For a relatively small corner of northeast Oklahoma, Miami and Ottawa County have had an outsized influence on American sports, music, art and entertainment.
A Baseball Hall of Famer learned to switch-hit beside a tin barn in Commerce. A future Heisman Trophy winner starred at Miami High School. A Miami-raised artist created portraits that now hang in the Oklahoma State Capitol. Two hometown musicians became members of one of America's most influential Southern rock bands.
And those are only the beginning.
Here are ten people with Miami and Ottawa County connections whose stories traveled far beyond northeast Oklahoma.
1. Mickey Mantle — The Commerce Comet
Few names in baseball history are more recognizable than
Mickey Mantle.
Born in Spavinaw in 1931, Mantle moved with his family to Commerce when he was four. There, with his father and grandfather pitching to him, he developed the ability to hit from both sides of the plate—a skill that would help define his legendary career with the New York Yankees.
Mantle debuted with the Yankees in 1951 and ultimately hit 536 regular-season home runs during an 18-year Major League career. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.
His nickname says everything about where the story began:
The Commerce Comet.
Today, visitors can see Mantle's boyhood home and the tin barn where he practiced in Commerce, just north of Miami.
2. Steve Owens — Heisman Trophy Winner
Before Steve Owens became one of the most celebrated running backs in University of Oklahoma history, he was a standout at Miami High School.
Raised in Miami, Owens went on to play for the Oklahoma Sooners from 1967–69. As a senior, he carried the ball 358 times for 1,523 yards and 23 touchdowns—and won the
1969 Heisman Trophy, becoming only the second OU player at the time to receive college football's most famous individual honor.
The Detroit Lions selected Owens in the first round of the 1970 NFL Draft. He later became the first Lions running back to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.
Miami's connection to Owens remains a prominent part of the city's sports history.
3. Charles Banks Wilson — Artist and Storyteller
Charles Banks Wilson wasn't born in Miami, but Miami helped make him the artist he became.
Born in Arkansas in 1918, Wilson grew up in Miami, attended the Art Institute of Chicago and returned to Oklahoma to establish his studio. He later founded the art department at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and became its longtime head.
Wilson became nationally known for portraits and images documenting Oklahoma and its people, particularly Native Americans. His work reached the Smithsonian, and his portraits of prominent Oklahomans became fixtures in the Oklahoma State Capitol.
Thomas Hart Benton reportedly described Wilson as
“America's finest artist-historian.”
That's an especially fitting description for an artist whose work repeatedly blurred the line between art and historical record.
4. Moscelyne Larkin — One of Oklahoma's Five Moons
Born in Miami in 1925,
Moscelyne Larkin became one of the pioneering Native American ballerinas collectively celebrated as Oklahoma's
Five Moons.
At just 15, Larkin joined the Original Ballet Russe, eventually performing internationally as a ballerina. After returning to Oklahoma, she and her husband, Roman Jasinski, helped establish the Tulsa Civic Ballet and School—the organization that evolved into today's Tulsa Ballet.
Her achievements earned her induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and national recognition in the dance world.
Her journey from Miami to international stages makes her one of the region's most remarkable artistic figures.
5. Steve Gaines — Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist
Steve Gaines was born and raised in Miami before eventually finding his way onto one of rock music's biggest stages.
A guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, Gaines joined
Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1976, after his sister Cassie helped arrange an opportunity for him to play with the band. His arrival added a new musical dimension to the group, and he contributed songs to the band's 1977 album Street Survivors.
His career was tragically short. Steve and Cassie were both killed in the October 1977 plane crash that also claimed the life of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant.
Gaines was only 28, but his work remains part of the legacy of one of Southern rock's defining bands.
6. Cassie Gaines — One of Skynyrd's Honkettes
Steve wasn't the only Gaines sibling from Miami to reach the national stage.
His older sister,
Cassie Gaines, became one of Lynyrd Skynyrd's female backing vocalists, known as the Honkettes. More than that, Cassie played a pivotal role in her brother's career: she recommended Steve when the band needed another guitarist.
That means two members of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1970s lineup came from the same family in Miami, Oklahoma.
The Dobson Museum has previously exhibited memorabilia connected to Steve and Cassie Gaines, including material documenting Steve's early music career in Oklahoma.
7. Keith Anderson — Country Singer and Songwriter
Country singer-songwriter
Keith Anderson grew up in Miami and went on to build a Nashville career both behind the microphone and behind the songs.
His debut album Three Chord Country and American Rock & Roll was certified Gold and produced hits including “Pickin' Wildflowers” and “Every Time I Hear Your Name.” But Anderson's songwriting extends beyond his own recordings. He co-wrote songs recorded by artists including Garth Brooks, George Jones, Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich.
There's even a visual hometown connection: Anderson returned to Miami to film portions of the music video for “Podunk” in front of the Coleman Theatre.
8. Joe Don Rooney — Rascal Flatts Guitarist
Just north of Miami, the former mining community of Picher produced another musician who would find enormous success in Nashville.
Joe Don Rooney was raised in Picher and became the lead guitarist and harmony vocalist for Rascal Flatts. The trio became one of the most commercially successful country groups of its era, with songs including “Bless the Broken Road,” “What Hurts the Most” and “My Wish.”
The group joined the Grand Ole Opry in 2011, while Rooney's Ottawa County roots remained part of his story.
9. Carol Littleton — The Editor Behind E.T.
You probably don't recognize Carol Littleton from the screen—and that's precisely the point.
Littleton grew up and attended school in Miami before becoming one of Hollywood's respected film editors. Her credits include Body Heat, The Big Chill, Wyatt Earp and one of the most beloved films ever made: Steven Spielberg's
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Film editors shape pacing, performance, emotion and ultimately the way an audience experiences a movie. Littleton's work on E.T. earned her an Academy Award nomination, giving Miami a fascinating connection to a landmark of American cinema.
10. David Froman — From Miami to Matlock
Television viewers of a certain generation may immediately recognize David Froman—even if they don't recognize the name.
Born in Miami, Froman studied and later taught at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College before pursuing professional acting. He appeared as Gunther Wagner on the daytime drama The Edge of Night and later became best known for his recurring role as Lt. Bob Brooks on Matlock.
After his television career, Froman returned to Miami and to NEO, eventually serving as chair of the Fine Arts Department and once again teaching young performers.
It's a fitting full-circle story: a career that began in a Miami classroom eventually returned there.
A Small Corner of Oklahoma With Some Very Big Stories
Baseball. Football. Ballet. Rock and country music. Fine art. Film. Television. The accomplishments are remarkably diverse, but the stories share a geographic thread.
Miami and the communities of Ottawa County have produced—and helped shape—people whose influence reached stadiums, concert halls, Hollywood studios, Broadway stages, museums and galleries across the country.
And there are many more stories where these came from.
The
Dobson Museum & Home preserves the people, places, artifacts and stories that make Ottawa County's history distinctive. We invite you to visit our Notable People & Preservation gallery to explore some of the personalities whose lives connected this corner of northeast Oklahoma to a much wider world.
