HOF Inductee Michael J. McGraw – Class of 1978
The Po-Hi Hall of Fame banquet will be held Thursday, Sept. 28 in Po-Hi Commons. The event will begin at 7 p.m. The induction ceremony will follow in the Ponca City Schools Concert Hall.
Tickets are $50 per person or $500 for a table of eight. Tickets are now available and can be purchased at the Administration Building, 613 East Grand Avenue.
2023 Ponca City High School Hall of Fame inductees include Lucien Clinton, Mary Young Frates, Chris LittleCook, Mike McGraw and Carol Stauffer.
Michael J. "Mike" McGraw was born April 18, 1960 in Ponca City, Oklahoma to Gervis and Pat McGraw. His siblings are Debbie, Vickie, Sherrie, Sandy, Tim and Patty. Mike attended St. Mary's grade school, East Junior High, and graduated from Ponca City High School in 1978. After graduation, Mike continued his education at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), graduating in 1982 with a degree in broadcast communications. Mike and Pamela Kaye Hicks were married in 1996.
As a golfer at UCO, McGraw was a three-year letterman. He earned honorable mention All-American recognition after finishing 16th at the 1981 NAIA Championship. He was the head coach for Edmond North for four years and led the team to three state titles. In 1997, McGraw joined Oklahoma State University as an assistant coach. McGraw was named the OSU women's head coach in 2004-2005 and guided that team to a Big 12 Championship. He became the men's head coach in 2006 and stayed at OSU through the 2012-2013 season. During his time at OSU, McGraw led Oklahoma State to five Big 12 titles and was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year five times in his eight seasons as the men's golf coach, and won the NCAA National Championship in 2006. In 2013-2014, McGraw became an assistant coach at Alabama, where he assisted head coach Jay Seawell in leading the Crimson Tide to the 2014 NCAA Championship title.
Mike McGraw started as head coach at Baylor University on June 16, 2014. In nine seasons, McGraw has led the program to unprecedented heights: 17 team titles, 13 individual titles, and 10 All-American selections. During McGraw's tenure, Baylor has earned NCAA Championship berths in five of the last seven potential championship seasons (no championship in 2020 due to COVID-19). In just his second season at Baylor, McGraw led the team to their first NCAA Championship berth since 2010. The 2017-2018 Bears finished the season ranked No- 16 nationally according to Golfstat. In 2022-2023, the Bears made their return to the post season for the 24th time in the last 25 seasons and returned to the NCAA Championship for the 5th time in seven seasons and the 1 0th time in program history.
McGraw authored a book titled Better Than I Found It, which was published in February 2017. He also spearheaded the effort to build the state-of-the-art, on-campus Billy W. Williams Golf Practice Facility, which opened to Baylor student athletes in January 2017.