Oklahoma Panhandle State University

VIDEO: LYNN GARDENER ARENA / HENRY C HITCH PIONEER ARENA

LYNN GARDNER ARENA

The Lynn Gardner Arena is the on-campus home of OPSU Rodeo. Named after the Aggies’ first-ever coach - Lynn Gardner, who guided the program for 31 years - the facility features the competition arena, a roping lane, 10 bucking chutes, fan seating, 78 partially-covered stalls, the Doug Wirtz Rodeo Building and plenty of acreage.

Richard Lynn Gardner known to many as "Doc" was an OPSU professor and rodeo coach. As testimony to his lasting importance to OPSU he has the honor of being an Alumni Ambassador Hall of Fame inductee, in addition to a Rodeo Foundation Scholarship and the annual college rodeo dedicated to his memory.

Rodeo would not have been a reality at OPSU if it weren't for Doc Gardner. In 1965 two students came up to him and asked if he would help sponsor a rodeo team. He agreed to be their coach until they could find somebody else to take over. One was never found. So for over 30 years until his death, Doc Gardner coached the Aggie Rodeo Team.

He became somewhat of an icon in the world of college rodeo. His teams were well respected locally, regionally, and nationally. He wasn't a cowboy but he had a knack for finding talent and getting them to attend Panhandle. Because of it, PSU can boast many, many great cowboys and cowgirls. He was so greatly admired in the Rodeo community that a one of a kind, hand crafted belt buckle was bestowed to him by PSU rodeo supporters. The R. Lynn Gardner Arena was built and dedicated in the early 1990's.

Doc Gardner served from 1974-1982 as Faculty Director for the Central Plains Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. He was competitive! Although he accepted it graciously, Doc never liked to lose. He witnessed his young contestants become individual college champions. He saw several world champions. During his reign, since 1972 the highly successful PSU men's and women's rodeo teams qualified for the College National Finals all but one year. He never realized his dream of winning the college nation team championship. However Doc's OPSU rodeo team won the national title the year following his death and dedicated the national championship to him! The OPSU rodeo was renamed the Doc Gardner Memorial Rodeo.

Lynn and Gloria Gardner were life members of the Panhandle State Association. In 1992 Lynn was inducted into the Alumni Ambassador Hall of Fame. Dr. Gardner was chosen as parade marshal for the PSU Homecoming in 1994. After serving this function, he rode with his rodeo club at the end of the Parade. In 1995 he gave the Commencement Address to the OPSU graduating class.

He loved collecting everything. If you accompanied him on a trip, you most likely enjoyed or endured unscheduled stops at antique shops or auctions. He loved dogs and woodworking but most of all he loved farming.
Having diabetes since the age of 16, the disease finally took a toll on him: R. Lynn Gardner passed away on April 23, 1996 at the age of 61. Services were held on Easter Sunday to an estimated 1,000 observers. Doc was taken to his final resting place in a horse drawn hearse accompanied by the rodeo team members on horseback and numerous of his students walking the last mile for him. He was known by all as an honorable man.


HENRY C. HITCH PIONEER ARENA

This City of Guymon facility is home to the Aggies’ Doc Gardner Memorial Rodeo each year. The Gardner Memorial was voted as the 2018-19 Central Plains Region Rodeo of the Year. And it’s no wonder why, as this beautiful arena gives Aggie fans and friends a terrific venue, with stadium seating (with access from either top or bottom) and lights. Likewise, the city embraces the OPSU rodeo and supports it in a big way!

The venue is also host to the Pioneer Days Celebration, which has its roots in the Depression era of the early 1930s, when Guymon, Okla., was the epicenter of the “Dust Bowl.” City fathers were looking for a way to bring visitors to town, and a reason to celebrate in the midst of hard times. They chose the anniversary of the Organic Act, which on May 1, 1890 made “No Man’s Land” a part of the territory of Oklahoma. The first weekend of May was designated as Pioneer Days, and has been since 1933.

The rodeo has always been the cornerstone of the Pioneer Days Celebration. Originally, the rodeo was held adjacent to the Grain Elevator downtown, with a temporary arena held up by cars and pickups that parked around the outside. Later, the rodeo moved to the newly constructed high school football stadium. A temporary arena was erected on the field, and the rodeo was held on the grass. As one might imagine, this was not very good for the grass, and some rodeo mementos could still be found on the field come the start of football practice.

Finally in the late sixties, the Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena was constructed on city land along Sunset Lane. Situated in a natural draw, the arena provides a unique setting for Oklahoma’s richest rodeo.

In 1884, James K Hitch, a Tennessee native, drove a heard of longhorns through the area and started a legacy, Hitch Enterprises, then known as the Hitch Ranch. At the time, the Oklahoma Panhandle was known as “No Man’s Land.” The narrow strip of land between Texas and Kansas that no one wanted became home to the Hitch family. James would settle the Hitch Ranch on the Coldwater Creek near what is known as Guymon, Oklahoma today.

Arena namesake Henry C. Hitch took over the family farm when his father James passed away. Henry grew the farm and became the largest wheat producer in Oklahoma in 1930. Henry’s son H.C. “Ladd” Hitch was born in 1918. Ladd followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps as the 3rd generation on the Hitch Ranch. Ladd took over the operation in 1945 when he returned from serving in World War II. He was a pioneer and a forward thinker. Ladd was one of the first in the area to introduce pivot irrigation in 1953 and began building the original feedlot on the Hitch Ranch. Today that feedlot is called the Henry C. Hitch Feedlot.