First National Bank of Oklahoma Donates Mats for NOC Wrestling

Northern Oklahoma College opens the 2024-25 inaugural wrestling season with the Red and Black Scrimmage set for Oct. 24 at 5 p.m.

As NOC men and women wrestlers prepare for the upcoming season, they will practice on two new mats donated by First National Bank of Oklahoma.

NOC President Diana Watkins thanked the bank for their support.

“With their contributions of time and financial support, First National Bank has been instrumental in the return of men’s wrestling and the establishment of women’s wrestling at NOC,” Watkins said.  “Having grown up in a wrestling community myself, I’m excited to offer an opportunity to students in our service area to compete at the college level in a sport they love while continuing their education. This simply would not have been possible without generous donor support.”

FNB Executive Chairman Pat Rooney added, “First National is excited and enthused to be part of returning the legacy wrestling program to Northern Oklahoma College.  Wrestling is ingrained in our state’s culture and having a successful program allows our students to be a part of that.”

The men’s program has been re-established after a 30-year absence while the women’s program is new for NOC.

“We couldn’t have done this without the support of FNB,” said men’s wrestling coach Bryan Kenney.  “Helping to support a start-up program is a huge investment of resources, time, and vision for everyone involved.  Thank you is not enough for everything that FNB has done for our wrestling program.”

The re-establishment of the men’s program and establishment of the women’s program has been in the works for a number of years with the NOC Foundation starting a fund-raising campaign in the summer of 2023.

The regular season for NOC wrestling begins Nov. 2 at the Friends (KS) Open in Wichita.  The first home dual is Nov. 16 against Carl Albert State College.

 

Northern Oklahoma College, the state’s first public two-year community college, is a multi-campus, land-grant institution that provides high quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities and services.

NOC serves nearly 4,000 students through the home campus in Tonkawa, branch in Enid, and NOC/OSU Gateway Program in Stillwater.  Of these students about 80% receive financial aid and/or scholarships. 75% of NOC students complete their degree with zero debt.

The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and offers associate degrees in three general areas: Arts, Science and Applied Science; the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs; and the Accreditation Commission for Education and Nursing.

For more information about Northern Oklahoma College please call (580) 628-6208 or visit the NOC website at www.noc.edu.