Harold Verne Keith (April 8, 1903 – February 24, 1998) was a

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

-winning

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

writer. Keith was born and raised in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, where he also lived and died. The state was his abiding passion and he used Oklahoma as the setting for most of his sixteen published books.

Early life and education

Harold Keith was born on April 8, 1903 in Lambert,

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...

to Malcom A. and Arlyn Lee Keith. Keith published his first written work, a short story, in ''Lone Scout'' magazine in 1917, when he was 14 years old. Keith graduated Lambert High School in 1921. He attended Northwestern State Teachers College (later renamed as

Northwestern Oklahoma State University Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU) is a public university in Alva, Oklahoma, with satellite campuses in Enid, Oklahoma, Enid and Woodward, Oklahoma, Woodward. It offers both bachelor's and master's degrees. History In 1897, a normal ...

) and the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, earning a bachelor's degree in history from the latter in 1929, and a master's in history in 1938. Keith also sports editor for the student newspaper during his studies at the University of Oklahoma starting in 1930. During the work for his master's thesis he interviewed 22 veterans of the Civil War who lived in the area, titling his thesis as: '' Clem Rogers and His Influence on Oklahoma History''.

Career

From 1922 to 1923, he was a teacher in the Aorita Consolidated School System. Keith served as the

first sports publicist from 1930 to 1969. During his tenure at the University of Oklahoma, Keith collected a variety of sports information honors. Keith retired from work at the University of Oklahoma to become a full-time writer, which remained his profession for the rest of his life. In 1987 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. A champion long-distance runner for Sooner coach John Jacobs in 1928, Keith had a continuing interest in running which continued long into retirement. He died in

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...

of congestive heart failure on February 24, 1998, just before the publication and printing of his last book, ''Chico and Dan''.

Legacy

Keith was awarded the 1958

for his historical novel ''

Rifles for Watie ''Rifles for Watie'' is a children's novel by American writer Harold Keith. It was first published in 1957, and received the Newbery Medal the following year. Set during the American Civil War, the plot revolves around the fictional sixteen-year ...

'', which is based on the interviews he conducted for his Master's thesis. ''Rifles for Watie'' also won the 1964

Lewis Carroll Shelf Award The Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was an American literary award conferred on several books annually by the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education annually from 1958 to 1979. Award-winning books were deemed to "belong on the same shelf" ...

. On May 3, 2015, Norman Public Library Central was added to the United For Libraries Literary Landmarks Register for displaying Keith's 1958 Newbery Award medal in their children's section of the library since 1993. The

libraries' Western History Collection includes the Harold Keith Collection, containing personal records, personal correspondence, professional correspondence, typescripts, manuscripts, financial records, and memorabilia from 1900 to 1993. The collection consists of 20 boxes plus an oversized items collection, which includes such items as artwork by Keith and his children, and full issues of several magazines in which Keith published short stories.

Works

Published works

*1917: Short story, published in ''Lone Scout'' magazine *1937: ''Will Rogers, a Boy's Life'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell *1941: ''Sports and Games'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell *1948: ''Oklahoma Kickoff: An Informal History of the First 25 years of Football at the

, and the Amusing Hardships That Attended It'', self-published by the author in

*1951: ''A Pair of Captains'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell *1957: ''

'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell (1958

Newbery Award The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

) *1964: ''Baptism of Fire'', Pub by Science Research Associate *1965: ''Komantcia'', Jacket by Thomas Y. Crowell (ISBN B002WWDP10) *1971: ''Brief Garland'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell () *1971: ''The Runt of Rogers School'', Pub by Lippincott () *1972: ''Go, Red, go!'', Pub by T. Nelson () *1976: ''Sports and Games'', Pub by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

Children's Books; Sixth/Rev edition () *1976: ''Susy's Scoundrel'', Pub by

New American Library The New American Library (also known as NAL) is an American publisher based in New York, founded in 1948. Its initial focus was affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works as well as popular and pulp fiction, but it now publishe ...

(1974

Spur Award Spur Awards are literary prizes awarded annually by the Western Writers of America (WWA). The purpose of the Spur Awards is to honor writers for distinguished writing about the American West. The Spur awards began in 1953, the same year the WWA wa ...

) *1977: ''The Obstinate Land: Cherokee Strip Run of 1893'', Pub by Thomas Y. Crowell () *1978: ''Oklahoma Kickoff: An Informal History of the First 25 Years of Football at the

, and of the Amusing Hardships That Attended It'', Pub by Univ of Oklahoma Pr () *1984: ''Forty-Seven Straight: The Wilkinson Era at Oklahoma'', Pub by Univ of Oklahoma Pr () *1992: ''The Sound of Strings: Sequel to Komantcia'', Pub by Levite of Apache Pub () *1998: ''Chico and Dan'', Pub by Eakin Press ()

Cassette recordings

*1999:

, narrator: Tom Stechschulte, Pub by Recorded Books LLC () *1999:

unabridged, narrator: Tom Stechschulte, Pub by Recorded Books LLC ()

References

External links

Harold Keith 1987 inductee
Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Harold Verne 1903 births 1998 deaths American children's writers American historical novelists American male long-distance runners American male novelists Newbery Medal winners People from Alfalfa County, Oklahoma University of Oklahoma alumni 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers