University of Tulsa

Susan Eloise Hinton is an American author best known for her young adult novel The Outsiders. While still in her teens, Hinton became a household... name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965. The book was inspired by two rival gangs at her school, Will Rogers High School, the Greasers and the Socs, and her desire to show sympathy toward the Greasers by writing from their point of view. It was published by Viking Press in 1967, during her freshman year at the University of Tulsa; the book has sold more than 14 million copies in print and still sells more than 500,000 a year. Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the very first male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female. After the success of The Outsiders, Hinton chose to continue writing and publishing using her initials, because she did not want to lose what she had made famous, and to allow her to keep her private and public lives separate. The Eric Leatherberry Award In 1988, Hinton was the first recipient of the Margaret A.
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Rue McClanahan was an American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche... Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987. McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Methodist parents Dreda Rheua-Nell , a beautician, and William Edwin "Bill" McClanahan a building contractor. She was of Irish and Choctaw, Native American ancestry. Her Choctaw great-grandfather was named Running Hawk according to her autobiography My First Five Husbands and the Ones Who Got Away . She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma; she graduated from Ardmore High School. McClanahan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Tulsa, where she majored in German and Theater and joined the woman's sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. She was also a National Honor Society Member. McClanahan made her professional stage début at Pennsylvania's Erie Playhouse in 1957, in the play Inherit the Wind.
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Nancy Marie Lopez is an American professional golfer. She became a member of the LPGA Tour in 1977 and won 48 LPGA Tour events during her LPGA... career, including three major championships. She won the New Mexico Women's Amateur at age 12, and the U.S. Girls' Junior in 1972 and 1974, at ages 15 and 17, respectively. Playing in the U.S. Women's Open as an 18-year-old amateur in 1975, she finished tied for second. In 1976, Lopez was named All-American and Female Athlete of the Year for her play at the University of Tulsa. She won the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women National Championship and was a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup and World Amateur teams. She left college after her sophomore year and turned pro in 1977. That year she finished second again in the U.S. Women's Open. In 1978, her first full season on the LPGA Tour, Lopez won nine tournaments, including at one stretch, five tournaments in a row. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, won the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, LPGA Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year and was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.
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