But it was in the summer of '87, working as a physical therapy tech at Hillcrest Hospital in south Oklahoma City, that my passion for health care was awakened. I'd worked the weekends at Goddard Health Center on the OU campus. Q: When did you decide upon a career in health care?Ī: My junior year. Following high school graduation, I had surgery to clear blocked kidney stones and that waylaid my wrestling career. But not until I walked on my junior year, and then I wrestled at 142 pounds behind national champion Joe Reynolds. I'd grown up going to OU football games with my grandfather - my mom's dad - or listening to them on the radio driving to and from the library on Saturdays to check out books.Ī: I did. I was offered an academic and athletic scholarship to Stanford, but sent them a “Thank you, but no thank you letter” because I was a born Sooner. By high school, I had to make a choice and chose wrestling because - at 5 feet, 9 inches - I thought I'd have better opportunities. Football was my first love, but I also played baseball, some basketball, soccer and wrestled. We stayed, and my mother became an entrepreneur with her father - selling hair care products and jewelry.Ī: Sports. We were in our teens and burst out crying “No.” Moore was all we knew. When the company moved to Dallas, she and my dad sat me and my younger brother down to talk to us about relocating. My mom was one of the first female managers for GE. My dad is a Vietnam vet and worked as a sheet metal mechanic for the B-2 Bomber and AWACS planes at Tinker Air Force Base. This is an edited transcript:Ī: I grew up near 89th and South May and graduated from Moore High School.
Its systemwide bed count is 387.įrom its HealthPlex campus off Tecumseh Road and Interstate 35, Splitt sat down recently with The Oklahoman to talk about his life and career.
The health system has grown from one hospital with a staff of 29 in 1946 to three campuses and 2,900 employees.
Norman Regional also is celebrating its 70th birthday this year.