LONGTIME CANEY VALLEY EDUCATOR AND VOLUNTEER HOLLY C. WARD REMEMBERED
Longtime educator and community leader Holly C. Ward (left) passed away last week. Visitation is set for 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Holly C. Ward Gymnasium in Ramona. Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday in the gym.
By Mike Tupa
Feb. 2, 2026
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost
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While still in his early 30’s, Holly Ward faced a crossroads.
He chose the harder path.
And that made all the difference — not only to him but to the thousands of students he mentored or influenced during a half-century in the Ramona area.
His life’s journey — which lasted 86 years — ended last weekend.
Ward left behind a wealth of friendships and admirers — and a lasting impact.
His name is emblazoned in giant letters on the basketball fieldhouse on the Caney Valley High School grounds, a permanent reminder of this quiet dynamo as long as the building stands.
But more importantly his influence is carved in the hearts and memories of those he met and helped when their paths converged, whether for a brief stretch or nearly a lifetime.
“I think he leaves a legacy of how much he cared about Caney Valley, the kids and athletics,” said Copan Schools Superintendent Chris Smith, a Caney Valley graduate. “I think that’s why they named the gym after him. … He loved that school and the community. … If I had a couple of minutes with him now I’d really want to thank him for making a difference in my life.”
Smith labeled Ward and Doris, his wife of approximately 60 years, as “Good Christian people. Salt of the earth people. They’re part of that original group. There’s not that many that are like them left that have so much commitment to one area.”
“As far as lasting legacy, he was Mr. Caney Valley,” said current Caney Valley head girls basketball coach Deric Longan.
Not only commitment to an area — but a genuine yearning to help or guide others in the right way.
Ward wasn’t the smilingest person. His honesty could cut to the bone — he could be as frank as a truckload of hot dogs or as authoritative as a situation demanded.
“Whether you wanted it or not, he was honest,” said current Caney Valley head boys basketball coach Tug Brinker. “If you asked him a question, he was going to answer you whether you wanted to hear it or not.”
Love, concern and a willingness to pitch in were the roots of his personality and character.
He was always interested in our basketball team,” Brinker said. “He came in and offered to help me for free. He was very supportive. … He was always willing to help you if you needed anything.”
Ward simply wanted things to be done the right way and for individuals to push themselves to live up to their best potential, whether in sports or in their studies.
A mini-epithet that might sum up Ward in two words: “He cared.”
Often, the true make-up of a person is revealed in countless experiences.
Former Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise photographer Becky Burch recalled a couple of telling incidents.
One of them occurred while she was photographing a game in the Caney Valley gym.
As she skirted around the edge of the playing surface, she was startled to hear a voice over the intercom reminding people not to walk on the floor in street shoes.
She looked over at the announcer’s table and saw Ward looking at her. She gave him a thumbs up and he waved back, flashing a little smile.
“I wasn’t embarrassed,” recalls Burch. “He was right and, he was just being his honest self.”
On another occasion, Burch and her husband Joe Slack went to a cemetery in Ramona to take a photo of a tombstone.
She didn’t know where it was located and she saw Ward — who did upkeep on the cemetery during the summer.
“While I was looking around, he came up and said, ‘Hey, Becky,’” Burch recalled. “I gave him the name and he knew right where it was.”
Prior to that, “I just knew him through working for the newspaper and taking photos for the Caney Valley (basketball) tourney,” Burch said. “For a long time I saw him as this stern man who I didn’t know how to approach. One day I got talking to him and it seemed he kind of warmed up to me. I think he was a great man.”
“When you thought of Holly Ward, you thought of a hard worker,” said Donnie Scott, a Caney Valley graduate and later a head coach for the school. “He was a great Christian man. He did a lot for the community as well as the school. He was always moving and shaking. The word ‘delegating’ wasn’t in his vocabulary. … If something needed to be done he went and got it done.”
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The Caney Valley Public Schools basketball gymnasium bears Holly C. Ward’s name.
Photo courtesy of BartlesvilleRadio
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The twist of irony is that Ward almost never worked in the Caney Valley school system.
He grew up and flourished in Ramona in the 1940s and 1950s.
He was part of a juggernaut of scrappy, tough, talented athletes from the Ward clan — brothers and cousins — that put Ramona on the sports map.
Some of them included Holly, David, Gary, Don and Ben.
Gary Ward went on to become a legendary college baseball coach, primarily at Oklahoma State.
David Ward won multiple state baseball championships at Wynnewood High School.
Don Ward coached at Ochelata and taught at Neosho until he died in the classroom.
Another cousin, Dennis Ward, would grow up in Bartlesville and eventually be drafted in the early 1960s by both leagues — by the Philadelphia Eagles (116th) and the Kansas City Chiefs (104th).
In 1958, Holly Ward left behind his idyllic boyhood days to attend college at Oklahoma Baptist.
Five years later he migrated to Missouri to teach and coach at a high school of 500 students. He led both the boys basketball and baseball teams and assisted in track and also served as the athletic director.
In the early 1970s Ward decided to move back home to Washington County.
But not as an educator.
For the next 11 years — well into his 40s — he worked in private enterprise.
Then came the crossroads. The year was 1982.
During an interview several years ago Ward recalled: “There was an opening for a principal at Caney Valley and I said I wasn’t interested at first. … But, I said to myself, "I've got a Master’s degree (in education) and I might as well use it for what it's worth.”
Ward sold his business and plunged into the education riptide.
The scenario had changed quite a bit in the 24 years since he had graduated from Ramona High School.
A larger high school had been built in Ramona, which consolidated Ramona and schools from surrounding communities into the new Caney Valley High School.
Ward rolled up his sleeves and went to work. During the next 20 years he would miss only one day of work.
“As an administrator now, I can see all the things he was dealing with,” said Smith. “I promise that when people get into an administrative role, you’ve got to really love it.”
“He was the hardest working principal I ever knew or worked for,” Scott said. “He never sat down. Not only was he the principal, he also was the athletic director, the transportation director and the coach. … He was just an honest guy. He was a straight shooter. He knew who to deal with students and parents. Sometimes they didn’t want to hear what he wanted to say, but he’d tell them the truth.”
One of the truths supported was the building of a new basketball fieldhouse in 1990.
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Holly C. Ward spent many years helping run the popular Caney Valley Tournament each January.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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Within a couple of years, Ward organized an annual basketball tournament to showcase the gym.
While other area tournaments have come and gone, the Caney Valley tourney is still going strong more than 30 years later.
Ward took special pride in the hospitality room, including locating it right next to the gym in the adjacent weight room.
It was well-stocked — mostly with home made main courses — five days a week, accommodating coaches and assistant coaches from 16 teams, tournament volunteers, game officials and media.
Ward, meanwhile, handled all the court side announcing duties for all the Caney Valley games as well as many other tourney games.
For decades Ward oversaw every aspect of the tourney. It was a family after as well — his brother Roman worked the admission table and his brother Terry kept the scorebook.
For a long while, the Ward brothers worked every Caney Valley home game, not just the tournament. Their mother also regularly attended games.
But Ward took as much pride in the academic achievements of Caney Valley, including winning five state titles in academic competitions.
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Holly C. Ward, left, and his brother Terry Ward work the Caney Valley Tournament scorer’s table several years ago.
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In an article several years ago in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Ward said he wanted to be remembered “as a guy that was honest, hard-working and fair. A guy who enjoyed sports but who believed you ought to toe the line.”
These themes were weaved in some of the comments by those who knew him.
“He was such a fixture for so many years before I was there,” said current head girls basketball coach Deric Longan. “He always had a great insight on basketball in general and he was always supportive of everything Caney Valley.”
Longan also respected Ward’s honesty.
“In one of the conversations during my first year as coach he let me know how good my team was not,” Longan said. “Several years later, in the same honest scenario, he said, ‘Coach, this team might do something.’”
“Holly was just a Caney Valley icon,” said Smith. “One thing I remember is how much he really loved basketball … and loved talking about it. Plus, he was a family friend.”
Ward’s caring for the school and student-athletes is probably why the gym was named in his honor, Smith said.
He also credits Ward for helping him choose his career path.
Scott talked about Ward’s many hats, including selling candy, filling the pop machine and stepping in to help with serving lunch or cleaning up, if needed.
“He’d sub in, fill in for a cook, grab a mop and or whatever,” Scott said. “He knew what work was all about.”
He also tried to be a mentor and bridge-builder for the youth, Scott said.
“He was a good dad to his kids. … He treated all the kids as if they were his kids,” Scott continued. “It didn’t matter what you needed, he would help you.”
Ward’s journey has now ended. Health issues prevented him the past few years from being as physically involved.
But he continued to be interested, Scott said.
Ward is gone, the legend, memories and gratitude remain.
He was born to be a teacher. He was born to be a leader. He was born to try to make his hometown the best it could be.
His chosen path proved to be a circle as far as geography. As far as service to others he climbed toward the top of the mountain called usefulness and carried or encouraged others to follow.
Visitation is set for 5-7 p.m. Friday at the Holly C. Ward Gymnasium in Ramona. Funeral services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday in the gym.