Most people live satisfactory lives. Some people live memorable lives. And then there are those who live miraculous lives.

SCU alumnus Gary Ivy belongs to this last group.

Gary graduated from SCU in 1974 with his Associates of Arts degree. He played basketball and baseball, experiences he said were "wonderful." Gary especially remembers enjoying sports for "the camaraderie, the good Christian atmosphere that you don't see in public schools." At SCU, "You bond. You're one big family."

Upon graduating, Gary was recruited by the minor league team under the Philadelphia Phillies and played with them from the end of 1974 to 1975. He also played competitive softball for 15 years, winning the USSSA championship church team twice. He was elected to the USSSA Hall of Fame.
Gary was working as printing sales manager for The Journal-Record when a blast went off across the street. It was April 19, 1995, and the Alfred P. Murrah Building had just been bombed.
"The blast wrapped around our building, lifted it up, moved it over six inches and put it down all in a split second. When it went off, I thought a natural gas pipe had exploded or one of our barrels of chemicals had exploded," he recalls.
Despite the threat of collapsed debris in the building, Gary says there was only one thing on his mind at the time: "Get people out. That's all I could think of."
The blast caused pieces of broken glass from his office window to shatter over his head and shoulders. Right before the moment of the blast, Gary turned his back to the window. This possibly could have been the most important single act of his life.
When he went back the next day to examine the ruins, Gary made a harrowing discovery: there was a large piece of glass stuck in the seat back that would've pierced his chest had he not turned around.
"I could've easily, died very easily. But I didn't," he says.
Gary says the Oklahoma City bombing changed his life: "It has been a wonderful ride, a very wonderful ride."

One piece of advice Gary received at SCU has stuck with him throughout the years. Maybe it was even on his mind as he went back again and again for the victims inside his building.

"Never give up," an SCU English professor once told him.