Giving back was always important to Nick Allen (BS ’70) and his late wife, Barbara (Berkey) Allen (BS ’70), especially in relation to their alma mater, The University of Tulsa. In 2011, the couple established the Nick and Barbara Allen Athletic Scholarship Endowment Fund to provide scholarship assistance to TU’s outstanding student-athletes as a way to help others achieve their academic goals at TU, just as Nick and Barbara had.
Nick worked his way through school as equipment manager for the football team and received an athletic scholarship, lettering in football. Similarly, Barbara worked part-time and also was assisted by scholarships. Both already had strong TU ties – Nick’s parents and Barbara’s mother had attended TU; and Nick’s grandfather was an active supporter who became a Golden Hurricane Club volunteer.
Nick and Barbara shared many great TU memories, including meeting on a blind date in the spring semester of their freshman year. They were active on campus – Nick in Sigma Nu Fraternity, Barbara as a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. He was in Student Senate and a Letterman. She was the Sigma Nu Sweetheart and the Business School Queen. Both were honor roll students; Barbara was even president of Mortar Board and a Panhellenic officer. They enjoyed basketball games, which were then played at the fairgrounds pavilion, and they cheered on the TU College World Series-bound baseball team at Oiler Park. They married their senior year in TU’s Sharp Chapel, and they went on to enjoy a fulfilling family life with twin daughters, Ashley and Kimberly.
Eventually, TU even helped determine Nick’s career path. “I was a student at TU and needed a summer job prior to my senior year,” he recalls, “The cable television division of LBO Corporation placed an opening for a summer position with the TU Placement Office. After working for them that summer, I went to work for them full time after graduation from TU and have spent the majority of my career in cable television-related work.” Today he is president and owner of Budco, a marketing and distribution company for installation tools, construction supplies, marking, identification and security products for the telecommunications industry.
Due in part to that success, the Allens were able to generously support TU, particularly its athletics department. Over the years, they have provided major gifts to the Golden Hurricane Club (now known as the Golden Hurricane Champions Fund), the Case Athletic Complex, the H.A. Chapman Stadium, the Skelly Stadium Renovation Project and the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
They have also given generously to support the Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC), the Finance Excellence Fund/Friends of Finance, the Collins College of Business Annual Fund, the TU Annual Fund, and a number of namesake scholarship funds. In 1996, the Allens were the lead donors in the establishment of the David Moss Scholarship for Athletics in honor of the late TU Football Letterman and Tulsa County District Attorney.
Nick said he probably would not have been able to attend TU without the help he was given. “I like the idea of making it possible for someone else to obtain a quality education,” he explained. “We believe TU is one of our city’s greatest assets because it attracts bright young people who will hopefully one day develop a sense of community toward the university and the city.”
After Barbara graduated, she immediately returned to TU as an employee in the fundraising department. She served 10 years in the Development Department, first as Supervisor of Alumni Records, then as Director of Annual Support, and then as Assistant Director of Development. Finally, she was TU Director of Personnel from 1980-1985.
Barbara later gave freely of her time and expertise by serving multiple terms on the TU Board of Trustees (2002-2018), working on four committees, including chairing and co-chairing the Athletics Committee. In other volunteer roles, she served as president of the Golden Hurricane Club (2000) and was a member of the Embrace the Future campaign cabinet, the Presidential Search Committee, and the Major Gifts Committee. She also served as an Athletics Department volunteer. Nick and Barbara were longtime members of Friends of Finance, with Nick serving as a Director from 2000-2004.
In 2004, TU honored Nick as a Distinguished Alumnus. Three years earlier, the College of Business Administration (now known as the Collins College of Business) named him an Outstanding Alumnus. He is a former president of the TU Alumni Association Board and the Newman Center, and he’s a lifetime member of the TU Letterwinner’s Association.
“Nick and I have a desire to contribute to our community. Tulsa is a wonderful place to live and raise a family, and we believe TU has played a major role in our lives. We benefited from others’ generosity through our scholarships and would like to give some of that back,” Barbara said in summing up their remarkable commitment to TU.
Barbara Allen passed away in October of 2019, and the TU family was deeply saddened to lose this longtime alumna, friend and campus leader.
