THE LION DAN STORY (By Linda Hughes and Nancy Rothman) Dan Crawford is an Attorney in Tulsa Oklahoma, and is known and honored for his selfless single-handed dedication to the survival of the Oklahoma Lions Boys Ranch. (OLBR). There many accomplishments of Dan as they relate the Boys Ranch. Most recently and most notably, he single-handedly negotiated the transfer of 600 acres of the Ranch to the Lions of Oklahoma after 60 years of ‘renting,’ using only good will as the currency for the transaction. Dan convinced the owners to give this million dollar piece of land to the Lions of Oklahoma in perpetuity. Prior to this, a major accomplishment of Dan’s was to lobby the State legislature for an increase in State funds for the Ranch’s operational budget. The Boys Ranch, known as a level C facility, has always received a small stipend from the state for keeping some DHS custody children. This amount had not been raised in over 20 years. Without an increase to help with the rising costs of raising children, the Ranch was headed towards the closure of yet another boys’ home. Dan made several trips to the Capitol, wrote hundreds of emails and persuaded the Lions of Oklahoma to join him in this. During a tumultuous last minute legislative session, in a year of declining state revenues, the Legislature voted an additional annual sum to the ‘Level C’ Lions Boys Ranch approaching 200,000 dollars per year. This has insured the Ranch’s survival for many years to come. However, it wasn’t just the Boys Ranch that saw an increase in their funds, all level C facilities across the State also received and will continue to receive additional funds to keep their facilities open as well as a direct result of Dan’s efforts. Dan became a member of the Tulsa Brookside Lions Club in 2001. It was then that he learned about the mission of the OLBR and how it intercepted teenage boys who were the victims of abuse. Dan was born in 1958 and raised in Henryetta, Oklahoma. After graduating from the University of Tulsa Law School in 1985, Lion Dan embarked on a career path that eventually led him to become a Judge for several years. As a Judge, some of Dans case load involved juveniles mixed up in criminal behavior . It was at this point that Dan had an epiphany which led him to understand how to stop juvenile crime. Dan realized that the way to halt this cycle was to stop the criminal behavior before it happens by changing the environment of troubled teens and re-educating them in the setting of a loving family environment (such as the Boys Ranch). Dan’s accomplishments are almost too numerous to mention as they relate to the Boys’ Ranch. Dan has already been recognized, not only by the Oklahoma Lions, but also by the Oklahoma Bar Association and Lions International. He has been honored with the International Melvin Jones Fellowship, as well as a three-time recipient of the Boys Ranch Distinguished Service Award. Within his profession, Dan has been honored with the ‘Outstanding Service to the Public Award’ (for 2006) given only once a year to an individual by the State Bar Association. He was also awarded a ‘Leadership in Law’ Award (for 2007) by The Oklahoma Journal. Dans first accomplishment was to get appointed to Oklahoma Lions Service Foundation at the state level as a 3 year Board of Director. During his 3 year term, he personally raised hundreds of thousands of dollars on his own, more than the other state directors combined! In 2005, Dan wrote an article which was published in The Lion International magazine entitled, ‘Oklahoma Lions Make A Difference; One Young Life At A Time.’ This 4 page article, with photos, helped to raise awareness worldwide of the unique mission of the Boys Ranch and its struggle to survive. As a result of that article, gratuitous donations from all across the country were received by the Ranch. The most significant donation came from an elderly couple in their eighties who were childless. This couple was so moved by the story of the Ranch, that they pledged their entire estate to the Boys Ranch, including their home, a condo, some real estate in Texas as well as stocks and bonds. Realizing that donations were only part of the picture to the Ranch’s survival, in 2006 he developed a project humorously nicknamed ‘AAA’ (Anxious About Angus). Dan single-handedly encouraged competition among the state’s top breeding ranches to see who could donate the best pure-bred Angus heifers to the Ranch, so as to create a ‘magic’ herd that would allow the boys to raise cattle for sale as well as consumption, thus enabling the Ranch to begin the long journey towards financial self-sufficiency. He had learned that decades of poor cattle management and inbreeding had left the original Ranch herd good only for personal consumption, not re-sale. As a direct result of Dan’s efforts, dozens of pure bred registered Black and Red Angus heifers were been donated, as well as a pure bred Black Angus bull. The Ranch has now seen its first pure bred calves born on the Ranch in decades, and the sale of these Angus cattle now allow the Ranch to help pay for itself. Dan’s motto was “We sell the best and eat the rest.” This new herd produced superior cattle that were sold at market for top price. Dan’s next accomplishment for the ranch was to create a visual testament to the Ranch headquarters in Perkins, Oklahoma. What once was a blank patch of grass was slowly transformed into a vision of monumental proportions. 2 concrete lion statues, each weighing over a ton, 8 foot long and 4 foot tall, now flank the circle drive entrance. Between them stands a 42 foot long 16 feet high steel arch with a custom sign 16 feet long made out of steel that reads ‘Oklahoma Lions Boys Ranch.’ This monument can now be seen a half mile away on the highway that fronts the Ranch headquarters. Between the arch sits over 1000 memorial bricks (formed into the giant shape of Oklahoma) that can be and are now being purchased as memorials; the proceeds going to the Ranch. .
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 17:07:51 +0000
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