We have reached the half way point of our 50 Most Powerful Oklahomans countdown. Before we continue with 30-21, lets look at some people who didn't make the list:
"¢ Clark Matthews
"¢ Elyse Downs
"¢ Keith Gaddie
"¢ Biker Fox
"¢ Drew Braum
Surprised? I am. Check out 30 - 21 after the jump.
30. David Griffin, Local Media Mogul
David Griffin is the president of Griffin Communications, which just happens to own both Channel 9 in Oklahoma City and Channel 6 in Tulsa. That means that he is the boss of Kelly Ogle, Amy McRee and Gary England. That's pretty powerful. Maybe he should be higher?
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29. Kirk Humphreys, Former Oklahoma City Mayor
Kirk Humphreys was the mayor of Oklahoma City before Mayor Mick, but he quit the job so that he could run for the US Senate and lose. Now he's just an "influential business leader" and "behind the scenes player" in the Oklahoma City hierarchy.
In addition to that, he also has two sons who are acting like they want to be mayor of Oklahoma City someday. One of them is kind of goofy local developer who bought a huge ferris wheel because he can, while the other one is studying at MIT to be a city planner. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but the Humphreys name is going to be around Oklahoma City for a long long long time.
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28. Mayor Mick, Oklahoma City Mayor
Hey, this guy single handedly brought the NBA to Oklahoma City and made us a "big league city." He also pissed off Steve Hunt. Both of those things are awesome.
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27. Ron Norrick, former Oklahoma City Mayor
If it were not for Ron Norrick, Mayor Mick wouldn't have had the bullets or the gun to shoot down an NBA team and get it to Oklahoma City.
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26. Berry Trammel, Sports Writer
Although his opinions are about as goofy as the bull feathers, and he is a little too obsessed with lists like this, Berry is probably the best and most read writer at The Oklahoman. That means that people tend to take everything he says as the gospel. He could write a story tomorrow that said Women's College Basketball is entertaining and people would probably believe him.
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25. David Green, founder/owner of Hobby Lobby
According to Forbes, this guy is one of the richest people in the world. That qualifies you as powerful, even if you made your money from selling cheap, over priced crafts and frames. Also, his son essentially owns Oral Roberts University. That's kind of cool.
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24. Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma Athletic Director
I think the next time we hire a new writer, I'm going to hire Joe Castiglione to be a one man search committee. Just look at his two marquee hires: Bob Stoops and Jeff Capel. They've worked out okay. Plus, after a little drama, he brought us Sunny Golloway. Granted, I don't know if that was a good hire, but it pissed off Regular Jim Traber and put Sunni Kate in the spotlight. Those are good things.
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23. Wayne Coyne
Even though he's kind of sold out and now lets Wimgo sponsor his concerts, Wayne Coyne is the coolest person on this list. He is also the most popular and influential artist living in Oklahoma and is weird as hell. Seriously, he probably masturbates to images of aliens in dresses playing euchre with Santa Claus on Mars and then writes a song about it. That's creativity.
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22. Mary Fallin
First of all, I guess we now know who Brent Rinehart was targeting in his comic book when he showed a boy scout being dragged into an evergreen forest. I guess we also know why Mary Fallin doesn't have any problems locating her seats at OU football games. We also know what color bra she wears. But boy scouts and bras don't have anything to do with her being named to this list. She appears on here because she is the Former Lieutant Governor and a United States Congresswomen. She also appeared in this Molly Ringwald TV movie that was filmed in Oklahoma. That earns her bonus points.
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21. Barry Switzer
I'm a huge OU Fan, and Bootlegger's Boy was my favorite book when I was a kid. That being said, I don't understand why people are so obsessed and worship this guy. Sure, he won some football games and will get drunk with anyone, but do we not remember the time one of his players was one the cover of Sports Illustrated wearing an orange jump suit?
Anyway, Barry Switzer is powerful. In fact, he's so powerful that some people credit his endorsement of Brad Henry as the key to Henry edging out Steve Largent in the 2002 governor race.
To check out the rest of the list click here: 40-31 and 50-41.
