Ernest Muncrief
Oklahoma agricultural education has a long and proud history. Few names in that storied history are any more prominent than that of Marlow’s Ernest Muncrief.
Ernest was born March 1, 1922. After graduating from Kingston High School, Ernest enrolled at Murray State College in nearby Tishomingo where he earned an associate degree in science. He was then off to Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He began his vocational agriculture teaching career at Marlow High School in 1945. Remarkably, he would teach at the same school until his retirement 35 years later.
During his teaching career, Ernest’s vo-ag students literally put the Marlow FFA chapter on the map. Some of Ernest’s proudest moments came when 50 of his FFA members walked across the stage at State FFA Conventions over that 35-year span to receive their state FFA degrees.
He holds the state record for serving as a cooperative teacher for 28 years. During that span, he helped prepare 65 agricultural education student teachers for their future classroom careers.
Ernest has served as both president and secretary of the Oklahoma Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association. He is also an honorary lifetime member of the National Vocational Agriculture Teachers Association and in 1972 was selected as the NVATA’s Outstanding Agriculture Teacher. He was also the first person to be inducted into Oklahoma’s Outstanding Ag Teacher Hall of Fame. He has received both the honorary state and American FFA degrees and in 1984 received Oklahoma FFA’s coveted VIP award.
Mr. Muncrief was inducted to the CareerTech Hall of Fame in 1997.
