76 facts about OU President David Boren for his 76th birthday

OU President David Boren celebrates his 76th birthday today. To celebrate, we collected a list of 76 fun facts about the man who has served OU as president for more than two decades.

1. Birthday: April 21, 1941
2. Birthplace: Washington, D.C. (Lyle Boren was a Oklahoma Congressman when President Boren was born)
3. Parents: Lyle and Christine Boren
4. Spouse: Molly Shi Boren
5. Siblings: One younger sister, Susan Boren
6. Children: Dan Boren and Carrie Boren
7. Closest adviser: Molly Shi Boren (Molly Shi Boren has been a judge, a lawyer and an educator)
8. Nickname: D-Bo
9. Pet: a West Highland Terrier named Sunny
10. Role models: Both parents
11. Father was a U.S. Congressman from the State of Oklahoma
12. Aunt (Mae Axton Boren) wrote “Heartbreak Hotel”
13. Member of the First Christian Church in Norman
14. Favorite job: Being president of the University of Oklahoma
15. Grew up in Seminole, Oklahoma
16. Favorite activities as a child: Bowling, touch football
17. Childhood fun fact: Sat on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s lap when he came through Oklahoma
18. Favorite book: The Bible
19. Favorite book on political philosophy: “On Liberty” by John Stuart Mill
20. Favorite movie: “To Kill A Mockingbird”
21. Favorite composers: Aaron Copland and Gustav Mahler
22. Favorite type of art: French Impressionism
23. Favorite sculptor: Auguste Rodin
24. Favorite color: Blue
25. Favorite saying: “Do right and fear not”
26. Favorite meal: Chicken fried steak, gravy and okra (which he can no longer have)
27. Favorite animal: Dog
28. Favorite U.S. President: Abraham Lincoln
29. Favorite holiday: Thanksgiving
30. Favorite activities: Reading, hiking, travel, gardening (to a lesser degree)
31. First car: Old Southwestern Bell telephone company Ford — used car
32. High schools: Seminole High School and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland
33. College: Yale University
34. Member of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University
35. Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, University of Oxford
36. Rowed crew at Oxford
37. Law school: University of Oklahoma
38. First job in school: Student intern for Edward R. Murrow (journalist when Murrow was Director of U.S. Information Agency)
39. First job after graduating: Opened a law office in Seminole and was a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University
40. Captain and Company Commander in Oklahoma Army National Guard
41. Youngest governor in United States (33 years old) when inaugurated in 1975
42. Started first public school classes for gifted and talented students
43. Helped author the Oklahoma Open Meeting and Open Record Acts
44. Longest serving chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee
45. First person in state history to be Governor, U.S. Senator and president of the University of Oklahoma
46. Favorite thing about OU: Being with students
47. Favorite OU tradition: Singing the OU Chant at the end of events
48. Celebrated 50 years of public service in 2017
49. Recent endeavors: Boren worked to raise the state sales tax by a penny to raise money for education. The initiative did not pass in the 2016 election.
50. Part Cherokee, but not enough to be a voting member of the tribe. Molly Shi Boren is a voting member of the Choctaw tribe.
51. Favorite place to be: Oklahoma
52. Coffee or tea: Coffee
53. Favorite song: “Send in the Clowns”
54. Favorite spot on campus: Bizzell Library’s Great Reading Room
55. Favorite restaurant on Campus Corner: Othello’s
56. Most memorable football game since his time here: 2000 OU-Texas Game where OU won 63-14
57. Favorite music genres: Classical and Folk
58. Favorite place to travel abroad: Istanbul
59. Something that he loves that not many people know about: Listening to music
60. Favorite part about living on campus: Being near the students
61. Likes most about getting to teach a class at OU: The interchange of ideas with students
62. Family traditions: Celebrating Thanksgiving together
63. If he could do one thing as a kid again: Play kick the can again
64. Favorite poet: Robert Frost
65. Favorite author: Ernest Hemingway
66. President to have dinner with: Harry Truman
67. Favorite thing about his wife: Her good heart
68. Favorite place to visit in the U.S.: San Francisco
69. Most interesting person he’s met: Nelson Mandela, with whom he also had dinner when Mandela made his first U.S. visit.
70. He and his wife have been married 39 years.
71. What makes him most proud of OU: It is a place where we care about each other
72. Rainy days or sunny days: Rainy days
73. Boren is uncle to Janna Ryan, wife of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
74. He was in Army ROTC in Yale and later joined the Army Reserve and National Guard.
75. He was appointed to former President Barack Obama’s top secret Intelligence Advisory Board in 2009.
76. His favorite musicians are John Denver, Joan Baez and Toby Keith.

See a fact we missed? Tweet at @OUDaily and share one you think should be included in the list.