Oklahoma State University Athletics
Teamwork Is the Key for Manhattan Construction Company
August 05, 1999 | General
August 12, 1999
By Fred Minnick OSU Athletic department Intern
The workers of Manhattan Construction Company - wearing hard hats and steel-toed boots with the August heat beating down - are carrying on a partnership and tradition with Oklahoma State University that has lasted over 50 years.
Gallagher-Iba Arena is the fifteenth building on the OSU campus Manhattan has constructed or revamped since 1947.
Dewey Davis, Oklahoma operations manager for Manhattan, assures Poke fans that the arena will be finished on time.
"It is like any other construction job: It is a team effort, and if everybody works as a team, then it will be done on time," Davis said. "We have a lot of committed individuals all working towards the goal of completing Gallagher-Iba on time."
One member of the Manhattan team is Shane Humpherey, a 24 year-old carpenter foreman from Weston, Okla.
Humpherey and his crew are currently working on the new arena's stair towers, the concrete pillars that rise nine stories high - roughly twice as high as the current structure.
"What we are doing is building forms to pour concrete," Humpherey said.
Humpherey said he always does his best when he is working in the field, but he admits there is no room for individuals in the construction business, it's a team effort.
"Everybody's work has to get done," Humpherey said. "There are no individuals, we must all work as a team. If we did have individuals, then the construction wouldn't take place."
Both Davis and Humpherey said the effort is not only coming from Manhattan, but from the architects and the sub-contractors as well.
Davis said he takes a lot of pride in his work and his company. He believes that every worker should feel they are making their own landmark while working in construction or, in the case of Gallagher-Iba, helping to create a historic monument.
"I have done a lot of notable projects in my career," Davis said. "When we get through, everybody should have a sense of pride in saying, 'I helped rebuild Gallagher-Iba.'"
Another notable landmark of Manhattan's is the Ballpark in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers.
"Manhattan did a wonderful job. They put their best people on the job. All the people at Manhattan put their heart and soul into The Ballpark to make it the special place it is. Whatever they were asked to do, they did more," said Tom Schieffor, president of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.
The $130 million project in Arlington consisted of 70,000 cubic yards and 180,000 square feet of subterranean work including pedestrian and vehicle tunnels, locker rooms, weight rooms and practice areas, and a 150,000-square-foot office building behind center field.
Davis said the complexity of Gallagher-Iba is more intense than the Ballpark in Arlington.
"In Arlington, we were building a totally new facility," Davis said. "In Stillwater, we are trying to maintain a facility which adds different design issues and safety logistics."
