John Stephens, construction supervisor and model for Tulsa's Golden Driller, dies at 88 (2024)

John Stephens, a longtime Tulsa construction superintendent who not only supervised the building of the city’s iconic Golden Driller but served as the model for the statue, died Tuesday.

He was 88.

A service is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church in Sapulpa. Traditions Funeral Home in Kellyville is in charge of arrangements.

Stephens retired from construction in 1996 as the superintendent and project manager for the Bank of Oklahoma.

At the time of the Driller project, which was done for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa, Stephens was working as a superintendent for project builder Dallas Meade Constructors.

Stephens recalled in later interviews how he unwittingly became the model for the 76-foot statue. It happened one day when he was called into the company owner’s office.

There, in his hard hat and boots, he was asked to pose, while sketches were drawn up by artist George S. “Grecco” Hondronastas.

From those sketches, the steel and fiberglass Golden Driller would be brought into being.

Stephens was there for each stage, overseeing construction of the project, which has served ever since as a symbol of Tulsa’s oil industry past and a must-see photo op for visitors to the city.

Stephens’ son, Oklahoma state Sen. Blake “Cowboy” Stephens, said his father never sought recognition for his role in the monument’s creation and only begrudgingly accepted more recent acknowledgements from the county and state.

“My daddy was a very, very humble and private man,” Blake Stephens said. “I got him to see that this was something that was bigger than him, that it was a symbol for our state.”

Though he valued his privacy, John Stephens made a lasting impression on everyone he met, his son added.

“He had a personality bigger than Dallas. He truly loved people and he was an encourager to everyone. Our family is very proud of who he is and how he’s impacted our lives.”

John Stephens was a native and longtime resident of Sapulpa.

He raised two daughters and a son with his wife, Evelyn.

Outside of his lengthy construction career and four years of Navy service, Stephens had a serious love for rodeo.

Representing the second generation of a three-generation rodeo family, he was still competing into his mid-70s, and didn’t step away until breaking his back in a team roping event.

Blake Stephens, a rancher and rodeo competitor himself, said his father’s service will pay tribute to his rodeo life.

“We’re going to give him a real cowboy send-off,” he said.

In a more recent interview with the Tulsa World, John Stephens said he never knew why he was chosen to be the model for the Driller. It could’ve been because he was on site every day, providing the artists with a handy muse. Maybe his construction and cowboy background gave him the desired hardened look. Or maybe he was simply available that day.

But whatever the reason, he always felt a close connection to the statue and cared about its upkeep.

Later, no one was happier than Stephens when the Driller, after falling into disrepair, was saved from demolition through a community-wide fundraising campaign.

As Stephens, who once worked in the Texas oil fields during a brief break from construction, told the World: “What the Golden Driller represents to me — what he was always meant to represent — were all of the tough, hard hours and days those oil roughnecks did to produce oil to make our way of life easier for all of us. Those guys were out there when it was sleeting and snowing.

“He’s a reminder of all that blood, tears and death — a lot died on those rigs.”

Stephens is survived by his wife of 65 years, Evelyn; three children, Belinda Ann Spears, Sherri Lee and T. Blake Stephens; eight grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; brother Joe Stephens and sister Joy Ward.

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