Oklahoma State University Athletics
Rise and Shine
January 01, 2018 | General
Athletic Department duo supports teams behind the scenes, in the stands
by Clay Billman
Published in POSSE magazine (WINTER 2016 Vol. 10)
McElroy Road is all but deserted at 4 a.m., save for a solitary car in the westbound lane. While most of the Oklahoma State University campus is sleeping, Dixie Heddlesten and Vickie Austell are going to work.
As part of the Athletics custodial crew, the pair is responsible for the upkeep of the OSU equestrian and track and field facilities, along with the first floor of Gallagher-Iba Arena and game day presentation offices in Boone Pickens Stadium.
"About seven years ago I started doing Gallagher and taking care of the court, tacking it and cleaning it, along with the first-floor levels," Heddlesten says. "I'm still taking care of the common areas, but about four years ago they moved me out to equestrian.
"I clean the offices, the tack room and the locker room and keep the entryway nice. It's a pretty standard day. You come in and you clean desks and you throw out trash and you do bathrooms and you clean windows and you go clean locker rooms …"
When she was first assigned to the equestrian facilities, Heddlesten wondered what she had gotten herself into.
"I started doing that in July four years ago when it was 110 degrees more days than not. It was hotter than all get-out. I was also doing the old (Droke) track building, and they didn't have air conditioning in those locker rooms. You're in there going, 'I can't breathe' … so at first I didn't think I'd like it. But it got a little cooler, and I got to know some of our student-athletes and our coaches. And I thought, 'I kind of like this.'"
Austell was a 28-year employee of Mercury Marine in Stillwater until the manufacturing facility closed its doors in 2011. She took a job with the OSU Physical Plant prior to making the move to Athletics.
Close friends for more than 15 years, Austell and Heddlesten teamed up in 2014 on the OSU custodial crew.
"They gave me track and the ticket office. We were working nights by ourselves at first," Austell recalls. "Then we just decided to work together. That way nobody was alone out at the track or equestrian in the evenings."
"It was a safety issue for us," Heddlesten added, "We wanted to work together, and our bosses were okay with it. It just really works."
As King Solomon wisely noted, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor."
The same is true for the duo of Dixie and Vickie.
"The nicest thing about it is, what I don't see, Vickie will see, and vice versa," Heddlesten says. "When she's on vacation, I can cover her, and when I'm gone she covers me. Currently we're coming in at 4 o'clock in the morning and working eight hours until we get everything done. That's when it works best for us doing equestrian and track. We try to get there early and work around the student-athletes and when they have practices.
"Before, we could never get in there and clean without having to work around the girls," she adds. "They're great. They don't mind us doing that, but it's so much easier to get it done when they're not there. I was always worried rolling up the vacuum cord that the horse sees it as a rope, so I don't like doing that. You try to roll the cord up slowly so you don't spook a horse."
Team Members
The coaches and student-athletes have noticed the effort put in by Austell and Heddlesten.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're part of our team," says Larry Sanchez, OSU's head equestrian coach. "We all have certain duties in this program to try and keep it as one of the top programs in the country, and they're doing their part in making that happen."
Having team facilities adjacent to a horse barn and dirt arenas can be a challenge for a cleaning crew.
"There's so much dirt and dust that can come in and out of here," Sanchez says, "and there's a big difference in how the office looks since Dixie and Vickie started working for us.
"It's just the attention to detail that they have. Most people are happy just dusting around things, but you pick it up and behind it and underneath it, it's still dirty. Not only do they clean the trophies off to where there's not a fingerprint or a speck of dust, but around them and underneath them it's just as clean."
OSU director of track & field and cross country Dave Smith echoes Sanchez's sentiments.
"Dixie and Vickie work really hard and take a lot of pride in what they're doing," he says. "They do a great job for us and take care of us over at the track. We've got 120 people going through that locker room and that facility every single day, and it always looks immaculate. We bring recruits in, people come to see it, and the place looks fantastic."
The student-athletes also appreciate their efforts, Smith says.
"I think the kids recognize how hard they work. Sometimes your custodial staff, because of the hours they work, can slip through the shadows. But because of the weird hours we keep, we run into them. They get to know our athletes, our coaches. They take the time out of their day to stop and talk to us and check on our kids and ask how their day's going."
"Our coaches treat us really, really well," Austell says. "And the students are very respectful."
A number of the student-athletes are a long way from home, Austell adds, and that makes their interaction all the more important.
"You've got a lot of these kids whose parents are far away — even international students — and you just kind of get personal with them. We started asking questions because I knew very little about track. Nick Miller (2016 NCAA champion) said, 'Come out and watch me do the hammer throw,' and we were like, 'What's the hammer throw?' He showed us, and we just kept asking questions."
"We've got an awesome group of kids, and what's bad is we don't know them all," Heddlesten says. "But they know who we are. One time at graduation, this young lady wearing her graduation robe came up and gave me a big old hug. I'm thinking, 'Who are you?' It was one of our equestrian girls that I didn't recognize because there's so many of them."
"There's another downside for us," Austell says. "It's great that the kids graduate, but you've gotten to know them over three, four years and then they graduate and move on … for us, that's the downside because we miss them."
"And then you find out one of your new favorites you thought was just a sophomore is really a senior because he's a transfer student," Heddlesten quips.
Julia Purus practices reining with the Western riders in the afternoon and misses seeing the two on their former shift.
"Last year they came in the afternoons, so they would always see us staying late," says the OSU junior from Purcell, Okla. "They would be here cleaning, and we always got to talking. That's when we all bonded. They are just the nicest ladies ever. It's awesome that we've built a relationship with them and feel like we know them more on that personal level. Now that they moved to the morning, I'm upset that I don't get to see them everyday like I used to.
"Dixie and Vickie work so hard to keep everything just perfect in here. This room is immaculate all the time, and it's all because of them. We really appreciate all their hard work. I hope they continue to be our ladies forever."
Same goes for the track team.
"Typically I don't see them when we have workouts," says Cerake Geberkidane, a junior distance runner from Denver, Colo. "When I do see them, they always ask how I'm doing. They know I've been hurt lately so they ask how I've been progressing. It's nice to see that they are so caring. We are very fortunate to have them."
Geberkidane says his fellow student-athletes have taken it upon themselves to help keep their facilities clean.
"I feel bad when guys on our team track dirt and grass inside," he says. "You can't just walk inside wearing dirty trainers after a tempo workout on a rainy day. It's very disrespectful to Dixie and Vickie so we try to minimize their workload just by doing simple things. It's expected, honestly. I try to keep my locker area as neat as possible so all they need to do is just wipe it down and that's about it."
"Our track kids do pretty good," Heddlesten says. "You have to understand, we are not their mother. We do not pick up after these students. We clean up after these students."
"There have been times on the weekend when one of the kids will get the vacuum out and sweep the grass up off the floor," Austell adds. "They're good kids. They really are."
Super Fans
Because of their connection with the programs they serve, Austell and Heddlesten have become regulars at Cowboy and Cowgirl events — and not just home contests. The pair has become a familiar sight on road trips throughout the region.
"Before I was even employed with OSU, Dixie called me and said, 'Hey, do you want to go see equestrian?' Being a farm girl, I love horses and understood the Western side a little bit."
Added Heddlesten, "Vickie had gone to nationals in Waco with me two years before she ever started working at OSU. We've gone out of town for equestrian, track, basketball, soccer, football, baseball, softball, wrestling … about the only thing we haven't seen out of town yet is golf and tennis."
"At first it caught me by surprise," Sanchez says, "because it was completely out of their element to be at an away competition than where I normally see them. My first thought was, 'What are you doing here?' They said, 'We took our vacation time so we could come and support you guys.' To me, that right there summed up what they mean to the team. Since then I've treated them just like they're a part of my staff. They're a part of this program, and I think they sense that. We care about them and want to make sure we show them that we appreciate the support they've shown us."
"They drive themselves all over the area," Smith says. "We go to Arkansas, look up and there they are sitting in the stands. They'd driven over to watch. I think the athletes have gotten to really appreciate them and their support. I know we as coaches do. We don't have a lot of fans that travel with us, and those two take time out of their schedule to come support us wherever we go so we just really appreciate them."
The duo even made the trek to Ames, Iowa, for the 2016 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Cowboys claimed the conference title in dramatic fashion, which meant another trophy to celebrate … and keep clean.
"As a custodian, you don't like to see anyone kiss the trophy," Heddlesten laughs. "All you're thinking is, 'Ewww, I know what the germs are like on that thing!'"
Austell says last year's Big 12 Cross Country Championships will always stand out to her.
"We told (senior) Vegard Ølstad that he better win," she recalls. "Well, he won. And when it was all over with, 'Norway' — as I always called him — came and found us and gave us a hug. That just meant the world to me … it brought tears to my eyes."
"He said he won because we were there," Heddlesten adds. "We know we had very little to do with it, but it sure makes you feel like these are your kids.
"We have so many student-athletes and coaches that treat us like that. We don't feel like we're just a custodian. They make us feel like we're family."
Published in POSSE magazine (WINTER 2016 Vol. 10)
McElroy Road is all but deserted at 4 a.m., save for a solitary car in the westbound lane. While most of the Oklahoma State University campus is sleeping, Dixie Heddlesten and Vickie Austell are going to work.
As part of the Athletics custodial crew, the pair is responsible for the upkeep of the OSU equestrian and track and field facilities, along with the first floor of Gallagher-Iba Arena and game day presentation offices in Boone Pickens Stadium.
"About seven years ago I started doing Gallagher and taking care of the court, tacking it and cleaning it, along with the first-floor levels," Heddlesten says. "I'm still taking care of the common areas, but about four years ago they moved me out to equestrian.
"I clean the offices, the tack room and the locker room and keep the entryway nice. It's a pretty standard day. You come in and you clean desks and you throw out trash and you do bathrooms and you clean windows and you go clean locker rooms …"
When she was first assigned to the equestrian facilities, Heddlesten wondered what she had gotten herself into.
"I started doing that in July four years ago when it was 110 degrees more days than not. It was hotter than all get-out. I was also doing the old (Droke) track building, and they didn't have air conditioning in those locker rooms. You're in there going, 'I can't breathe' … so at first I didn't think I'd like it. But it got a little cooler, and I got to know some of our student-athletes and our coaches. And I thought, 'I kind of like this.'"
Austell was a 28-year employee of Mercury Marine in Stillwater until the manufacturing facility closed its doors in 2011. She took a job with the OSU Physical Plant prior to making the move to Athletics.
Close friends for more than 15 years, Austell and Heddlesten teamed up in 2014 on the OSU custodial crew.
"They gave me track and the ticket office. We were working nights by ourselves at first," Austell recalls. "Then we just decided to work together. That way nobody was alone out at the track or equestrian in the evenings."
"It was a safety issue for us," Heddlesten added, "We wanted to work together, and our bosses were okay with it. It just really works."
As King Solomon wisely noted, "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor."
The same is true for the duo of Dixie and Vickie.
"The nicest thing about it is, what I don't see, Vickie will see, and vice versa," Heddlesten says. "When she's on vacation, I can cover her, and when I'm gone she covers me. Currently we're coming in at 4 o'clock in the morning and working eight hours until we get everything done. That's when it works best for us doing equestrian and track. We try to get there early and work around the student-athletes and when they have practices.
"Before, we could never get in there and clean without having to work around the girls," she adds. "They're great. They don't mind us doing that, but it's so much easier to get it done when they're not there. I was always worried rolling up the vacuum cord that the horse sees it as a rope, so I don't like doing that. You try to roll the cord up slowly so you don't spook a horse."
Team Members
The coaches and student-athletes have noticed the effort put in by Austell and Heddlesten.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're part of our team," says Larry Sanchez, OSU's head equestrian coach. "We all have certain duties in this program to try and keep it as one of the top programs in the country, and they're doing their part in making that happen."
Having team facilities adjacent to a horse barn and dirt arenas can be a challenge for a cleaning crew.
"There's so much dirt and dust that can come in and out of here," Sanchez says, "and there's a big difference in how the office looks since Dixie and Vickie started working for us.
"It's just the attention to detail that they have. Most people are happy just dusting around things, but you pick it up and behind it and underneath it, it's still dirty. Not only do they clean the trophies off to where there's not a fingerprint or a speck of dust, but around them and underneath them it's just as clean."
OSU director of track & field and cross country Dave Smith echoes Sanchez's sentiments.
"Dixie and Vickie work really hard and take a lot of pride in what they're doing," he says. "They do a great job for us and take care of us over at the track. We've got 120 people going through that locker room and that facility every single day, and it always looks immaculate. We bring recruits in, people come to see it, and the place looks fantastic."
The student-athletes also appreciate their efforts, Smith says.
"I think the kids recognize how hard they work. Sometimes your custodial staff, because of the hours they work, can slip through the shadows. But because of the weird hours we keep, we run into them. They get to know our athletes, our coaches. They take the time out of their day to stop and talk to us and check on our kids and ask how their day's going."
"Our coaches treat us really, really well," Austell says. "And the students are very respectful."
A number of the student-athletes are a long way from home, Austell adds, and that makes their interaction all the more important.
"You've got a lot of these kids whose parents are far away — even international students — and you just kind of get personal with them. We started asking questions because I knew very little about track. Nick Miller (2016 NCAA champion) said, 'Come out and watch me do the hammer throw,' and we were like, 'What's the hammer throw?' He showed us, and we just kept asking questions."
"We've got an awesome group of kids, and what's bad is we don't know them all," Heddlesten says. "But they know who we are. One time at graduation, this young lady wearing her graduation robe came up and gave me a big old hug. I'm thinking, 'Who are you?' It was one of our equestrian girls that I didn't recognize because there's so many of them."
"There's another downside for us," Austell says. "It's great that the kids graduate, but you've gotten to know them over three, four years and then they graduate and move on … for us, that's the downside because we miss them."
"And then you find out one of your new favorites you thought was just a sophomore is really a senior because he's a transfer student," Heddlesten quips.
Julia Purus practices reining with the Western riders in the afternoon and misses seeing the two on their former shift.
"Last year they came in the afternoons, so they would always see us staying late," says the OSU junior from Purcell, Okla. "They would be here cleaning, and we always got to talking. That's when we all bonded. They are just the nicest ladies ever. It's awesome that we've built a relationship with them and feel like we know them more on that personal level. Now that they moved to the morning, I'm upset that I don't get to see them everyday like I used to.
"Dixie and Vickie work so hard to keep everything just perfect in here. This room is immaculate all the time, and it's all because of them. We really appreciate all their hard work. I hope they continue to be our ladies forever."
Same goes for the track team.
"Typically I don't see them when we have workouts," says Cerake Geberkidane, a junior distance runner from Denver, Colo. "When I do see them, they always ask how I'm doing. They know I've been hurt lately so they ask how I've been progressing. It's nice to see that they are so caring. We are very fortunate to have them."
Geberkidane says his fellow student-athletes have taken it upon themselves to help keep their facilities clean.
"I feel bad when guys on our team track dirt and grass inside," he says. "You can't just walk inside wearing dirty trainers after a tempo workout on a rainy day. It's very disrespectful to Dixie and Vickie so we try to minimize their workload just by doing simple things. It's expected, honestly. I try to keep my locker area as neat as possible so all they need to do is just wipe it down and that's about it."
"Our track kids do pretty good," Heddlesten says. "You have to understand, we are not their mother. We do not pick up after these students. We clean up after these students."
"There have been times on the weekend when one of the kids will get the vacuum out and sweep the grass up off the floor," Austell adds. "They're good kids. They really are."
Super Fans
Because of their connection with the programs they serve, Austell and Heddlesten have become regulars at Cowboy and Cowgirl events — and not just home contests. The pair has become a familiar sight on road trips throughout the region.
"Before I was even employed with OSU, Dixie called me and said, 'Hey, do you want to go see equestrian?' Being a farm girl, I love horses and understood the Western side a little bit."
Added Heddlesten, "Vickie had gone to nationals in Waco with me two years before she ever started working at OSU. We've gone out of town for equestrian, track, basketball, soccer, football, baseball, softball, wrestling … about the only thing we haven't seen out of town yet is golf and tennis."
"At first it caught me by surprise," Sanchez says, "because it was completely out of their element to be at an away competition than where I normally see them. My first thought was, 'What are you doing here?' They said, 'We took our vacation time so we could come and support you guys.' To me, that right there summed up what they mean to the team. Since then I've treated them just like they're a part of my staff. They're a part of this program, and I think they sense that. We care about them and want to make sure we show them that we appreciate the support they've shown us."
"They drive themselves all over the area," Smith says. "We go to Arkansas, look up and there they are sitting in the stands. They'd driven over to watch. I think the athletes have gotten to really appreciate them and their support. I know we as coaches do. We don't have a lot of fans that travel with us, and those two take time out of their schedule to come support us wherever we go so we just really appreciate them."
The duo even made the trek to Ames, Iowa, for the 2016 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Cowboys claimed the conference title in dramatic fashion, which meant another trophy to celebrate … and keep clean.
"As a custodian, you don't like to see anyone kiss the trophy," Heddlesten laughs. "All you're thinking is, 'Ewww, I know what the germs are like on that thing!'"
Austell says last year's Big 12 Cross Country Championships will always stand out to her.
"We told (senior) Vegard Ølstad that he better win," she recalls. "Well, he won. And when it was all over with, 'Norway' — as I always called him — came and found us and gave us a hug. That just meant the world to me … it brought tears to my eyes."
"He said he won because we were there," Heddlesten adds. "We know we had very little to do with it, but it sure makes you feel like these are your kids.
"We have so many student-athletes and coaches that treat us like that. We don't feel like we're just a custodian. They make us feel like we're family."
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