after Elvis Presley headlined a pair of sold-out concerts in the same arena – Kansas defeated ORU 93-90 in overtime.

“It was incredible that Oral Roberts got an NCAA regional to be played at ORU. It said a lot about how advanced the facility was,” Owens said. “Back in those days, the Mabee Center was a palace. At that time, I didn’t know of any other place in the country that had a separate practice gym inside the arena. At Kansas, we were sharing Allen Fieldhouse with the track team.

“The Mabee Center is still in wonderful shape. There was great planning that went into it. The one mistake they made when it first opened – the original scoreboard was mounted too low. If you tried a deep pass from one end to the other, you might hit the scoreboard.”

In 1972, the first basketball game played in the arena did not involve the ORU team. Instead, it was an American Basketball Association regular-season contest matching the Dallas Chaparrals and New York Nets. Dallas prevailed 106-99. Among the 2,000 fans in attendance was 11-year-old Barry Lewis, now a Tulsa World Sports Writer and Tulsa sports historian.

ORU’s first Mabee Center game was played on Dec. 4, 1972, when the Titans defeated Wisconsin 90-76. Lewis was in attendance that night, too.

“To me,” Lewis recalls, “watching games at Mabee Center when it opened compared to five years earlier, when my family got its first color TV after having seen TV previously in black-and-white only.”

Lewis remembers the Mabee Center scoreboard as having been “incredibly impressive – especially with the message board below that could show some animation.

“Unlike the (Expo Square Pavilion’s) scoreboard, the Mabee Center scoreboard could show 100 points, which was important with the ORU teams in that era. At the Pavilion, if TU had 101 points, it would show up as 01 on the board. The (Mabee Center) scoreboard also had space for team fouls and individual fouls, rarely seen on scoreboards in those days.”

And during those early years, there was one more unique characteristic of basketball in the Mabee Center. The Rev. Roberts prohibited ORU fans from booing the opposing team or officials.

“Whenever fans would start to boo a call that went against ORU,” Lewis recounted, “Oral Roberts would stand up and signal to the crowd to stop.”

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/oru/still-fine-at-built-in-oru-s-mabee-center-remains/article_4a9950ea-e972-56e1-86b9-b96401dec0fd.html

The last time the Mabee Center had a new arena floor installed, Atari was releasing the hit video game “Pong”, and Apollo 17 was making the final journey to the moon. Just two years later, the ORU Titans Basketball team defeated Louisville in the Sweet 16 of the 1974 NCAA Tournament. Now after standing the test of time for nearly 40 years, Conference & Event Services has completed the historic project to replace the Mabee Center arena floor!

Over the years, some of the world’s most respected icons have performed on the floor of the Mabee Center including Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Condoleezza Rice and more! With the installation of the new arena floor, the Mabee Center can now look forward to hosting more great events for years to come!

To get the latest CES updates, “Like” our Facebook page and “Follow” us on Twitter.

For years, the Mabee Center has thrilled its visitors with great shows and some of the best sound quality in the industry. Casey Phariss serves as ORU’s Audio Services Manager and Chief Audio Engineer, overseeing all day-to-day operations related to audio setups for ORU Conference & Event Services. Recently, Phariss and his team were highlighted in an article that was published in multiple national trade journals. The article highlights how Phariss and his team pulled out all the stops for the 2011 Miss Oklahoma competition by combining their technical creativity and top-of-the-line sound equipment to help provide a truly spectacular event. You can read the full article online by clicking here:

Keep up to date on all ORUCES events and information by Liking us on Facebook & Following us on Twitter.

You may have noticed the white and green glowing TTCU sign over-top of the Mabee Centers North Lobby entrance recently. We are proud to announce that as part of a new partnership agreement with the Mabee Center, Tulsa Teachers Credit Union is officially the Mabee Center North Lobby sponsor and has now installed two brand-new Wireless ATM machines on campus at ORU!

These new TransFund ATMs can now be found in the TTCU North Lobby of the Mabee Center and in the main entrance of the Graduate Center / Learning Resource Center. As an added convenience, printed materials describing TTCU’s banking services will also be available at each ATM location. TTCU’s goal is to provide exceptional member service and increased accessibility to ORU faculty, staff, students, and also to the greater Tulsa community.

We look forward to a great partnership with TTCU and who knows, you might even get to meet ATEM Cash someday.

Keep up to date on all ORUCES events and information by following us on Facebook & Twitter.

This year, Conference & Event Services is hosting over 35 summer camps on the campus of ORU! A complete schedule of the 2011 summer camps is available by clicking here. As an added benefit to the parents, participants and camp directors, CES has taken pictures at many of these camps and posted them online to the Camps photo gallery for easy viewing and accessibility.

To find out the latest camp information, follow ORUCES on Twitter, and “Like” Conference & Event Services on Facebook!

Every summer, students from across the country visit Oral Roberts University to participate in a broad range of summer camps that specialize in anything from athletic development to musical training to swim lessons. Camps/Facility Services Director Jed Cravalho said, “We really are the face of ORU in the summer, and our camps are a great opportunity to open the door for future students to come here.”

One of the main reasons these camps have been such a success year after year is due to the dedication of the ORU Camp Staff. This select group of ORU students spends the summer performing a wide variety of tasks to help ensure all the camps and events run smoothly. Recent graduate, Crystal “CJ” Johnson-Bryant said, “The biggest thing I’ve learned from working on Camp Staff is how to adapt. Because of the diversity of the job, every day requires something different, so we constantly have to adapt to new situations.”

With their enthusiasm and attention to detail, it’s no wonder that the Camp Staff have been one of the keys behind the success that CES has had with its’ camp clients. Jed Cravalho stated, “Our Camp Staff have had a huge impact in encouraging clients to return year after year.”

To view a full list of summer camps, and for more information on how to host your next camp with Conference & Event Services, click here to visit our Camps page.

Pictured Above

Back Row: Austin Anderson, Jed Cravalho, Hannah Fradd, Elroy Haylock
Front Row: Crystal “CJ” Johnson-Bryant, Deidre Fears, Savannah Villarreal (Not pictured), Ericka Solis (Not pictured)

Conference & Event Services has seen one success after another! Each year, our department hosts several commencements and graduation festivities. This year is no different, as CES will host more local high school and college commencements than ever before! From Oral Roberts University to Tulsa Community College and Union High School just to name a few, the success of CES is on the rise.

In addition, CES has been gaining public notoriety in the wedding sector. Since entering into the wedding market, our Event Coordinators have already exceeded this year’s projected goals and have currently booked several summer weddings. General Manager Tony Winters commented on this success saying, “I believe the quality and flexibility of the spaces we have to offer, along with the excellent service we provide, sets us apart in this area. Our initial goal was 15-20 weddings in the first year. Based on what we have done so far, we will easily surpass those targets.”

CES is proud to offer our gourmet service to the Tulsa community. Let CES make your event a success!

For more information about how you can host your wedding or celebration, visit www.tulsabanquet.com.