COMM U N I T Y
BY: LINDSAY CUOMO
NORMANITE IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Randy Laffoon B
orn in Bethany, Jerry “Randy” Laffoon moved to Norman during his teenage years and graduated from Norman High School in 1978. After moving several times before, he wasn’t too keen to uproot yet again. “He was on the baseball team at school in Putnam City and he didn’t want to move,” Kay Laffoon, Randy’s mom, said. “We found a home in Brookhaven and when he found out he could see the football stadium from his bedroom window he changed his mind. OU athletics was always important to Randy.” Norman quickly became Randy’s home, the community where he would meet his wife, raise a family, cultivate many businesses and help to shape as a civic leader. With his recent passing, we look back on the legacy and many facets of his life as a family man, businessman and devoted community leader.
THE FAMILY MAN
Despite being new in town, his commitment to the Norman community 36 | November 2020
quickly took hold as he volunteered as a youth baseball coach at age 17. “Baseball was his love,” Debbie said, his wife of 29 years. “He coached baseball for years even before he had kids. His passion was for the kids and for other people. He loved to cookout for the teams, for any reason to have a gathering.” He continued to coach while attending the University of Oklahoma to study finance. “He had future lawyers, doctors, businessmen on his teams. Years later, those kids would see him around town and share the important moments in their lives,” Kay said. “That experience was so positive and important to them.” He poured that passion for others into their two sons, Debbie said, always attending whatever sport or activity his sons, Trevor or Trent, chose to participate in, and often into their teammates and friends. “He was always there and was super supportive no matter what,” Trevor
Laffoon recalled of his dad’s commitment to family. “He supported us financially, emotionally and was physically there, in literally everything we did. He didn’t miss a game while I was in college; a couple of times he was the only fan we had in the stands.” Trent Laffoon said that selflessness was just in his dad’s nature, even as he battled cancer. “With his cancer, as it got worse especially in the last couple of months, he had to go in for a high-risk surgery and there was a chance he wasn’t going to make it,” he shared. “My dad was so worried that he hadn’t done enough for my brother and I. It could have been the end for him and he was worried about us. That was how he was with everyone, not just us.” Toby Rowland, SportsTalk morning show host and Voice of the Sooners, shared Trent’s sentiments. “He called me a couple days before he passed,” Rowland shared. “He was asking me about all the stuff in my life
