Former OKC Mayor Ron Norick looks back on early days of Women's College World Series

Ron Norick used to be the most overqualified ice carrier around. 

If you don’t know what an ice carrier does, well, neither did Norick when someone from the All Sports Association asked the then-Mayor of Oklahoma City if he wanted to volunteer at the Women’s College World Series. 

“Carry ice,” Norick thought. “OK. Whatever that means.” 

In the days before locker rooms were installed at Hall of Fame Stadium, teams would keep cool under tents along the baselines before games. It was Norick’s job to make sure the tubs in the tents were filled with ice to keep waters and sports drinks cold. 

Norick said he started volunteering annually around 1990, when Oklahoma City first held the tournament. He served as mayor from 1987-98 — running the city while lugging bags of ice for a few days every summer. Turns out, carrying ice is as it sounds.

Norick’s volunteer job changed as the stadium evolved. Locker rooms were eventually built, and Norick, volunteering alongside former fire chief Gary Marrs, would stock the coolers in those. 

“They didn’t have to worry about us,” Norick said. “They did not have to worry about the locker rooms or the umpires, because they knew we’d take care of them … We knew what to do, when to do it, where to get the supplies.” 

The All Sports Association, which used to coordinate the volunteers at the Women’s College World Series, disbanded in 2018. Norick, 81, and Marrs volunteered up until the 2021 WCWS, before deciding “maybe it’s time for somebody else.” 

The Oklahoman caught up with Norick about his memories from the Women’s College World Series, and how he’s seen the event transform. 

When you volunteered in those early days, were people surprised? Like, what is the mayor doing out here carrying ice?

Norick: “They had no idea I was mayor. I didn’t tell people that. The volunteers did, because they were from Oklahoma City, but the teams, they just figured I was somebody out there hauling stuff around.” 

You were a little overqualified for the job. 

Norick: “Well, that’s kind of what they told me.”

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Did you enjoy doing that grunt work as opposed to more formal obligations?

Norick: “I probably liked that more than the formal stuff. You’re just kind of out with the people, talk to them. We (became) friends with the groundspeople, they knew we were in there early. We’d be in the dugouts, in the locker rooms getting stuff ready … You see them there year after year. ‘Oh, you’re back. Yeah, yeah, we’re back.’” 

Big-picture wise, working the event in the ‘90s to where it is now, how have you seen the Women’s College World Series transform?

Norick: “It’s unbelievable. When I first started working out there, there were no outfield seats. There was a little stand in left field, and it was basically for volunteers. And in the right field there was a trailer, and that’s where All Sports had their office at one time. There was no seating out there. Zero. Nothing was in the outfield for years. 

“Now they’ve got the whole outfield covered in stands … and those upper-deck seats, I’ve been up there, they are really good seats. Any seat out there, you’re right on top of the action.” 

The Women’s College World Series is synonymous with Oklahoma City. What do you think it’s done for the city’s profile and to host this annual event?

Norick: “When you look at what happens for the two weeks prior to the world series, when they go through the regionals, on ESPN, all they talk about is that this is ‘starting the road to Oklahoma City.’ And then they get to the super regionals. Same thing. The publicity that the city gets because of the TV coverage is phenomenal. We couldn’t buy that kind of publicity. You just couldn’t afford it. 

“I think it’s grown because the city has put the money in it to build it. Had they not done the upper deck, not done the press box, the locker rooms, we probably could’ve lost it.”

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