Phillips University was a

private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public student loans, and grants. Dep ...

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, a ...

. It opened in 1906 and closed in 1998. It was affiliated with the

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

. It included an undergraduate college and a graduate

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

. The university was also home to the Enid-Phillips Symphony Orchestra, and its campus regularly hosted events for the Tri-State Music Festival.

History

Originally named Oklahoma Christian University, the school was founded by Dr. Ely Vaughn Zollars on October 9, 1906. Enid-area businessmen raised $150,000 and purchased a campus east of Enid. Though ultimately the university would base its teachings on the Disciples of Christ denomination, the committee to bring a university to Enid had a more diverse religious background: Edmund Frantz (Presbyterian), Frank Hamilton (United Brethren, Disciple), Al Loewen (Jewish), J.M. Pieratt (Disciple), and Everett Purcell (Presbyterian).Rockwell, Stella, ed., Garfield County, Oklahoma, 1907-1982, Vol. I, Garfield Historical Society, Josten's Publishing Company, Topeka, Kansas. 1982. pg 26-27 Funding for the operation of the university was supplied by T. W. Phillips of Butler, Pennsylvania and the Disciples of Christ Churches of Oklahoma. Following Phillips' death in 1912 the university was renamed in his honor.Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture
, Oklahoma Historical Society Online Edition, Oklahoma State University Library Electronic Publishing Center During World War II, the Permanente ship builders manufactured a victory ship named after the university called the SS Phillips Victory (VC2-S-AP2, MC Hull Number 758)."Mrs. Stettinius Christens Ship", The Oakland Tribune, May 27, 1945, pg A-7 Oklahoma Christian University held its first classes September 17, 1907. The first year's enrollment was 256 students, and of the freshman class, only 20 had completed high school.Burke, Bob, and Franks, Kenny, "Oklahoma Christian University", ''In Reverence We Stand: Memories of Phillips University'', Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2003 Phillips High School was created in 1907 as a preparatory school at the same time to prepare students for college-level courses, and continued operations until 1925. The school became affiliated with the North Central Association of Colleges on March 23, 1919, and in the American Association of Colleges in 1920.McCash, Isaac Newton,
History of Phillips University
'' In 1987, Phillips Graduate Seminary incorporated as a freestanding institution independent of Phillips University. It is now known as

Phillips Theological Seminary Phillips Theological Seminary is a private seminary affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was established in 1906 and was originally a part of the now defunct Phillips University. History ...

, and is located in

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, Oklahoma. Currently, Phillips Theological Seminary houses the transcripts of the alumni of Phillips University. Phillips University also ran a graduate business school which awarded MBA degrees, and was well recognized in the states of Oklahoma and Texas. It also had a large international community of students from more than 20 countries.

Athletics

Phillips University founders cornerstone

The school's sports teams were called the Haymakers. For one year, 1920, the school was a member of the Southwest Athletic Conference. Between 1917 and 1920, John Maulbetsch was the head football coach at Phillips University. Maulbetsch was an All-American running back at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1914, where he earned the nickname the "Human Bullet". With his name recognition, he was able to recruit big-name talent to Phillips, including future Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Owen, and future United States Olympic Committee President Doug Roby. Maulbetsch quickly turned Phillips into a major contender in the southwest, as his teams beat Oklahoma and Texas and lost only one game in the 1918 and 1919 seasons. The 1919 team, known as "Mauley's Iron Men", was considered by many experts to be the finest football squad in the southwest that season.Jim Strain
The Iron Men Of Phillips Used Just 12 Players In Upsetting Mighty Texas
, ''Sports Illustrated'', October 19, 1981, Accessed June 4, 2010. After defeating the Oklahoma and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

football teams, the "Haymakers" gained a reputation as “one of the strongest teams in the southwest.” When Phillips defeated Texas 10–0 in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in October 1919, the Longhorns had not lost a game since 1917. One Texas newspaper reported that Phillips had "whitewashed the Longhorns in their own corral." As a result of Phillips' success, it was admitted to the Southwest Conference for the 1920 season. With the loss of several key players from the previous squads, Phillips fell to 4–5–1 record, failed to score a single point in conference play and immediately dropped out of the conference. Maulbetsch was hired to coach Oklahoma A&M in 1921. Unable to sustain its previous success, the program's reputation faded; the school finally closed the program in 1933. Subsequently, Phillips University baseball and basketball teams were in the NAIA. From 1952 through 1981, Phillips University baseball teams dominated their division. Coached by Dr. Joe Record during this period, the Haymakers compiled a 648–294 record for a .688 winning percentage. Three of Record's teams went to the NAIA World Series. He was the NAIA Coach of the Year in 1973, and inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1975.

Phillips University Japan

In 1989 Phillips University opened a branch campus at the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Science in Japan. Students at the Japanese campus earned credits towards a Phillips degree, and were required to complete a one-year residency on the Enid campus. Faculty members from the Enid campus taught some classes in Japan. The arrangement also allowed students from the Enid campus to earn part of their required credits abroad at the Osaka campus. In 1992 Phillips University filed suit against Phillips Japan Co., Ltd, the private entity which ran its academic programs in Japan, along with the Kyoto Institute of Technology and Science, and Tanezo Yamasaki, chief director of the institute. The suit alleged that the defendants failed to pay taxes to the Japanese government, withheld funds due to Phillips University to pay some taxes which they were responsible for paying according to the contract, and alleged unauthorized use of the Phillips University name. In April 1995, Phillips University International (PUI) was created with the new purpose of taking American education in Japan a step further by creating a new bilingual and bicultural academic program. In the fall of 1996, PUI moved its campus to a growing suburban area of Kyoto Prefecture, Kyotanabe City, and became an independent educational entity under the new name of Kyoto International University.

Bankruptcy, Closure, and Legacy Foundation

Due to financial problems and decreasing enrollment, Phillips filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 1, 1998, and closed its doors four months later.Northern Oklahoma College moves on Enid campus
, ''Associated Press'', June 18, 1999. The seminary survives as the

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, which also houses transcripts for alumni of Phillips University. After the bankruptcy of the university in 1998, the liquidation of assets yielded $3 million in funds for the formation of th
Phillips University Legacy Foundation
which in honoring the legacy of the university, awards annual scholarships and provides leadership development opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students attending Disciples of Christ-related colleges and universities. From 2002 to 2020, the Legacy Foundation awarded over 2 million in scholarships to over 200 undergraduate and graduate students. They also administer leadership programs such as the Annual Leadership Development Conference and the Volunteer Leadership Projects. The former campus was purchased in June 1999 by Northern Oklahoma College (NOC), a public college, for $6.1 million (split $1.9 million paid by the city of Enid, $800,000 by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, and $3.4 million by NOC). NOC, based in

Tonkawa, Oklahoma Tonkawa is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States, along the Salt Fork Arkansas River. The population was 3,216 at the 2010 census, a decline of 2.5 percent from the figure of 3,299 in 2000. History Named after the Tonkawa tribe, the cit ...

, phased the entire property into use as a

satellite campus A satellite campus or branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or coun ...

Past presidents

*Dr. Ely Vaughan Zollars (1907–1915) *Dr. Isaac Newton McCash (1916–1938) *Dr. Eugene S. Briggs (1938–1961) *Dr. Hallie G. Gantz (1961–1972) *Dr. Thomas E. Broce (1973–1975) *Dr. Samuel E. Curl (1976–1979) *Dr. Joe Robert Jones (1979–1988) *Dr. Robert D. Peck (1989–1993) *Dr. Donald F. Heath (1994–1995) *Dr. Sheldon E. Elliott (1995–1996) *Dr. G. Curtis Jones (1996–1998)Burke, Bob, and Franks, Kenny, "Presidents and Chancellors of Phillips University," ''In Reverence We Stand: Memories of Phillips University'', Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2003, p. 183

Notable people

Alumni

* Bill Owen – New York Giants football player * Bradley Haddock – Executive vice president and general counsel of Koch Chemical Technology Group, LLC * Carol Hamilton - Oklahoma Poet Laureate (1995-1997) * Daniel Nicholson – Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing,

University of Oklahoma College of Law The University of Oklahoma College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Oklahoma. It is located on the University's campus in Norman, Oklahoma. The College of Law was founded in 1909 by a resolution of the OU Boa ...

* Doug Roby – U.S. Olympic Committee President * Everett Shelton – University of Wyoming basketball coach * George H. Wilson – U.S. Oklahoma Representative *

Harold Taft Harold Earnest Taft Jr. (September 5, 1922 – September 27, 1991), affectionately known as "The World's Greatest Weatherman" and "The Dean of TV Meteorologists", was the first television meteorologist west of the Mississippi River and held th ...

– "The World's Greatest Weatherman" *

Henry E. Stubbs Henry Elbert Stubbs (March 4, 1881 – February 28, 1937) was an American clergyman and politician who served two terms as a U.S. Representative from California from 1933 to 1937. Biography Born in Nampa, Coleman County, Texas, Stubbs atte ...

– U.S. California Representative *

James Clark Brown James Clark Brown (December 1830 – 6 February 1891) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Otago, New Zealand. He stood unsuccessfully in the for ; a contemporary report saying that his loss was due to ''his own inaction'' and a ...

- Minister (Cleveland Park, San Francisco, Carmel Valley) * James W. Valentine – Paleontologist *

Pat Moran McCoy Pat Moran (born 1934 in Enid, Oklahoma) is an American jazz pianist. Life and work Born Helen Mudgett, Pat Moran studied piano at Phillips University and later at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Career She began her career as a concer ...

– Jazz pianist * Jim Spainhower – Missouri State Treasurer * John Newbold Happy Camp – U.S. Oklahoma Representative *

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

– NBA basketball player for Houston Rockets * John Levi – Hominy Indians Football * Joseph Bunn – Professional basketball player * Lawrence Schovanec -

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

President * Merwin Coad – U.S. Iowa Representative *

Michael Hedges Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Early years The son of Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen, Michael Hedges was born in Sacramento, California. His l ...

– Musician *

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is considered one of the forerunners of t ...

– Televangelist *

Pete Earley Pete Earley (born September 5, 1951) is an American journalist and author who has written non-fiction books and novels. Career Born in Douglas, Arizona, Earley became a ''Washington Post'' reporter and also wrote books about the Aldrich Ames ...

– Journalist and author *

Shirley Knight Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...

– actress * Steve Owen – New York Giants Head Coach (1930–1953) * Susan Pamerleau, retired

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

and the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

sheriff of

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Brau ...

, first woman elected, 2012; Phillips trustee and recipient of honorary doctorate degree *

Julie Ledgerwood Julie E. Ledgerwood is an American allergist and immunologist, who is the chief medical officer and serves as chief of the Clinical Trials Program at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease ...

– Chief of the Clinical Trials Program at the Vaccine Research Center of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...

, led first human trial to test the

Ebola vaccine Ebola vaccines are vaccines either approved or in development to prevent Ebola. As of 2022, there are only vaccines against the Zaire ebolavirus. The first vaccine to be approved in the United States was rVSV-ZEBOV in December 2019. It had be ...

* Beverly Roberts Gaventa – a

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

exegete Exegesis ( ; from the Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Biblical works. In modern usage, exegesis can involve critical interpretations ...

and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, elected president of the Society of Biblical Literature for 2016 *

Bess Truitt Bess Truitt (1884–1972) served as the Oklahoma Poet Laureate from 1945 to 1946. Since no poet laureate was appointed directly after her, Truitt also served as poet laureate emeritus from 1946 to 1963.Patricia Yarbrough, "Poets Laureate," The Ency ...

- Oklahoma Poet Laureate (1945-1963)
Jaimie Muehlhausen
- Art Director and Musician

Faculty

* Bill Quayle, tennis coach and associate professor from 1972 to 1979; left to become athletics director at Emporia State University from 1979 to 1999.

References

External links

Phillips University Legacy FoundationPhillips University Alumni and Friends Association
{{Coord, 36, 23, 49, N, 97, 50, 41, W, format=dms, display=title, type:edu_region:US-OK Defunct private universities and colleges in Oklahoma Universities and colleges affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Educational institutions established in 1906 Educational institutions disestablished in 1998 Schools in Enid, Oklahoma Phillips Theological Seminary 1906 establishments in Oklahoma Territory 1998 disestablishments in the United States