Sidney Sellinger Passes

[Guest Blevins]

Long-time ORU baseball supporter Sidney Sellinger died this afternoon at his Tulsa home after battling a long illness.

For those who didn't Sidney personally he was one of the most generous and thoughtful people I've ever known. He was a fixture at J.L Johnson Stadium since its opening in 1978. The lounge along the third base line is named for him and in 2004 he donated the money for press box remodling, and the facility was named for Sidney and his wife, Dorothea.

This is a very sad day for ORU Baseball.

Sidney, we miss you already.

[ORUTerry]

A real gentleman and true supporter of ORU athletics..... always wondered why the stadium wasn't named after him instead of JL Johnson.

[tbone77]

Mr. Sellinger left a legacy of gracious and generous support for ORU. He was a delightful man and exemplary to us all. Our prayers for his family.

Terry, I believe that when then President Oral Roberts was raising money for the new baseball stadium (around 1976 or 1977 I think) a donor named JL Johnson was in town for a weekend. President Roberts described the need and Mr. Johnson basically wrote out a check for most of the money needed to build the stadium, and you usually get your name on something when you do that. I think he was a real estate developer from the eastern USA, but I am a bit fuzzy on that.

[Bogus Smith]

Yes, it truly is a sad day for ORU Athletics. Sidney was a true ambassador for ORU Athletics for many, many years. He was especially faithful to the baseball program. Many don't know that he and Dorthea underwrote the cost of the trophies for the President's Cup and First Lady's Trophy for the All-Sports Banquet for as many years as I can remember. It was their way of giving back to a sports program that they were very proud of. They will be missed by many people - including me!!

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Mr. Sellinger left a legacy of gracious and generous support for ORU. He was a delightful man and exemplary to us all. Our prayers for his family.

I learned a lot of amazing things from Mr. Sidney Sellinger and in honor of Sidney, here are two (2) simple ones I'd like to share with all who care to read on ...

(1) Sidney had a great philosophy that really is so true, and that is this, "your first cost is your least." In other words, pay whatever it takes to do the project right the first time, then you won't spend additional money later trying to fix the corners you cut when you started.

(2) ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS send thank you notes/letters to follow up with someone after s/he does something nice for you. When someone reads the words "thank you," it prompts them to do something else to help you out again ... and again. That is exactly what Sidney did for ORU Athletics, he helped out ... again ... and again ... and again.

You will be missed by all who knew you kind Sir. You were truly a blessing to have had the opportunity to know Mr. Sidney Sellinger.

[ORUTerry]

The rest of the story is that JL Johnson never gave the amount of money that he promised.... at least that is what I heard. Kind of a bait-and-switch. Got a stadium named after him and never delivered. Was never the supporter (in any way) that Sidney Selinger was.

If I am wrong about Mr. Johnson, I apologize... but I have heard that from several sources.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

Terry, I believe that when then President Oral Roberts was raising money for the new baseball stadium (around 1976 or 1977 I think) a donor named JL Johnson was in town for a weekend. President Roberts described the need and Mr. Johnson basically wrote out a check for most of the money needed to build the stadium, and you usually get your name on something when you do that. I think he was a real estate developer from the eastern USA, but I am a bit fuzzy on that.

TBone, you basically have it right. Mr. Johnson, who lived in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, came back to visit ORU in the mid-90's as our guest shortly after we hired Sunny Golloway to be our baseball coach. He threw out the first pitch before the game, and I just remember what a warm and endearing person he was. And speaking of thank you letters, he wrote one of the most gracious letters I've ever received following his visit back to Tulsa. He is/was an absolute first class gentleman.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

The rest of the story is that JL Johnson never gave the amount of money that he promised.... at least that is what I heard. Kind of a bait-and-switch. Got a stadium named after him and never delivered. Was never the supporter (in any way) that Sidney Selinger was.

If I am wrong about Mr. Johnson, I apologize... but I have heard that from several sources.

Terry, actually there are probably a few "sources" you could talk to who wouldn't have much nice to say about me either, so you know what they say about "sources." Bottom line is, Mr. Johnson's business success didn't continue at the level it once operated at. I assure you, Mr. Johnson was/is a very genuine man.

[ORUTerry]

I hesitate to name the sources, but you would know and respect them.... I admit I may have misunderstood the amount given. I don't think so though. I didn't mean to impune Mr. Johnson; I appreciate his gifts to ORU. I just think a lot of people would be surprised that the Stadium was named after a man who had so little to do with the baseball program.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

It's JL Johnson Stadium, but could it be "Sellinger Field" @ JL Johnson Stadium???

Terry, I understand what you're saying about the other and certainly not asking you to name names, but unless ORU builds a new ballpark ... I was simply trying to joke about the whole "sources" thing. No malice intended whatsoever.

[OKC Eagle]

I wondered what the room behind the glass down the third base line and saw the name "Selinger Room" in an email about the baseball alumni appreciation game.  So, I did a little digging and found this thread and the TW article posted below.  I am disappointed in myself that I had not heard this man's name before.  I still don't know what the Selinger Room is (and I always wanted to go into every secret space I could find at ORU, including the cadaver storage room, the executive elevator in the GC, the roof of the Mabee Center and inside the Praying Hands), but its namesake seems like a great guy.

 

JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

This was going to be the year I finally got around to writing about Sidney Selinger.

I've said that every year when spring rolled around. Now in my eighth year of covering college baseball for the World, I've hurried along, dogged by deadlines, pursuing story angles, attending some 300 games, while season after season has passed us by.

And now, like so much in life, Sidney Selinger, too, has passed.

Selinger wasn't a baseball player. Wasn't a coach. He wasn't an athletic trainer or equipment manager or university administrator or faculty member.

But to many who follow the local teams, Selinger was baseball.

Sidney Selinger, a Central High School alumnus and a former OU cheerleader (he preferred "yell leader"), an executive at Sooner Pipe and Supply Corp., and longtime benefactor of ORU baseball, died last Wednesday at the age of 89.

His funeral Monday was attended by the entire Oral Roberts baseball team -- every player, every coach and a handful of coaches' wives. When the ORU baseball team arrived at Tulsa International Airport on Monday morning after returning from a weekend series at Valparaiso, they bused directly to Selinger's service downtown.

Two former ORU skippers, Larry Cochell and Sunny Golloway, were pallbearers. Pat Harrison, a former ORU assistant, drove all the way from Little Rock. A smattering of ORU basketball coaches were there, too, and some administrators.

"He was just a very, very special man," said Golden Eagle coach Rob Walton. "He'll be sorely missed but never forgotten."

Selinger, of course, was so much more than a baseball fan. He was a champion of charity, a king of kindness, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and serving decades as treasurer for Central High's alumni group.

He was also an officer in the U.S. Army and a World War II veteran.

"Sidney made you a better person because he taught you about life," Golloway said.

There were also a handful of sportswriters at Selinger's funeral. It may sound hard to believe, but sportswriters don't always receive a warm welcome when they arrive for a game. But they did when Selinger was there.

 

 

I met Sidney at an ORU game in 1999, and he's been one of my favorite people ever since. He walked in with a bag of Wal-Mart fried chicken, some John Grisham-novel-sized cinnamon buns, a couple of dozen bananas and two bags of candy -- Snickers in one pocket, Starburst in the other. He shook my hand, sized me up and figured I was all right. I've not been to a game at J.L. Johnson Stadium since that I haven't thought about Sidney Selinger, whether he was imparting wisdom from the seat next to me or sitting at home listening on the radio.

Few college baseball fans ever gave more to the game than Selinger.

After 30 years as senior vice president of Sooner Pipe, he retired in 1979. He and founder Henry Zarrow struck it rich in 1998 when Houston-based SCF Partners purchased Sooner Pipe.

What began as a friendship with Cochell in 1977 bloomed into a lifelong relationship with the ORU program. Selinger gave freely, paying for facilities or for food, without ever wanting anything in return.

"Sidney gave financially, of course," said Golloway, who coached at ORU from 1996-2003. "He helped us with our equipment, our facilities, everything. He'd just say, 'Sunny, what do you need?'

 

"But if Sidney had never given a penny, he still would have been just the greatest booster of all time because he was such a great ambassador. He was the best public relations guy a baseball program could ask for."

"He definitely contributed a ton to the program financially," Walton said, "but to be honest, his greatest contribution was in his words and the advice he gave everybody. There's a lot of value in his words."

Selinger remained in Cochell's inner circle after Cochell left for Cal State Fullerton and later Oklahoma. When the Sooners made three trips to the College World Series in the 1990s, Selinger was on the team bus. He did, after all, attend OU. But long after Cochell took ORU baseball from the dregs of home games at LaFortune Park to playing at one of the nation's best college parks, Selinger kept giving to ORU.

"In those early days, he did a lot for Titan baseball -- and for basketball, as well," Cochell said. "But baseball was his first love. He also went back a long way with the Cardinals, when A. Ray Smith had the Tulsa Oilers as the Cardinals' (Triple-A) franchise."

 

 

Indeed, Selinger sat in the same box seat at Oiler Park from 1946-1975.

But it was the college game Selinger loved most. At ORU, he donated the sprinkler system, re furbished and installed heating and air conditioning in the press box and raised money to pay for various other projects, including the outfield fence and the scoreboard substructure.

In 1998, ORU dedicated to Selinger a lounge on the Johnson Stadium third-base line -- the Selinger Room -- and two years ago the school updated the press box and renamed it the Sidney and Dorothea Selinger Press Box.

Selinger cheered ORU, and he cheered OU. But when neither of his favorite teams made it to the College World Series, he drove to Omaha and rooted for Oklahoma State. In 1989, when the Cowboys lost at regionals, he adopted Wichita State as his local team, drove to Omaha and cheered the Shockers to a national championship.

"He was very kindhearted," Walton said. "If you were to live your life a certain way, that's how you'd want to live it."

 

---

John E. Hoover 581-8384

john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

[oruvoice]

Thanks for bumping this. Sidney was a really fantastic human being! Spent many days with him in the ORU press box and he was everything in this article and more.

[dave]

It is so touching and meaningful when sports and life intersect in such a wonderful way. I did not know him, but it sounds like I missed out on a true blessing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. People are our greatest blessings in life. 

[Bogus Smith]

Sidney was one of a kind.  He was generous and loved being around the ORU programs.  We have missed him since his passing and this article doesn't do justice of how nice a guy he really was to everyone around him.  Everyone should be lucky enough to have a "Sidney" in their life that does things without any expectations.

[jmg1984]

5 hours ago, OKC Eagle said:

I wondered what the room behind the glass down the third base line and saw the name "Selinger Room" in an email about the baseball alumni appreciation game.  So, I did a little digging and found this thread and the TW article posted below.  I am disappointed in myself that I had not heard this man's name before.  I still don't know what the Selinger Room is (and I always wanted to go into every secret space I could find at ORU, including the cadaver storage room, the executive elevator in the GC, the roof of the Mabee Center and inside the Praying Hands), but its namesake seems like a great guy.

 

JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

This was going to be the year I finally got around to writing about Sidney Selinger.

I've said that every year when spring rolled around. Now in my eighth year of covering college baseball for the World, I've hurried along, dogged by deadlines, pursuing story angles, attending some 300 games, while season after season has passed us by.

And now, like so much in life, Sidney Selinger, too, has passed.

Selinger wasn't a baseball player. Wasn't a coach. He wasn't an athletic trainer or equipment manager or university administrator or faculty member.

But to many who follow the local teams, Selinger was baseball.

Sidney Selinger, a Central High School alumnus and a former OU cheerleader (he preferred "yell leader"), an executive at Sooner Pipe and Supply Corp., and longtime benefactor of ORU baseball, died last Wednesday at the age of 89.

His funeral Monday was attended by the entire Oral Roberts baseball team -- every player, every coach and a handful of coaches' wives. When the ORU baseball team arrived at Tulsa International Airport on Monday morning after returning from a weekend series at Valparaiso, they bused directly to Selinger's service downtown.

Two former ORU skippers, Larry Cochell and Sunny Golloway, were pallbearers. Pat Harrison, a former ORU assistant, drove all the way from Little Rock. A smattering of ORU basketball coaches were there, too, and some administrators.

"He was just a very, very special man," said Golden Eagle coach Rob Walton. "He'll be sorely missed but never forgotten."

Selinger, of course, was so much more than a baseball fan. He was a champion of charity, a king of kindness, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and serving decades as treasurer for Central High's alumni group.

He was also an officer in the U.S. Army and a World War II veteran.

"Sidney made you a better person because he taught you about life," Golloway said.

There were also a handful of sportswriters at Selinger's funeral. It may sound hard to believe, but sportswriters don't always receive a warm welcome when they arrive for a game. But they did when Selinger was there.

 

 

I met Sidney at an ORU game in 1999, and he's been one of my favorite people ever since. He walked in with a bag of Wal-Mart fried chicken, some John Grisham-novel-sized cinnamon buns, a couple of dozen bananas and two bags of candy -- Snickers in one pocket, Starburst in the other. He shook my hand, sized me up and figured I was all right. I've not been to a game at J.L. Johnson Stadium since that I haven't thought about Sidney Selinger, whether he was imparting wisdom from the seat next to me or sitting at home listening on the radio.

Few college baseball fans ever gave more to the game than Selinger.

After 30 years as senior vice president of Sooner Pipe, he retired in 1979. He and founder Henry Zarrow struck it rich in 1998 when Houston-based SCF Partners purchased Sooner Pipe.

What began as a friendship with Cochell in 1977 bloomed into a lifelong relationship with the ORU program. Selinger gave freely, paying for facilities or for food, without ever wanting anything in return.

"Sidney gave financially, of course," said Golloway, who coached at ORU from 1996-2003. "He helped us with our equipment, our facilities, everything. He'd just say, 'Sunny, what do you need?'

 

"But if Sidney had never given a penny, he still would have been just the greatest booster of all time because he was such a great ambassador. He was the best public relations guy a baseball program could ask for."

"He definitely contributed a ton to the program financially," Walton said, "but to be honest, his greatest contribution was in his words and the advice he gave everybody. There's a lot of value in his words."

Selinger remained in Cochell's inner circle after Cochell left for Cal State Fullerton and later Oklahoma. When the Sooners made three trips to the College World Series in the 1990s, Selinger was on the team bus. He did, after all, attend OU. But long after Cochell took ORU baseball from the dregs of home games at LaFortune Park to playing at one of the nation's best college parks, Selinger kept giving to ORU.

"In those early days, he did a lot for Titan baseball -- and for basketball, as well," Cochell said. "But baseball was his first love. He also went back a long way with the Cardinals, when A. Ray Smith had the Tulsa Oilers as the Cardinals' (Triple-A) franchise."

 

 

Indeed, Selinger sat in the same box seat at Oiler Park from 1946-1975.

But it was the college game Selinger loved most. At ORU, he donated the sprinkler system, re furbished and installed heating and air conditioning in the press box and raised money to pay for various other projects, including the outfield fence and the scoreboard substructure.

In 1998, ORU dedicated to Selinger a lounge on the Johnson Stadium third-base line -- the Selinger Room -- and two years ago the school updated the press box and renamed it the Sidney and Dorothea Selinger Press Box.

Selinger cheered ORU, and he cheered OU. But when neither of his favorite teams made it to the College World Series, he drove to Omaha and rooted for Oklahoma State. In 1989, when the Cowboys lost at regionals, he adopted Wichita State as his local team, drove to Omaha and cheered the Shockers to a national championship.

"He was very kindhearted," Walton said. "If you were to live your life a certain way, that's how you'd want to live it."

 

---

John E. Hoover 581-8384

john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

Ya mean u never saw Orals office

[ORUTex]

I found a 2004 Tulsa World article with more details about J.L. Johnson and his donation. According to this article, he made a commitment to donate $500,000 "that was eventually met." https://tulsaworld.com/archive/johnsons-gift-became-crown-jewel/article_77a9ea9d-6dd2-5de6-8051-72cc72404bec.html

[ORUTerry]

Not sure this is correct….