• 9 months ago
Sooners' university president Joe Harroz and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione speak at the dedication of Love's Field on March 1, 2024.
Transcript
00:00 Well it's here, right? We're here. I sat down three years ago after the first of the last three national championships.
00:11 We were there to celebrate it with Patty. Patty's sitting next to me. She looks over at Joe Castiglione and she says,
00:17 "What do you think about me mentioning that we might do a new stadium?" And I was like, "Hey, look, you're Patty Gasso. You be you."
00:25 Patty stands up. The next thing you know, 18 months go by. Last September, September before last, it's hot outside, we're standing in this area,
00:35 and we talked about building this field. And here we are today. It couldn't be more exciting. This is the house that Love built.
00:44 As a little kid, I grew up right down the street from Tom and Judy Love. I never thought they'd do this.
00:54 Or I'd have been a whole lot nicer to them. This is remarkable. One of the quotes that I love was from Jenny Love Meyer
01:03 at the kickoff of the construction of this project. And she said it's special when people and events come together
01:11 to really create something larger than themselves. To that I'd say, "Jenny, mission accomplished. We did that."
01:18 And that really is, that's the theme of all of this. This is the theme of OU Softball. Something larger than ourselves.
01:27 It really is. This is March 1st, for those of you who don't own a calendar or an iPhone.
01:33 And March 1st is the first day of Women's History Month. There is no better way to celebrate the progress of women in this country
01:45 than to look at this softball team and celebrate this opening today.
01:50 [applause]
01:56 This team says it all. 52 years since Title IX was put in place. This is the symbol, the movement all the way from Reeves Park
02:07 to Marita Hines Field to here to Love's Field. That's progress. Progress overdue, but progress realized.
02:16 It's an honor to be here with the greatest athletic director in the country, Jocas Diglione.
02:22 [applause]
02:27 And the person that loves publicity, seven-time national champion, seven-natty Patty.
02:34 Let's hear it for Coach Patty Gasso.
02:37 [applause]
02:42 This is the day. I can't believe it's actually built. I never thought it would be ready this fast.
02:47 Huge shout out to Timberlake and all they did to get this done. I know it wasn't easy. A lot of hard work.
02:53 As we go in there today, as we celebrate this, let's celebrate what Patty's teams, what these players are all about.
03:03 Being about something bigger than the game itself. They live it every day.
03:09 We're the ones that are supposed to teach these students how to be, how to live, how to grow.
03:14 But every year, these softball teams that Patty Gasso puts out there, every year they teach us.
03:23 We learn from you and we are beyond thankful. Go out there today, have fun, God bless and thank you.
03:29 [applause]
03:32 When ideas start to come to fruition, and thank you Chris and thank you President Harris for your kind words and appropriate
03:43 poignant focus on how and why we got here. But when something gets hatched as an idea, people wonder if it could ever happen.
03:56 And then certain wheels start turning and people think, well you know, it might happen.
04:03 And Patty Gasso has said this to me many, many times as certain stages of the project itself was unfolding.
04:14 Is it going to happen? We didn't plan a pandemic right in the middle of all of our ideation stage and working through all of it.
04:26 But we made it through that and we dealt with any and all challenges that we were facing.
04:33 And then Coach Gasso would say when I'd see her, "It's happening."
04:39 [laughter]
04:41 Well ladies and gentlemen, especially our team, our coaches, our former players,
04:48 this has been built on the shoulders of people who believed something special could happen.
04:58 And today, it's happened!
05:01 [applause]
05:04 So my message is one of gratitude and thanks. And if you bear with me, there's a clock over here that says I have three and a half more minutes.
05:14 Ain't no damn way. I've got a lot of people to thank.
05:20 Most importantly, leadership. Because somebody has to stand up and help things move forward.
05:28 It would not happen without our president, who was very early in his presidency seeing this as an opportunity to serve.
05:37 To serve people, serve the legacy that they left and to share it and pass it on to future players and fans and everybody that's enjoyed seeing this program grow.
05:51 To the members of our Board of Regents, those that have been recognized, some that are not on the board but certainly played a role while they were on the board.
06:01 The Love family.
06:04 I remember sitting over there in that room, over there in the conference room of the Mearson Gymnastics Center, talking about what could happen.
06:15 Thank you.
06:17 And to the many donors and fans, and we'll talk about how many of you in a second, but you all came together to make this happen.
06:25 Year after year, we've seen the love of the game grow. And now we've taken the love of the game to put love into making something that is going to set the softball world on fire when they get to see this and experience it themselves.
06:44 [Cheering]
06:46 Yes.
06:50 Pun intended.
06:52 Everybody's going to love everything about this.
06:56 So, again, the greatest of gratitude from the bottom of our hearts to the Love family.
07:04 To you, Judy, Greg, Frank, Laura, Jenny, and of course, Tom.
07:14 Without their love of the University of Oklahoma and love for people in the state of this, our great state of Oklahoma, this would not happen.
07:22 We regret Tom can't be here with us, but I would ask you again to join us in thanking them for seeing a vision and stepping in to make it happen.
07:32 [Cheering]
07:42 Thank you.
07:45 So, their gift inspired others.
07:50 We've had over 1,100 donors that have stepped up and still stepping up to support this project.
07:57 Between $37 and $38 million have been invested.
08:02 And if you were inspired to give more --
08:04 [Horn]
08:07 Even the waste management folks are excited.
08:10 [Laughter]
08:12 First time I had a garbage truck honk at me instead of trying to run me over.
08:16 [Laughter]
08:19 337 donors gave more than $10,000 to this project.
08:24 More than 38 states in the United States are represented by a donor, at least one donor.
08:32 Thank you is insufficient.
08:35 We are grateful beyond words and indebted to you for doing something so special.
08:42 As President Harris said, we're joined by our softball team, who is the extension of a 67-game winning streak.
08:53 [Cheering]
08:57 So, when you walk in today, you'll be watching them from new seats, a new vantage point, and a new stadium.
09:05 But you're going to be watching the legacy of strong women with a championship mindset
09:12 that also stand humbly on the shoulders of the players that came before them.
09:18 And we're going to talk about that always because to you that are here and others that couldn't be here,
09:24 that's a reoccurring theme and a reoccurring part of our value system.
09:28 So, thank you.
09:30 We'd have to take a moment to, as President Harris said, I joined the University of Oklahoma in 1998.
09:39 And my deputy AD was Marita Hines.
09:43 And I got to work with Marita until we ran her into retirement, I guess.
09:49 But I'd be remiss if we didn't recognize the namesake of our former stadium,
09:56 the person who was also a softball coach and a big part of the softball history herself,
10:01 and the one that hired Patty Gasso, and helped hire Patty Gasso.
10:06 So, we leave a great legacy of that stadium.
10:10 But players and teams in that stadium posted a record of 548, 62, and 1, over a 90% winning percentage.
10:20 Four undefeated seasons among them.
10:24 So, Marita, thank you.
10:26 Without you, we wouldn't have a chance to have a day like today.
10:29 Thank you very much for all you've done.
10:31 [applause]
10:35 I have a little bit more time left.
10:38 There's a people that did a lot of work behind the scenes.
10:41 And I know we see all of this and we're wowed, and you should be.
10:45 But there are many, many moments through the phases of development and construction
10:51 that could have gone a different direction if not for them.
10:55 Some have been mentioned, obviously.
10:57 But behind the scenes, a lot of people.
11:00 We set this date, once the schedule was in place, to play in it on March 1st.
11:05 We weren't going to have a "maybe March 1st, maybe the end of March, maybe the middle of April."
11:11 This team deserved to play every game they possibly could in this stadium.
11:16 And through the thanks of so many people, we made this happen.
11:21 There's still a little bit more, some finishing touches, and they're well along their way.
11:25 But I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge some people.
11:29 Their areas have been acknowledged, but the people haven't been.
11:32 I know how many meetings during the day, during the night, on weekends,
11:36 they contributed their time to help make this happen.
11:39 From A&E Services, Brian Holdery, Jeff Schmidt, and Sarah Zelenopol.
11:44 From Populous, Craig Kaufman, Denver Finlinson, and Frank Steiner.
11:48 The contractor, Timberlake, and their staff.
11:51 From our athletic program, Larry Nathie, Greg Tipton, Scott Matthews, Brad Camp, Jacob Potter, and Toby Baldwin.
11:58 This is the largest on-campus college softball stadium in the country
12:04 that will have a capacity for the fire marshal, that is, of 4,200.
12:09 [laughter and applause]
12:13 There may be sometimes a few more in there, but you'll just have to guess how many more.
12:18 [laughter]
12:22 There's so much you see here, from 44,000 square feet of team areas,
12:28 the indoor hitting facility and pitching lab, the training room,
12:34 the areas for recovery, recruiting, the grand lobby, the indoor facility,
12:40 which is also the largest in the country.
12:44 And for our fans, lots of amenities.
12:47 Premium seating, 11 concession stands, which is five times what we had in the former stadium.
12:54 And I know some of you will appreciate this, because you told me about it every time I was at this stadium.
13:01 We need more restrooms! You have lots and lots and lots of new restrooms.
13:08 And of course, there's some special features.
13:11 You'll notice the video board. If it's not the largest video board in a softball stadium,
13:17 it's really, really close. It's bigger than some that are in baseball or football stadiums, for that matter.
13:22 And of course, it has a unique shape, because we're so proud to represent the state of Oklahoma.
13:29 And of course, those finishing touches that I mentioned, they'll take place.
13:33 And we'll have an open house for all of you at a later time.
13:37 We'll have another ceremony, because as we announced last year after we won our seventh national championship,
13:45 right here, right in front of us, will be the site of a statue that we will unveil of the GOAT, Patty Gasson.
13:55 [applause]
14:02 So, we've spared nothing in trying to create the softball stadium that's befitting for the softball program
14:11 that's the gold standard in all of college athletics.
14:15 Most importantly, because we wanted to serve the athletes that have made this program what it is,
14:21 and those that will come to make it what it can be in the future.
14:26 We wouldn't have been able to do that, though, without the leadership of Coach Gasso, and I mentioned the statue.
14:31 But it's her that is represented in every part of this stadium.
14:38 Her greatness goes way beyond statistics, or even the games that we've won.
14:45 And there have been a whole lot that we've won under her leadership.
14:48 She's taught us how to live life with a sense of purpose and meaning.
14:54 And let's be clear, there's great athleticism in the women that have played.
15:00 There's great championship mindset.
15:03 But I think more than anything, that type of influence has elevated this program to a level of greatness few ever thought was possible.
15:13 So, Patty, thank you. Thank you.
15:16 I look at our team and I look at you because I know you have always been about them.
15:21 But at this moment, it's about you and thanking you, too, for what you've done to elevate this program.
15:27 Ladies and gentlemen, Patty Gasso.
15:30 [APPLAUSE]