Bacone College#Athletics

File:Bacone Indian University, Muskogee, OK.jpg

Some accounts credit Almon C. Bacone, a missionary teacher in Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, with asking the American Baptist Home Mission Society for support to start a school in the Cherokee Baptist Mission at their capital, Tahlequah in 1867. Bacone had previously taught at the Cherokee Male Seminary established in Indian Territory.Thornton, Russell, ed. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_EA-UwvN_HUC Studying Native America: Problems and Prospects.] Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1999: p. 84. (retrieved through Google Books, 30 August 2009) {{ISBN|978-0-299-16064-7}}.

According to historian John Bartlett Meserve, Bacone College can be traced to a Baptist mission school at Valley Town in western North Carolina, which was part of Cherokee homelands. Evan Jones, one of the earliest missionaries to the Cherokee, led the school. After most of the Cherokee were removed to Indian Territory in the late 1830s, the Valley Town school moved to a site near what developed as present-day Westville, Oklahoma.

In 1867, Evan Jones' son, John B. Jones, moved the school to Tahlequah in the Cherokee Nation. In 1885, the mission school moved to Muskogee, Creek Nation, and changed its name to Bacone, after its first teacher.[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v016/v016p315.html Meserve, John Bartlett. "Chief Lewis Downing and Chief Charles Thompson (Oochalata). In: Chronicles of Oklahoma> Volume 16, Number 3. September 1938.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203108/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v016/v016p315.html |date=2013-10-29 }} Retrieved July 19, 2013.

When Bacone College was founded (at the time more of a seminary or academy in curriculum level) in 1867, Almon C Bacone was the sole faculty and three students were enrolled. By the end of the first semester, students had increased to 12. By the end of the first year, the student population was 56 and the faculty numbered three.

Bacone appealed to the Muscogee Creek Nation's Tribal Council to donate {{convert|160|acre|km2}} (a quarter section) of land for the college in nearby Muskogee. It was the capital of the Creek Nation, and informally known as the "Indian Capital of the World".{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} The Nation granted the land to Bacone and the Baptists.

In 1885, Indian University was moved to a new building at its present site in Muskogee. It continued to develop here. In 1910, it was renamed Bacone College, after its founder and first president.Wright, Maurice C., "BACONE COLLEGE A HISTORY" (1968). Graduate Thesis Collection. p. 25.

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/grtheses/25

File:Almon C. Bacone.png

In the spring of 2018, the college struggled with severe financial difficulties. It began to lay off most employees following commencement and reported that it needed an immediate infusion of $2 million in order to continue to operate: to complete the 2018–2019 academic year and to open in the fall of 2019.{{cite web |url=http://www.newson6.com/story/38145296/bacone-college-closing-laying-off-staff-unless-funding-is-found-soon |title=Bacone College Closing, Laying Off Staff Unless Funding Is Found Soon |author=Justin Shrair |publisher=News on 6 |date=May 8, 2018 |access-date=May 10, 2018}} The school reopened after cutting programs, reducing the number of faculty, and selling property. Among the properties sold was Bacone Commons, for $2.85 million as part of the college's 2018-2019 financial restructuring.{{cite web | url= https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/bacone-college-seeks-tribal-status-to-bolster-american-indian-education/article_a94585bc-0594-5841-a38a-ded2387fa917.html | title= Bacone College seeks tribal status to bolster American Indian education opportunities while trying to regain financial stability| author= Corey Jones |work=Tulsa World |date=July 14, 2019 | access-date=October 9, 2019}}{{cite web | url= https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/education/osage-nation-to-charter-resurgent-bacone-college/article_14a6bfe2-8115-5138-89b2-0776b27c958c.html | title= Osage Nation to charter resurgent Bacone College| work= Tulsa World |date=July 6, 2019 | access-date=September 28, 2019}}

The tribal nations in Oklahoma collaborated to take over control of the college as a consortium to revive its history as a tribal college established for Indian education. The tribes hoped that they would be able to control education of their students, and that the arrangement would enable them to secure federal funding from the Bureau of Indian Education (in the BIA) as part of the government's treaty responsibilities to educate American Indian students.

The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians approved a charter agreement in April 2019. In July 2019, the Osage Nation announced that it would charter the school as a tribal college. In August 2019, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians also agreed to charter the college.{{cite web | url= https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/bacone-college-secures-third-tribe-s-charter-in-its-goal/article_9d7e4693-9996-5f39-bae3-8f2a876adf72.html | title= Bacone College secures third tribe's charter in its goal to gain status as a tribal college| date= August 11, 2019| publisher= Corey Jones, Tulsa World, August 11, 2019 | access-date=September 28, 2019}} The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes approved a charter in September,{{cite web|url= https://www.bacone.edu/cheyenne-and-arapaho-tribes-agree-to-charter-bacone-college-as-a-tribal-college/ |title= Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Agree to Charter Bacone College as a Tribal College|date= February 12, 2020|publisher=Bacone College, February 12, 2020|access-date=May 3, 2020}} and the Kiowa Tribe in February 2020.{{cite web|url= https://www.bacone.edu/kiowa-tribe-becomes-fifth-to-charter-bacone-college/ |title=Kiowa Tribe becomes fifth to charter Bacone College|date=February 20, 2020 |publisher=Bacone College, February 20, 2020|access-date=May 3, 2020}} (The Muscogee (Creek) Nation had previously chartered its own College of the Muscogee Nation.) However, Bacone did not officially become a tribal college because the BIA declined to approve the conversion, although it recategorized the college as an Indigenous-serving institution.{{cite web|url= https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-regional/education/bacone-seeks-help-to-prevent-auction-of-indigenous-serving-college-in-muskogee/article_e29c4c5a-8e0b-11ee-98ca-abe427ffa756.html |title= Bacone seeks help to prevent auction of Indigenous-serving college in Muskogee|publisher=Tulsa World, November 28, 2023|accessdate=November 29, 2023}} This left each student to individually apply for a Pell Grant, tribal scholarship, or other financial aid.

===Possible closure===

File:Bacone Muskogee McCoy Building w-Chapel 4-2025.jpg

An HVAC firm called MHEC LLC (Midgley-Huber Energy Concepts) obtained a judgment of approximately $1 million against the school on November 13, 2022, for installation of materials and energy conservation services.{{cite web|url= https://www.mvskokemedia.com/bacone-college-recalled-from-sheriffs-sale/ |title= Bacone College recalled from Sheriff’s sale|publisher=Mvskokemedia, April 27, 2023|accessdate=November 28, 2023}}{{cite web|url= https://www.newson6.com/story/6564130af50ae506fa8c2484/hoping-some-sort-of-miracle-happens:-bacone-college-in-muskogee-at-risk-of-closing- |title= ‘Hoping some sort of miracle happens’: Bacone College in Muskogee at Risk of Closing|publisher=KOTV Newson6.com, November 26, 2023|accessdate=November 28, 2023}} College administrators said they were unable to pay due to debt accumulated under previous administrations so Muskogee County District Judge Timothy King authorized having the campus auctioned to satisfy the judgment in April of 2023. MHEC rescinded its request to auction the college at that point but, after declining an offer to be paid over time, pursued foreclosure again in November of 2023, getting an auction date set for December 14, 2023. One day before the auction, it was called off; however, the school had already laid off the bulk of its teachers in anticipation and was trying to get its students enrolled in other colleges for the next semester.{{cite web |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/campus/2023/12/13/bacone-college-in-muskogee-gets-another-reprieve-as-auction-called-off/71912433007/ |title=Sheriff's auction of Bacone College in Muskogee called off the day before it was to happen |first=Murray |last=Evans |publisher=The Oklahoman |date=December 13, 2023 |accessdate=December 13, 2023}}{{cite web|url= https://www.fox23.com/news/video-bacone-college-calls-off-planned-auction-last-minute/video_6e5ce6e0-c915-5e2a-a203-f0b04fd3e7a0.html |title= Bacone College interim president speaks out after a planned auction was called off last minute|publisher=Fox23 News, December 14, 2023|accessdate=December 16, 2023}} Classes were also suspended for the spring 2024 semester. The administration hoped the shutdown was temporary but had to raise significant funds to avoid permanent closure.

Following a leadership change in April 2024, college leaders announced that nine students would be graduating on May 11 and that a "detailed revitalization plan" allowed the college to continue operating.{{cite web|url= https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/indigenous/bacone-college-is-not-closing-board-announces-leadership-change/article_e9ebe06e-fe87-11ee-8390-af66038efeee.html |title= 'Bacone College is not closing'; board announces leadership change|publisher=Tulsa World, April 20, 2024|accessdate=April 21, 2024}} Two months later, however, college leader filed for bankruptcy and announced plans for the college to remain closed for the 2024-2025 academic year to reorganize. They hope to merge with or be acquired by another institution.

File:Ataloa lodge bacone.jpg

One of the first buildings to be erected was Rockefeller Hall, a three-story building made possible by a $10,000 contribution from philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. "Old Rock," as it came to be called, served as classroom, dormitory, dining hall, chapel, teacher quarters and administration building. It was razed in 1938 and a Memorial Chapel was built in its place. That was destroyed by fire but was reconstructed in the 1990s. The historic buildings of the campus contribute to the Bacone College Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

The campus contains many other reminders of Bacone's history, tradition, and goals. One of these is a small cemetery, the final resting place of Bacone presidents Almon C. Bacone (1880–1896) and Benjamin D. Weeks (1918–1941), as well as others associated with the school. A "stone bible" sculpture marks the spot on which President Bacone and Joseph Samuel Murrow and Daniel Rogers, two Baptist missionaries and trustees, knelt in prayer to dedicate the college. The names of all the college's presidents are inscribed on its surface.

Other structures on campus include The Indian Room at the Bacone College Library, which holds many of the papers of Almon C. Bacone; and, the McCombs Gallery, which features a large cross-section of Native American art. This includes artwork by Richard "Dick" West (Southern Cheyenne), an alumnus, former director of the art department and professor emeritus. This artist is best known for his traditional Plains-style artwork. The gallery also holds work by Woody Crumbo (Citizen Potawatomi), the only American Indian to receive a Julius Rosenwald Fellowship. Collectively, the modernist Flatstyle painting movement developed by Blue Eagle, Crumbo, West, and others is known as the Bacone school.

In 2011 Bacone College acquired the Northpointe Shopping Center, which it renamed the Bacone Commons. The college moved the campus library and important offices there.{{Cite news |last=Writer |first=Wendy Burton Phoenix Staff |date=September 4, 2011 |title=Bacone begins expansion, remodeling of Northpointe Shopping Center |language=en |work=Muskogee Phoenix |url=https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/archives/bacone-begins-expansion-remodeling-of-northpointe-shopping-center/article_8ab6377d-6930-55eb-9b8f-d1cd51296a3f.html |access-date=2023-04-20}}

Bacone College has three centers to help fulfill its historic mission of American Indian and Christian education.

Center for American Indians:

• Preservation of the American Indian Collections at Bacone College.
• Coordination of American Indian degrees and cultural programs.
• Research related to the future of American Indian education and collections in higher education.

Center for Christian Ministry:

• The broad umbrella for spiritual life on campus that helps the college to fulfill its mission as a four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the American Baptist Churches.

Center for Church Relations:

• As Baptist churches support the college with students and scholarships, this center develops leaders for evangelization. It also provides training to non-traditional learners through online and off-campus education, assisting churches in their growth, providing music and preaching/teaching ministry to churches for special events, and continuing education for church leaders.

Initiated by Mary “Ataloa” Stone McLendon after her arrival at Bacone in 1927, the Bacone Indian Art Program became nationally known for its association with respected Native American artists such as W. “Dick” West, Acee Blue Eagle and Woody Crumbo.{{cite web|url= https://www.hcn.org/issues/51.12/education-can-bacone-college-reclaim-its-roots-as-a-center-for-native-art |title=Can Bacone College reclaim its roots as a center for Native art? |date=July 21, 2019 |publisher=Graham Lee Brewer, High Country News, July 21, 2019|accessdate=January 25, 2022}} It fostered that school of Native American art that came to be known as the ‘’Bacone style”. The college possesses the Ataloa Lodge Museum, built in 1932 and housing more than 20,000 pieces of traditional and contemporary Native American art, including the largest collection of Kachina dolls in the country.{{cite web|url= https://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.306 |title=Ataloa Lodge Museum|publisher=TravelOK.com|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}{{cite web|url= https://www.bacone.edu/ataloa/ |title=Ataloa Lodge's Kachina Doll Collection|publisher=Bacone College|accessdate=January 25, 2022}} The fireplace of the lodge is constructed of stones sent to the college from various indigenous communities, and includes rocks from the grave of Sitting Bull, and from the field where Custer made his last stand. In January, 2022, the college officially opened the VanBuren Sunshine Gallery, being exhibition space in McCombs Hall used to display new student art.{{cite web|url= https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/art-scene-jewish-museum-hosts-four-new-exhibits-new-series-of-i-cant-workshops-at/article_160603c6-7944-11ec-acfe-ab99fbb9dc0b.html |title=Art Scene: Jewish Museum hosts four new exhibits; new series of 'I Can't' workshops at TCC|date=January 23, 2022 |publisher=James D. Watts Jr., Tulsa World, January 23, 2022|accessdate=January 25, 2022}}

The Bacone athletic teams are called the Warriors. The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing as an NAIA Independent within the Continental Athletic Conference since the 2019–20 academic year. The Warriors previously competed in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC) from 2015–16 to 2018–19; and in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) from 1998–99 to 2014–15. The Bacone football team competed in the Central States Football League (CSFL) until the sport was discontinued after the 2018 fall season (2018–19 academic year).

Bacone competes in 11 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf and soccer; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball and volleyball. Former sports included football, wrestling, and rodeo.

The Bacone baseball team won the Junior College World Series in 1967; a school with total enrollment of 250 competed with schools that had over 20,000. They were led by coach Enos Semore, who went on to coach at Oklahoma for 23 years.

Because of financial difficulties, in 2018 Bacone dropped its football, volleyball, golf, wrestling and rodeo teams. After several tribes agreed to charter the college in 2019 and ensure its survival, the college reopened.

As of February 2020, the college has the following sponsored sports returned: men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball, men's and women's soccer, and men's and women's cross country teams.

• Dean Chavers (Lumbee), President 1978–81

• Jimmy Anderson (Muscogee), artist, musician, and preacher
• Thomas Banyacya (Hopi), traditionalist and activist
• Don Chandler, class of 1954, professional football player
• Eddie Chuculate (Muscogee/Cherokee), author
• Adee Dodge (Navajo), linguist, painter, Navajo code-talker{{Cite web |title=Adee Dodge |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095724637 |access-date=2022-08-23 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en}}
• Franklin Gritts (UKB Cherokee), artist and art director of the Sporting News
• Enoch Kelly Haney (Seminole/Muscogee), Class of 1962. Politician, artist, and sculptor
• Sharron Ahtone Harjo (Kiowa), artist and educator
• Timothy Hill, professional baseball pitcher
• Patrick J. Hurley, soldier, statesman, and diplomat
• Ruthe Blalock Jones (Delaware/Shawnee/Peoria) painter, printmaker and artist.
• Edward E. McClish, soldier and guerrilla leader in the Philippines during World War II.
• Joseph Medicine Crow (High Bird) (Crow), tribal historian, author, and war chief
• Jack C. Montgomery (Cherokee), World War II Medal of Honor recipient
• Alexander Posey (Muscogee), writer and humorist
• Daniel Roberts, NAIA All-American wrestler; professional mixed martial artist{{cite web|title=Daniel Roberts UFC|date=September 14, 2018 |url=http://www.ufc.com/news/Welcome-To-The-UFC-Danny-Roberts}}
• Willard Stone, sculptor, attended Bacone, later received honorary degree
• Tyler Thomas, Canadian Football League player
• David E. Williams (Kiowa/Tonkawa/Kiowa Apache) artist

• Acee Blue Eagle (Muscogee Creek), artist, Art Department Director, 1935–1938
• Woody Crumbo (Citizen Potawatomi), artist, Art Department Director, 1938–1941 and 1943–1945Hunt, David C. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CR021.html Crumbo, Woodrow Wilson (1912-1989)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018201243/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CR021.html |date=October 18, 2010 }} Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture (retrieved 30 August 2009)
• Ruthe Blalock Jones (Shawnee/Peoria), painter and printmaker, Art Department Director
• Mary Stone McLendon (Chickasaw) educator, storyteller, and musician, founder of the Art Department and first director, 1932–1935{{Cite web|last=Elder|first=Tamara R.|title=Ataloa (Mary Stone McLendon)|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AT007|access-date=2020-06-22|website=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture}}
• Enos Semore, baseball, basketball, track, PE and intramural coach; head baseball coach Oklahoma 1968–89
• W. Richard West Sr. (Southern Cheyenne), painter and sculptor, Art Department Director, 1947–1970

{{Gallery

|title=Buildings from the Bacone Campus

|width=200 | height=180 |align=center

|footer=

|File:Bacone Muskogee Starr Dorm 4-2025.jpg|1923 Walter Starr brick residence hall, seen in April 2025

|File:Bacone Muskogee Brick Buildings 4-2025.jpg|1922 Lucy Peters Hall (left) and 1923 Poloke-Bosen Hall in April 2025. Note the façade of Poloke-Bosen is the same as Walter Starr except in reverse order.

|File:Bacone Muskogee Wacoche McCombs 4-2025.jpg|McCombs Hall from 1938 (on left) and Wacoche Hall from 1924, in April 2025

}}

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Muskogee County, Oklahoma

{{Reflist}}

• Lisa K. Neuman, Indian Play: Indigenous Identities at Bacone College. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2013.

• {{Official website|http://www.bacone.edu}}
• [http://www.baconeathletics.com Official athletics website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318201044/https://www.baconeathletics.com/ |date=March 18, 2022 }}

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