Gregg Charles Hartney left us too soon on Tuesday, October 26, 2016. Gregg was born in Tacoma, Washington on December 5, 1949 to his mother Jennie Burns Hartney and father Charles "Chuck" Wilson Hartney, both of whom preceded him in death. Gregg's father served in the Air Force which meant Greggspent part of his childhood in France, but the family eventually settled in Wichita Falls, Texas. Although he was an accomplished runner, Gregg found his calling in the world of competitive debate. What started almost as a lark would be the start of a four decade career in speech and debate that brought light, love, and learning to thousands of students in Texas, Oklahoma, and beyond.
His journey as a coach started at R.L. Turner High School in Fort Worth. Later, he crossed the Red River and became the debate coach at Charles Page High School in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Gregg spent more than a decade in Sand Springs coaching his students to multiple state championships,traveling with them to tournaments across the United States, and most important, giving them a chance to pursue their dreams. Many of his students came from homes that while loving and supportive, couldn't provide all they wanted to for their children, but Gregg had a servant's heart and set dozens on a path to becoming physicians, lawyers, professors and coaches of the activity he loved. He was always a fighter and relished the chance to make a David into a Goliath.
Always restless and looking for new challenges, Gregg left Sand Springs to become the coach at Jenks High School in Oklahoma and proceeded to take that program to the same heights he achieved in Sand Springs. His students at Jenks cherished those same opportunities and were the beneficiaries of his unique methods and teachings. Gregg "retired" in 2015 but continued teaching at Tulsa Community College and became the Program Manager for the Tulsa Debate League, a nonprofit extending debate to Title One schools in Tulsa. Retirement was not in his vocabulary.
Tireless, humble, gracious, giving, fair, and supportive, Gregg was the center of a solar system with thousands of stars who could not escape his orbit. He officiated his students' weddings, attended the funerals of their parents, wrote countless recommendations, encouraged their studies, attended the births of their children, and was a fixture at every event he could make.
But it was his family - his best friend and wife Kathryn, and their two daughters, Hannah Kathryn (Denver) and Leah Jo (Louisville), who lit up his universe. Although Kathryn and the girls shared him with the rest of us, it was his home and the three women he loved, supported, and relied on that gave his life meaning and provided a place where he could do what he truly loved best. That was being a friend, and a loving partner, to Kathryn as they dined at their favorite haunts in Dallas or attended her shows. And, of course, raising and bragging on their two wonderful, intelligent, and compassionate daughters, Hannah and Leah.
Gregg's void cannot be filled. The thousands of students who are making a difference in others lives, his colleagues who learned so much from his lessons on being a master teacher, and his family, who have the most cherished memories of a man who can finally rest after so many years of giving to us all, will do their best to carry on his legacy, but Gregg was irreplaceable. The mold was broken when he came into our lives, but we are all so very fortunate to have forever his example of how to live a life with meaning, character, and purpose.