9-12-2023
Barry & Becky Switzer
Ground Zero was founded in 2016 by legendary football coach Barry Switzer & his wife, Oklahoma native Becky out of a great desire to positively impact the shortage of highly trained canine and handler search and rescue teams.
Oklahomans have a reputation for being generous, friendly caring people willing to do anything to help a neighbor. This “Oklahoma Spirit ” shines through even the darkest of tragedies, including the bombing of the Oklahoma City Murrah building in April 1995 and again during the devastating tornadoes of May 1999 and May 2013; and every event in between.
Like so many Oklahomans, these natural and man-made disasters had a lasting impact on Barry & Becky Switzer and it was in the aftermath of these devastating events that the couple became aware of the critical shortage of qualified search-and-rescue canines.
When the 9/11 terrorist attacks stunned the nation, the Switzers felt so compelled to take action to positively impact the critical shortage of qualified search and rescue canines in Oklahoma and nationwide. They also discovered budget restrictions at the local, state and national levels were negatively affecting the ability for many task forces to obtain a search and rescue canine. Ground Zero Emergency Training Center was founded to meet these needs.
Chair of the Day
Joe Dorman serves as the Chief Executive Officer for the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. OICA is the statewide organization that serves as the voice for Oklahoma’s children within state government. Since taking over this role in 2016, Dorman has helped return the organization to its roots of advocacy work by equipping Oklahomans with the tools they need to call upon elected officials to do better work for the children of our state.
Joe served House District 65 as the state representative for 12 years, authoring key pieces of legislation for education, public safety, and government accountability. He was the 2014 Democratic nominee for Oklahoma Governor and formerly served as a town council member in Rush Springs, also known as the Watermelon Capital of the World.