Toby Keith remembered for patriotism and philanthropy, being 'more than just lip service'

When Toby Keith was inducted with the Oklahoma Hall of Fame's 2007 class, he didn't pick a fellow musician, another celebrity or even one of his co-writers to introduce him.

Instead, Keith chose retired Gen. James Jones, ex-commandant of the Marine Corps and NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, to bestow on him one of the highest honors he could receive from his home state.

"That's who he was. ... He loved the OK Kids Korral, but he also loved first responders and everybody in the military. He was committed to those guys, and he saw the importance of recognizing them, especially the people in the military who were putting their lives out there for us to fight for our freedom," said Armando Rosell, a member of the executive advisory council for the Oklahoma City-based Toby Keith Foundation.

"He was a great business mind ... but he was more about helping people and helping the community out than anything else. That was Toby."

A larger-than-life country music icon, Keith died Feb. 5 after a multiyear battle with cancer. He was 62.

Music icon remembered for his business savvy

A Songwriters Hall of Famer, the Oklahoma native scored 42 Top 10 hits, including 32 chart-toppers, sold 40 million albums and achieved more than 10 billion streams over the course of his three-decade music career.

But Keith also made his mark as a businessman, patriot and philanthropist. A 2013 cover story in Forbes proclaimed him "Country's $500 Million Man."

In 2005, Keith opened his first Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Oklahoma City, and at one time, restaurants in his name were in business across the nation through a licensing venture. Three locations — operated by Hal Smith Restaurants — are in business in Oklahoma: the original in OKC's Bricktown district, one in his hometown of Moore and one in the Chickasaw Nation's WinStar World Casino in Thackerville.

In 2015, Keith bought Hollywood Corners, a historic 1920s roadhouse and service station in north Norman, and revamped it into a roadside deli, bar and music venue.

An avid outdoorsman and golfer, Keith also owned Belmar Golf Club in Norman and was a longtime race horse breeder and trainer. Although he was still fighting cancer, the hitmaker announced last year that he had hooked a big deal in acquiring famed fishing brand Luck E Strike.

He told The Oklahoman in an exclusive interview last June that Luck E Strike had fallen on hard times in recent years, and he was working to right the ship for a relaunch.

"They're such a good company. They've got such a good upside to 'em. Obviously, I'm excited," he said. "It's as much fun as I've had in a long time."

Chart-topping star spent 20 years helping Oklahoma children with cancer

Keith often used his business savvy and musical stardom to help his fellow Oklahomans, Rosell said.

"He was very active in the community, and not just in Norman or in Oklahoma City, but in the state," Rosell said, recalling the Twister Relief Concert Keith organized in 2013 to help raise money for people impacted by a series of devastating tornadoes.

"He was being part of the community and helping in areas where he could — and when he helped, it's because he wanted to help out. He didn't do it for any other reason."

Long before he was diagnosed with cancer himself, Keith made helping Oklahoma pediatric cancer patients one of his top priorities. In 2004, he helped found Ally's House, a nonprofit group that aids Oklahoma children with cancer and their families. The charity is named for Allison Webb, the 2-year-old daughter of Scott Webb, one of the country star's original bandmates, and his wife, Linda Webb. Allison died Aug. 6, 2003, a month before her third birthday, of Wilms' tumors, a type of kidney cancer.

In 2006, he established the Toby Keith Foundation on a mission to build no-cost housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families. In late 2013, Keith, his family and supporters celebrated in OKC the grand opening of the $9 million OK Kids Korral, a home-away-from home for children seeking cancer care at OU Medical Center.

"We house them, we feed them, we provide clothes for them, toiletries for them. We've bought new tires from people; we've given gas cards for them to fill their cars up to get back home," Rosell said.

"When you're coming from the outskirts of the state ... whether you have the financial means or not, it's hard to travel for that care, especially when you have a sick child. And then you add the financial side of it. So, Toby and (his wife) Tricia were right when they decided to build that house."

In a post Saturday on Keith's social media accounts, his family asks that, in lieu of flowers, people consider donating in his memory to the Toby Keith Foundation to support the OK Kids Korral.

Through his annual charity event the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic, Keith raised in excess of $15 million for the OK Kids Korral over the past two decades.

"It’s probably my greatest accomplishment," Keith told The Oklahoman in 2019.

Rosell said the OK Kids Korral recently marked its 10th anniversary, and in the past decade, it has housed and helped 600 Oklahoma families of children with cancer.

"It's all because of Toby and Tricia having this vision to do this Korral, and then it's also because we have such excellent donors. A lot of them are Toby and Tricia's friends, and a lot of them became Toby and Tricia's friends," Rosell said, his voice thickening with emotion.

He said the foundation board is planning to go forward with this year's 20th annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic, since it is the major annual fundraiser for the OK Kids Korral. But he anticipated it will be a bittersweet event without the music icon there.

"We are 100% committed to making the OK Kids Korral continue on and to making it the OK Kids Korral Toby wanted it to be," Rosell said.

Singer-songwriter earns renown for his devotion to the troops

Starting in 2002, Keith played 11 USO Tours spanning more than 285 events for nearly 256,000 troops and military families. The singer-songwriter performed in 18 countries, and during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he played for troops on the front lines and even encountered mortar fire on at least one occasion.

"He was right in the line of fire ... and I will tell you that military members remember that," said retired Maj. Gen. Rita Aragon, who was the first female commander of the Oklahoma Air National Guard and first woman in the United States to command a state’s Air National Guard.

"Those people who put themselves out to go and do that kind of thing, it really that says an awful lot. They may not be in the military, but they're certainly doing a patriotic duty."

Although Keith did not serve in the military himself, Aragon said he was clearly proud of his late father's service in the U.S. Army.

In 2009, Keith received the Military Officers Association of America Distinguished Service Award. He was recognized with the Spirit of the USO Award in 2014.

"I met him a couple of times, and he was extremely gracious and very humble. In all of his videos he's kind of an in-your-face kind of guy. ... but he always thanked me for my service," said Aragon, a fellow Oklahoma Hall of Famer.

"You could tell he really respected the military. He did more than just lip service."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Toby Keith's Oklahoma cancer charity plans to continue his work