“School’s out for summer!” sang the guy with long, black hair into the microphone. “School’s out forever!” responded the crowd of hundreds who’d gathered on the patio of OMRF’s new research tower to hear him. “School’s been blown to pieces!” chanted the crowd and singer together.
In other words, it wasn’t your typical OMRF fundraiser.
Rock legend Alice Cooper visited the foundation in June to help raise funds for clinical trials of an experimental drug to treat brain cancer (go to page 10 for the full story on the trials). The events began with a wine festival and concert at the foundation, where guests enjoyed musical performances by Cooper, the Red Dirt Rangers, the Okie Stompers, Jessi Colter and Shooter Jennings. The following day, Cooper joined 143 others on the links for a tournament at Oak Tree Country Club.
Cooper, an avid golfer with a two handicap, met OMRF President Stephen Prescott at a charity golf tournament years ago, and the two became friends. So when Prescott asked Cooper to appear at the OMRF fundraiser, the man behind hits like “School’s Out” and “Eighteen” jumped at the chance.
“The Doc”—Prescott—“explained the clinical trials to me,” says Cooper, “so I said, ‘Let’s go raise the money.’”
The two-day effort, which also included a live auction, raised $690,000 for the trials. Going forward, OMRF plans to make the “241” (two events for one great cause) an annual tradition.
Cooper sees the clinical trials as a potential source of great pride for Oklahoma. “If this drug works,” he says, “I think the whole state can be proud of that. You can say, ‘We’re the ones who beat brain cancer.’” And that, says the rocker, would be “pretty good bragging rights.”
