Ray Soldan

Without Ray Soldan, much of the history of high school basketball in Oklahoma would have been lost forever. For 23 years, he was the man at the helm of state high school basketball coverage. Early in his career, Soldan created the first ever rating system for basketball and high school track.

Beginning as a sports editor of his weekly high school newspaper in Salina, Kansas, Soldan continued his talent at the University of Kansas as the campus paper editor. After graduating from KU from the William Allen White School of Journalism in 1951, he landed his first job as a wire editor of the Beatrice, Nebraska, Daily Sun. Six months later, he accepted the sports editor position with the Lawton Constitution in Oklahoma.

After a six month stint in Lawton, he joined the sports staff at the Daily Oklahoman and was used mainly as desk help for the 1952 football season and his lone writing assignment was the Oklahoma City Kennel Club dog show. In 1952, he covered the basketball season opener at Northeast High School, which led to his sports writing legacy.

From 1952-1965, he covered high school basketball coverage in Oklahoma and later from 1965-1975 he was assigned to cover college sports. He returned in '75 to the preps by his own choosing in time for the start of the 1975 basketball season. He remained covering basketball until his retirement in 1985.

Soldan also covered high school football, where his efforts would recognize him as one of Oklahoma's prominent high school football experts. His various sport rankings not only recorded the history of each sport, the added attention helped motivate Oklahoma's young athletes to ever greater achievement. He has covered over 1,000 football games in 40 years.

He selected players to All-State teams in football, basketball and baseball, selecting future professional athletes such as Bobby Murcer and Johnny Bench. During his 10 years at the college desk, he earned the distinction of being one of only two sportswriters to cover this century's "Big Three" college football games: the Notre Dame and Michigan State 10-10 tie for a National Championship; Texas at Arkansas for the 1960 National Championship; and the 1971 Oklahoma-Nebraska "Game of the Century".

Soldan was named Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year in 1959 by the National Sportscaster/Sportswriter Association, and earned a special recognition award from the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1976. In 1988, he received the Amateur Football Award by the Oklahoma chapter of the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.