I can only think of two others that would come close. Both Elvis and the Beatles played concerts here and their overall career was maybe bigger, but Tiger got us on the national news three days in a row.
His reputation is all good guy and he is known throughout this country, and plays tournaments in Asia, Dubai, and all over the world.
My five-year-old daughter and my ninety-two-year-old grandmother can only name one current athlete, Tiger Woods.
Tiger put us on a big stage for the week he was here. I bet the television ratings for today's final day come close to records for golf.
I am glad he won. So did we.
if only he'd gotten that 62 on friday...
I think I missed that Beatles concert.[;)]
Enrico Caruso sang one of his last concerts here at the Brady Theater. Some people claim he's still hanging around.
quote:
Originally posted by TulsaTV
I think I missed that Beatles concert.[;)]
Maybe it was one of those tribute bands...I am easily duped...
Nothing against stick and ball sports celebs, but I never understood the attraction. Guess the action gets pretty intense out there on the golf course. :)
Are we talking sports celebrities or celebs all rolled into one. If all in one, Willie Nelson has performed in Tulsa several times and is also known world wide, and is stil played on the radio on many stations daily.
According to Google Dot Com if you put a name in quotes you can find the total number of instances that name appears online of pages available to the search spider on the web. One needs to keep in mind that many celebrities that are no longer with us may of had a large following of fans that actually bought tickets and watched them perform LIVE prior to the Internet, so they may not have as many instances online as there were live eyeballs watching them back in their day. Also, a few of the new names are catching up with the vintage performers. LOL Elvis is still alive and doing very well online it appears.
Here are the Google search results, for whatever they are worth:
Elvis 48,300,000
Hanson 29,700,000
Tiger Woods 12,300,000
Caruso 10,700,000
Bon Jovi 2,730,000
Willie Nelson 2,240,000
Neil Diamond 2,080,000
Tony Stewart 1,800,000
F1 103,000,000
NBA 101,000,000
NFL 61,900,000
MLB 44,700,000
NASCAR 41,000,000
PGA 34,100,000
WWE 23,500,000
MOTOGP 12,500,000
NHRA 3,560,000
Sports celebrities, let's see: Chili Bowl brings in a few, Indy's A.J. Foyt, and Nascar's Tony Stewart. Then there is the World of Outlaw King Steve Kinser. Nascar Bush Series J.J. Yeley to name a few.
(http://www.chilibowl.com/images/stewartdrillercb011307.jpg)
NASCAR Tony Stewart holding his two coveted Chili Bowl Golden Driller trophies
================================================
NHRA stars "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, and Mattel Toys Funny Car giants Tom "Mongoose" McEwen, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, have all competed in Tulsa.
(http://www.dearbornflashback.com/dims_hotwheels_sept71b.jpg)
The late great Tulsan Top Fuel shoe Steve Carbone defeated Garlits at an AHRA National Challenge race at Tulsa International Raceway driving the Crietz and Greer Top Fueler. The Top Fuel final round at Indy in 1971 will forever be remembered as the "great burn-down" race, the one where Steve Carbone outlasted Don Garlits in a battle of nerves and then won the biggest race in the sport.
World famous stuntman Evel Knievel also performed at Tulsa International Raceway.
(http://www.1stopdiecast.com/1320/Photos/1320/Fuelers/TT1118.JPG)
Led Zeppelin performed in Tulsa at the Civic Center August 21, 1970. Patti Pig jumpped onto the stage during their performance and wrapped her legs around Robert Plant, then was escorted off the stage by security. Ian Anderson, Jerry Garcia, ZZ Top, Peter Framton, Niel Diamond also performed in Tulsa.
(http://www.led-zeppelin.com/gfx3/70vanposter.jpg)
(//And%20of%20course%20Tulsa's%20own%20Leon%20Russell,%20Hanson,%20The%20Tractors%20among%20a%20long%20list%20of%20other%20world%20famous%20Tulsa%20artists.%20%20%3Cbr%20/%3E%3Cbr%20/%3E%5Bimg%5Dhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/HansonTheWalk.jpg/180px-HansonTheWalk.jpg)
HANSON SCORES BIG ON THE GOOGLE HIT COUNTER
While The Beatles never played Tulsa (or anywhere in Oklahoma), George Harrison did perform here in 1974. Elvis Presley played numerous concerts, the first in 1956, and the last one on July 4, 1976.
Bob Hope, Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, John Wayne and William Shatner have visited Tulsa, as have Richard Nixon, Margaret Thatcher, JFK and Mikhail Gorbachev. Lots of great concerts over the years, including Elton John, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones (in 1965).
But I agree that Tiger Woods is a great athlete, and his playing in and winning the PGA tournament put us on the map big time for a few days. I am sure the anti-Tulsa crowd was very annoyed this past week.
Not to express support for him, but Garth Brooks (he of the 100 million albums sold and a certified megastar during the 1990s) has played here and actually lives in the area.
But, all things considered, I'd rather hear Willie or even Hanson.
Addendum: Brooks registers 2.06 million hits on the Google-meter -- about the same as Neil Diamond.
I think, in terms of someone who was actually widely known during their visit here, it's close between Tiger and Caruso.
It seems strange to write this now, but the opera singer was hugely popular during his prime, and he was at the peak of his popularity during his visit here.
You know someone is big when all you have to do is say just *part* of their name, and you know instantly who it is. Tiger and Caruso are good examples.
>>You know someone is big when all you have to do is say just *part* of their name, and you know instantly who it is. Tiger and Caruso are good examples.
"Larry The Cable Guy."
60 Minutes featured him last night.
He received @2500,000 to 300,000 per performance.
That was about 3rd or 4th at the PGA this for the week.
U2 played here, twice
Google gives them 45 million hits
My favorite - one word:
Clapton
Charo
Babe Ruth and JFK both stayed at the Mayo. I don't think you can get much bigger than that!
quote:
Originally posted by AMP
NHRA stars "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, and Mattel Toys Funny Car giants Tom "Mongoose" McEwen, Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, have all competed in Tulsa.
Don't forget Shirley Muldowney! Those names sure bring back memories of TV ads for drag races. "SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!"
quote:
Originally posted by brunoflipper
U2 played here, twice
Google gives them 45 million hits
Thanks for reminding me of one of my worst entertainment faux pas... I had tix for their last appearance, but was in summer school and had an exam the next day. I gave my tix away believing they'd be back the next year.
Wrong.
Tiger? Biggest celeb of his time to visit. I don't think you can mine a negative out of him being here, though I'm sure there are some in the peanut gallery who will find something negative.
He definitely brings money through the gate when he is playing at a tournament. It's a rare opportunity to be that close to greatness. I'd guess as far as one single person appearing at an event here in Tulsa who had the capability to bring so many people in from other parts of the region and country- Tiger hands-down.
Consider Garth Brooks playing to what, 10,000 fans at Driller's Stadium. Caruso playing to 2,000 or so at the Brady, Elvis to 8,000 or so, Frank Sinatra 8,000 or so. None of them would have likely gotten so many people to fly and drive to Tulsa from more than a 100 mile radius. None of those events are even newsworthy on a national scale and don't bring days upon days of news coverage to the area. I really appreciate the folks at Southern Hills making the sacrifice in their recreation to bring something this big to our city.
Even if Tony Stewart quit competing at the Chili Bowl, I don't think ticket sales or pit pass sales would suffer to any noticeable extent.
Do we have a final count yet on PGA attendance?
Updates on the Celebs that visited Tulsa list
Here are the Google search results, for whatever they are worth:
Elvis 48,300,000
U2 45,300,000
Hanson 29,700,000
Tiger Woods 12,300,000
Caruso 10,700,000
Hillary Clinton 5,240,000
Led Zeppelin 3,200,000
Bon Jovi 2,730,000
Francis Ford Copolla 2,720,000
Marilyn Monroe 2,680,000
Eric Clapton 2,550,000
Alice Cooper 2,370,000
Al Yankovic 2,340,000
Willie Nelson 2,240,000
John F. Kennedy 2,220,000
Neil Diamond 2,080,000
Oral Roberts 2,030,000
Carrie Underwood 2,000,000
Will Rogers 1,860,000
Dennis Hopper 1,850,000
Howard Hughes 1,830,000
Tony Stewart 1,800,000
Jeff Gordon 1,790,000
Matt Dillon 1,650,000
Mickey Rourke 1,500,000
Amelia Earhart 1,140,000
Rob Lowe 1,030,000
Charles Lindbergh 845,000
Evel Knievel 670,000
Bob Wills 491,000
John Force 184,000
John Zink 73,600
Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney 38,600
Once again proving the statement "Elvis is King"
(http://www.elvis-presley-forever.com/images/elvis-hair.jpg)
Tiger in Tulsa will go down in many a Tulsan's mind as the biggest celebrity ever to visit and the fact that he was here for a week compounds his impact.
How long was "Weird" Al Yankovich here?
Many of us remeber the day of the filming of the Outsiders, and Rumble Fish. We provided the motorcycles for the Rumble Fish movie and Action Cycles is listed on the credits. It was very interesting working with the film crews. Crazy bunch of party people, tons of wild parties at the old Trade Winds motel, and the brick apartments downtown that are no longer there.
I stil have one of the hand painted store front signs used in Rumble Fish that was in the scene filmed downtown.
Unfortunatly the paint has faded away on the old Bankoff Metals sign on Archer west of peoria that once read "The Motorcycle Boy Rules"
Did anyone mention Amelia Earhart with her gyro plane or Lindberg and the Spirit of St.Louis back in the 1930's? Had to have been pretty big stuff then.
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
Did anyone mention Amelia Earhart with her gyro plane or Lindberg and the Spirit of St.Louis back in the 1930's? Had to have been pretty big stuff then.
Ok fine. But what was Lindberg's golf handicap? Did Amelia have a huge endorsement deal with Nike? [}:)]
Lindberg was definitely the celeb of the hour when he did his tour of America after the Atlantic crossing. That was considered the biggest human feat at the time.
Cool part about Tiger is Southern Hills is now a part of his legend. That's good for Tulsa.
Outside economic impact on our city? Tiger trumps all.
Micheal Bates still lives here, bros.
quote:
Originally posted by marc
While The Beatles never played Tulsa (or anywhere in Oklahoma), George Harrison did perform here in 1974. Elvis Presley played numerous concerts, the first in 1956, and the last one on July 4, 1976.
And didn't Eric clapton get himself arrested in Tulsa back in the 1970s?
quote:
Originally posted by mr.jaynes
quote:
Originally posted by marc
While The Beatles never played Tulsa (or anywhere in Oklahoma), George Harrison did perform here in 1974. Elvis Presley played numerous concerts, the first in 1956, and the last one on July 4, 1976.
And didn't Eric clapton get himself arrested in Tulsa back in the 1970s?
Calling Jeff Nix....
>Don't forget Shirley Muldowney!
Back in those days she was Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney!
Bring your cameraaaaaaas!
quote:
Originally posted by mr.jaynes
And didn't Eric clapton get himself arrested in Tulsa back in the 1970s?
Yes he did; see a photo here: http://tulsatvmemories.com/rocknock.html
Let's see...
Francis Ford Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Tom Cruise
The Sex Pistols
Jay Leno
Donna Reed (she had a house here)
Billy and Franklin Graham
Paul Harvey
Pillar (a VERY popular Christian band who is from here)
Roy Clark
Gene Autry
Brad Pitt (has many relatives from here too)
It's possible that Tiger wasn't even the biggest celebrity in town last week.
Love her or hate her, Hillary Clinton was also in town and is arguably better known worldwide than Tiger.
Her google hits are in the 8 million range.
Pavarotti
G00gle results: Results 1 - 10 of about 6,510,000 for pavarotti
quote:
Originally posted by TulsaTV
quote:
Originally posted by mr.jaynes
And didn't Eric clapton get himself arrested in Tulsa back in the 1970s?
Yes he did; see a photo here: http://tulsatvmemories.com/rocknock.html
Then again, so did Donnie Van zant of 38 Special; seems that Tulsa was in some ways quite puritanical!
quote:
Originally posted by Johnboy976
Let's see...
Francis Ford Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Tom Cruise
The Sex Pistols
Jay Leno
Donna Reed (she had a house here)
Billy and Franklin Graham
Paul Harvey
Pillar (a VERY popular Christian band who is from here)
Roy Clark
Gene Autry
Brad Pitt (has many relatives from here too)
Actually Pillar is not from here. They came here from Kansas.
How does Gene Simmons rank? His celeb has to have gone up since he got his own show on A & E.
quote:
Originally posted by Conan71
How does Gene Simmons rank? His celeb has to have gone up since he got his own show on A & E.
Well, he's just rank....
Seriously, he stays in the limelight in his own unique way-he won't disappear from view for very long.
There just has to be a better measure of celebrity than google hits.
My daughter and grandmother never go to google anything yet they know Tiger.
They also know some of the people listed in the above posts, but just different ones. Of all the people listed, Tiger is the only one they both would recognize.
Updates on the Celebs that visited Tulsa list
Here are the Google search results, for whatever they are worth:
God 479,000,000
Jesus 146,000,000
Elvis 48,300,000
U2 45,300,000
Hanson 29,700,000
Spider Man 25,800,000
The Animals 23,000,000
Tiger Woods 12,300,000
Tom Cruise 12,100,000
Caruso 10,700,000
Kinks 7,190,000
Hillary Clinton 5,240,000
Led Zeppelin 3,200,000
Jimi Hendrix 2,960,000
Bon Jovi 2,730,000
Francis Ford Copolla 2,720,000
Frank Sinatra 2,690,000
Marilyn Monroe 2,680,000
Jay Leno 2,590,000
Eric Clapton 2,550,000
Jethro Tull 2,480,000
Beach Boys 2,480,000
Alice Cooper 2,370,000
Al Yankovic 2,340,000
Billy Joel 2,310,000
Willie Nelson 2,240,000
John F. Kennedy 2,220,000
Elizabeth Taylor 2,220,000
Bad Company 2,100,000
Neil Diamond 2,080,000
Lucianno Pavarotti 2,040,000
Oral Roberts 2,030,000
Carrie Underwood 2,000,000
Oprah Winfrey 2,000,000
Garth Brooks 1,930,000
Joan Jett 1,920,000
Will Rogers 1,860,000
Ronald McDonald 1,860,000
Dennis Hopper 1,850,000
Howard Hughes 1,830,000
Gene Aurty 1,820,000
Tony Stewart 1,800,000
Jeff Gordon 1,790,000
Sofia Coppola 1,670,000
Matt Dillon 1,650,000
Mickey Rourke 1,500,000
Ted Nugent 1,460,000
Sammy Hagar 1,170,000
Amelia Earhart 1,140,000
Peter Frampton 1,130,000
Sonny & Cher 1,040,000
Rob Lowe 1,030,000
Charles Lindbergh 845,000
Gary Busey 707,000
Evel Knievel 670,000
Roy Clark 583,000
Leon Russell 544,000
Bob Wills 491,000
Donna Reed 449,000
John Force 184,000
Hamburglar 120,000
Jane Mansfield 92.000
John Zink 73,600
Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney 38,600
Elvis still remains on the top of the Google Popularity Counter
"Elvis is King" Among the Mortal
Tulsa Concert Source: http://www.concertpiks.com/concerts.htm
quote:
Originally posted by recyclemichael
There just has to be a better measure of celebrity than google hits.
My daughter and grandmother never go to google anything yet they know Tiger.
They also know some of the people listed in the above posts, but just different ones. Of all the people listed, Tiger is the only one they both would recognize.
To clairfy the Google Search used to generate these numbers.
The Search Engine results are the number of instances the full name in quotes appears online on web pages URLs that are searchable by the search engine. Not how many people have searched for that name.
If you do not use quotes the search engine will located both words separatly.
Guess the best way to put is the popularity number seems to be measured by how many articles, blogs, reports, stories, ads, products etc. have been placed online.
Unless the name is very unique, there may be additional names that are the same, so there is no perfect way to determine an accurate number, however it may be close to accurate in some cases. It is just for fun.
Other than the cow pasture pool games, that we have just completed in the elite's converted cow pasture, we have been visited by many people of the day such and presidents and others.
At present we have a mayor, that donates her time, cleaning up the trash for the visiting sports dignitaries.
Yes there are some opposing views by some negative naysayer's. Especially those on very very limited incomes who search the food adds in order to sustain a very limited existence but the first pennies paid are reserved for sales taxes to support these events. If in the check out one is short 8 cents on the total then they are told to put something back.
Did 2025 include building pedestals for sports dignitaries? Since no one seems to know what was voted I suppose a statue could be erected at the gate of the club with "He played here".
quote:
Originally posted by AMP
quote:
Originally posted by recyclemichael
There just has to be a better measure of celebrity than google hits.
My daughter and grandmother never go to google anything yet they know Tiger.
They also know some of the people listed in the above posts, but just different ones. Of all the people listed, Tiger is the only one they both would recognize.
To clairfy the Google Search used to generate these numbers.
The Search Engine results are the number of instances the full name in quotes appears online on web pages URLs that are searchable by the search engine. Not how many people have searched for that name.
If you do not use quotes the search engine will located both words separatly.
Guess the best way to put is the popularity number seems to be measured by how many articles, blogs, reports, stories, ads, products etc. have been placed online.
Unless the name is very unique, there may be additional names that are the same, so there is no perfect way to determine an accurate number, however it may be close to accurate in some cases. It is just for fun.
How many hits do you find for Ronald McDonald or Hamburglar?
One of my early promotions held at Tulsa Intl Raceway in early 1970s were the annual All Motorcycle Drag Races I produced with Gerald Pritchard.
Vicki Farr and Harvey Cheek came up with some costumes of the famous Cookie Monster and the Hamburglar. They held a special Match Race between the two, using Mini Bikes. I invited however many kids would fit in Ruffin Snow's buses from the Eastside Baptist Church and filled the stands with them. They all got in for free.
The biggest hit of the day for those kids and the crowd was the Match Race between the Cookie Monster and the Hamburglar. About 1/2 way down the track Cookie Monsters head spun sideways causing a visual problem.
The Hamburglar became a good sportsman and waited for CM to get his eyesight back. The finish was side by side and the crowd went absolutely bonkers. Although CM won the race, the Hamburglar got the biggest cheers for being such a sportsman during the race. They were both winners that day.
Here are the results of the search:
Hamburglar 120,000
Cookie Monster 1,220,000
Ronald McDonald 1,870,000
I also recall that Frank aka The Chairman of The Board was here a couple of times.
The last time was kind of sad, he lost his place singing the songs and referred to a teleprompter to catch up.
I think Oprah was in town a year ago handing out wedding gifts.
(http://www.posterchild.com/ebay-store/tulsajimi.jpg) ...on a Sunday no less.
The Year was 1970. Google: 3.9 million (right between Hillary and Led Zeppelin). Three months before he died.
(http://www.posterchild.com/ebay-store/elvistulsa.gif)
1956
Elvis, Sinatra, Pavarotti. Pick one.
Google Popularity Meter Results for those three
Elvis 49,000,000
Frank Sinatra 2,640,000
Luciano Pavarotti 2,040,000
2,920,000
(http://s242.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/sandmic/?action=view%C2%A4t=backstagepasstulsa-1.jpg)
GD
quote:
Originally posted by Wrinkle
(http://www.posterchild.com/ebay-store/elvistulsa.gif)
1956
Fat Elvis came here too, in 1976 (July 4th even)
Depends on how we define "biggest" I guess. I had alluded to Tiger probably adding the most to the local economy, and he is the biggest sports celeb who has visited Tulsa in the recent past.
Anyone else watch Larry King Live last night from Graceland with Pricilla Presley?
Judging by the crowds outside the gates 30 years after his death, he's probably the most enduring celebrity of the 20th century hands-down.
People remember presidents, actors, singers, etc.
But they don't turn out for those people like they still do for Elvis.
BTW- Pricilla is still smoking hot.
Larry King is so ugly, he makes everybody look hot.
quote:
Originally posted by recyclemichael
Larry King is so ugly, he makes everybody look hot.
She'd still look hot next to Brad Pitt.
Elizabeth Taylor has been in Tulsa several times. She was a huge star back in the sixties and seventies during her visits.
One of her husbands, Mike Todd, was killed in a plane crash on his way to Tulsa.
quote:
Originally posted by T-Town Now
Elizabeth Taylor has been in Tulsa several times. She was a huge star back in the sixties and seventies during her visits.
One of her husbands, Mike Todd, was killed in a plane crash on his way to Tulsa.
You are right. Mike Todd's ultimate destination was New York City, but he was supposed to call Elizabeth Taylor during his stop in Tulsa and when the call didn't come she knew something was wrong. The plane had gone down in New Mexico.
But I didn't know that Elizabeth Taylor has visited Tulsa, that is pretty cool.
I don't think Marilyn Monroe ever visited Oklahoma, but Jayne Mansfield was in Tulsa in 1966. There is a segment about it in one of those Tulsa Memories VHS collections.