legacy
newsletter
Grace In The Details
God took an oilfield worker’s kid who met his young Ward from nearby Fox. They were at a hamburger stand
bride at a fine arts contest in rural Oklahoma, brought during a high school fine arts contest.
them to OBU, gave them a vision for the lost and a
provision for education, sent them to minister to Native
Bob followed Nelda back to the auditorium for the
Americans and work in higher education, and used
contest performance and got her address. They began
them as a resource to help other rural kids get a quality
to correspond by mail because the nine miles separating
Christian education.
their hometowns might as well have been 10 times
as far. They occasionally met at Falls Creek and other
That, in a nutshell, is the legacy of Bob and Nelda places before graduating high school in 1948.
Keck, members of OBU’s Class of 1952. But the true
testimony to God’s grace in their lives is in the details.
Venturing out from their small hometowns, Nelda
went to Oklahoma City to attend Draughon’s School of
God gave Bob a special gift that would change the Business, and Bob went to OBU.
course of his future: the ability to run. Fast. That gift
resulted in another gift: an invitation to attend OBU
While at OBU, Bob was an all-conference athlete
on a track scholarship. In gratitude to the way OBU
for four years and was a National Association of
positively changed their lives, the Kecks would one day
Intercollegiate Athletics All-American.
give back to other Oklahoma Baptist students seeking a
In Oklahoma City, Nelda worked at First Baptist
life-changing education.
Church, led by pastor Herschel Hobbs, as the financial
“I was astonished anybody would want me,” said Keck,
assistant. Nelda recalls that Lucy Gibson, Dr. Hobbs’
recalling his surprise at an offer from longtime OBU
secretary, provided a positive influence for her.
coach Eddie Hurt.
After graduating business school, Nelda married Bob in
Coming from a family of modest income, Keck made
1951. Then she joined her new husband at OBU. They
his first bus trip when he headed to Bison Hill. He met
lived in a garage apartment on Kickapoo Street and
Dean Lee Spencer, OBU’s librarian, at the bus stop,
worked to support their educations.
carrying a canvas bag filled with an extra pair of pants
She was as popular on campus as her husband,
and his high school letter jacket. The dean took him
who was voted “Best All Around Man” by his OBU
to campus, where Keck would set university records
classmates. He also was elected president of the Junior
in track. Years later, he would be inducted into OBU’s
Class and captain of the track team. She was a Yahnseh
Athletic Hall of Fame.
Court candidate.
“OBU is a good place for people who come from a
While Bob said some people at OBU – like Dr. Forbes
limited background financially and culturally,” Keck
Yarbrough – directly affected his life, there was also a
said. “Coach Hurt took me from being a country
nurturing environment created on campus by other
oil-field kid and gave me opportunities to participate
great personalities such as Uncle Jimmy Owens, Dean
in track, but first of all, to be here at OBU. And I am
James Ralph Scales and Dean Lewis Solomon, even
indebted to that. All that the Good Lord has helped me
though he did not necessarily interact with them
accomplish has been because of the people of OBU who
personally.
took time with a kid who was timid.”
“When I speak of OBU, it’s a beautiful campus and I
Years before, the track star from “Ragtown,” Okla., in
love what’s been done, but I don’t think of bricks and
Carter County, had met a young beauty named Nelda
mortar, I think of the lives that were here that made
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OBU Legacy NewsLetter August 2009 OklAhOmA BAPTIsT UNIvErsITy
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