Harry Birdwell: National FFA President 1969–70
Oklahoma · No. 43 of 100 · National FFA President 1969–70
At a Glance
- Office: National FFA President, 1969–70 (No. 43 of 100)
- Home state: Oklahoma, from Fletcher
- Education: Oklahoma State University (journalism and broadcasting), University of Oklahoma (law degree)
- Later work: Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives, investment banking, Oklahoma State University administration and athletics, Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office
- Recognition: Rhodes Scholar nominee; Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame
Harry Birdwell is one of the clearest examples in the list of National FFA presidents of a career that moved from the farm-town chapter into the center of a state’s institutions. A product of Fletcher, Oklahoma, he led the national organization in 1969–70, then spent decades in chambers of commerce, electric cooperatives, finance, a major university’s administration and state government.
Growing Up in Fletcher
The Oklahoma Higher Education Heritage Society (OHEHS), which inducted him into its Hall of Fame, says Birdwell grew up in Fletcher and was involved in many FFA projects there. Fletcher is a small Comanche County town in southwest Oklahoma, the kind of rural community that supplied many of the organization’s early national officers. Oklahoma has long been one of FFA’s most productive states for national presidents, and Birdwell is one of several Oklahomans on the roll between the 1930s and today.
The National Presidency, 1969–70
Birdwell was elected national president in 1969 and served through the 1969–70 year. It was a distinctive moment in FFA’s history. In 1969 delegates voted to give women full membership privileges, ending the boys-only restriction that had been in place since 1930. The same year-end convention period saw the organization continuing the work of absorbing the New Farmers of America after the two groups merged in 1965. Birdwell’s term therefore sat in the middle of a transition from the older, all-male FFA to the much broader organization it became.
Beyond the office itself, the public record on his term is thin, and this page does not claim details a source does not give.
Education
Birdwell earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism and broadcasting from Oklahoma State University and later a law degree from the University of Oklahoma. While at OSU he served as student body president and was nominated as a Rhodes Scholar, according to OHEHS.
Career
OHEHS lists a wide-ranging professional record, though it does not date most of the early steps:
- Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce: general manager, the start of his career.
- Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives: executive director, a role that placed him in Oklahoma’s rural-utility world.
- Investment banking: a period as an investment banker.
- Oklahoma State University: vice president of business and external relations, later director of athletics, and at times chief information officer and chief financial officer. OHEHS places his OSU years at 1989 to 2005.
- Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office: secretary to the commissioners during the administration of Governor Mary Fallin.
At Oklahoma State
OHEHS credits Birdwell with overseeing construction and technology upgrades across every classroom building, modernizing student housing and building athletic facilities, work it totals at more than $450 million. As athletic director, it says, he launched OSU’s first comprehensive upgrade of its athletic venues, balanced a budget that had been in the red for a decade and began what it calls the most successful era in Cowboy football history.
He was also part of the university’s communications response to the January 2001 airplane crash that killed ten people associated with the men’s basketball program, one of the most painful days in the school’s history.
At the Land Office
The Commissioners of the Land Office manage Oklahoma’s school-land trust. According to OHEHS, Birdwell managed the agency’s land, mineral interests and investment trusts as secretary, and helped double distributions to the state’s public schools and universities compared with any other eight-year period in state history.
Recognition
Birdwell is a member of the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame, which is run by the OHEHS. The page does not give the induction year.
Why His Story Matters
For students reading the list of National FFA presidents, Birdwell is a reminder that the presidency often leads away from production agriculture and toward public service, institutions and management. His path ran through a student-government presidency, a rural-utility association and a state land trust, all places where the skills FFA teaches — public speaking, parliamentary procedure, and working with an elected board — are daily tools.