Oklahoma Joe: Debate arises over renaming Will Rogers airport

I’ve been to Will Rogers World Airport many times, including for a trip last week. I’m proud of its recent renovations and consider it one of the nicest in the country. I usually notice the bust of Will Rogers while walking to a gate.

When people ask where I’m flying from, I always say the Will Rogers airport in Oklahoma City.

I’m apparently in the minority.

According to news reports, an online survey of 6,000 participants showed that only 19% call it by Rogers’ name. Thus, the Oklahoma City Airport Trust is considering changing its name to go along with a rebranding campaign and redesign of the airport’s website.

Rogers is arguably the top comedian, entertainer and columnist of the 20 ^th century. His statue can be seen in the U.S. Capitol. His name is synonymous with Oklahoma.

His biography for the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, in which I serve as director, states his column “Will Rogers Says” appeared in a record 500 newspapers during the last nine years of his life.

“Through the column and personal appearances, he crusaded for improvements in and public support of aviation,” it says. It is estimated that Rogers flew 1 million miles in planes during his lifetime.

That’s amazing when considering Rogers flew in the early days of aviation. Tragically, he and pioneering aviator Wiley Post died in a plane crash on Aug. 15, 1935. Ironically, two of Oklahoma City’s airports are named after them, with the largest one named after Rogers.

“The nation entered a state of mourning that it has rarely done outside the death of presidents,” the National Air and Space Museum says on its website.

That mourning included 12,000 motion picture theaters going dark for two minutes in tribute at 2 p.m. Aug. 22, 1935. Thousands of people attended public services.

“Me and Wiley are just a couple of Oklahoma boys trying to get along,” The Oklahoman quoted Rogers as once saying during the 80 ^th anniversary of their deaths in 2015.

The Oklahoma City Airport Trust was established in 1956, 15 years after the airport was named in Rogers’ name. It is considering the name change in 2025, the 90 ^th anniversary of Rogers’ death.

The reports have prompted criticism among my Facebook friends, including Bud Elder, former Oklahoma film commissioner and creator of the “Discover Oklahoma” program.

He asked Joseph Carter, a Rogers biographer, former director of the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore and hall of fame journalist: “How stupid is this?”

Carter replied, “An outrage. Who dreamed up this ill-conceived idea?”

While the website may need redesigning, changing the airport’s name seems not only ill-conceived but could be costly.

For example, changing the name of the Las Vegas airport from McCarran to Harry Reid International Airport is estimated to cost at least $7.68 million, KLAD News Now reported earlier this year. Debate has erupted over reasons for the name change and its cost.

“The debate over changing the airport’s name polarized Republicans and Democrats in the state,” the news station reported.

We don’t need that in our state. The Airport Trust should devote part of its rebranding to educating the public about the importance of the Cherokee Nation citizen to Oklahoma and aviation history. The name change should not be based on a “brief online survey.”

Nominee, a local brand studio, has been selected to head the “comprehensive rebrand,” according to the story on the okc.gov website about the need for public input. Matt Stansberry, its founder and CEO, was correct when he said: “Will Rogers World Airport is the front door for OKC.”

That front door should continue to bear the name of “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son.”

Joe Hight is director and a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, an editor who led a Pulitzer Prize-winning project, the journalism ethics chair at the University of Central Oklahoma, president/owner of Best of Books, author of “Unnecessary Sorrow” and lead writer/editor of “Our Greatest Journalists.”

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