Oklahoma State Mourns Loss of Three-Sport Legend and Former Business Manager Dick Soergel

(This story oringinated with Oklahoma State Univeristy athlete media relations and was contributed to by Pokes Report publisher Robert Allen.)

STILLWATER – STILLWATER – Oklahoma State athletics mourns the loss of former three-sport letterman Dick Soergel, who passed away in the final week of 2023. I knew Dick Soergel from my time as a student at Oklahoma State and then later in the media business, working at Channel 4 in Oklahoma City. He was always friendly and very engaging. He never acted like a star, but in his days at Oklahoma State he was definitely a starring athlete back when it was still possible to do it in multiple sports.  

A 1956 graduate of Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City, Soergel earned nine varsity letters and could have earned more if freshmen had been eligible to play during his career. He earned three each in football, basketball and baseball and played in five NCAA postseason events.

In Soergel's three football seasons, the Cowboys were 20-10 and won the 1958 Blue Grass Bowl over Florida State, 15-6. He led the Pokes in passing for three years and was 10th in the nation in passing in 1959 with 1,102 yards. He finished his career with 2,226 passing yards and was drafted by the New England Patriots in 1960.

The Cowboys went 49-31 in Soergel's three seasons of basketball and in 1958 advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. He averaged 5.6 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in 63 games played in his career.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Soergel was a pitcher and position player in baseball.

In Soergel's three seasons for OSU baseball, the Pokes were an amazing 56-14 and went 27-5 on the way to the national title in 1959. Soergel was the winning pitcher in OSU's 1959 national championship baseball game, when he shut down Arizona over the final 5 1/3 innings to take the NCAA baseball crown, 5-3. He pitched three years for the Cowboys and in 1960 was named All-Big Eight and All-America.

During a three-year, three-sport tour at OSU, Soergel was on the winning team 125 times while losing only 55 contests, with a three-season standard of winning nearly 70 percent of the time.

Soergel also made the Dean's Honor Roll at OSU and made the academic all-conference lists for both basketball and football.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and into the Oklahoma State Athletics Hall of Honor in 1999.

Before OSU at Capitol Hill High School, Soergel won state football championships in 1953 and 1954, the 1954 state title in basketball and the 1956 baseball state title.

He graduated from OSU in 1960 with a B.S. in Business Administration and returned to Stillwater to accept the job of school business manager. He was later named assistant athletic director and held that position for 16 years.

Soergel continued to play baseball on a semi-professional team and won a national championship. In 1987, Soergel left OSU for a career in banking at Liberty National Bank and Trust and later retired in 1997.