Danny Biggs was born in 1936 and raised on a farm in Kingman, Kansas. During high school he was involved in both academics as the student council president and athletics as co-captain of the football team. After graduation Danny began his life-long love affair with the oil and gas industry. His career has been more than extraordinary; he began as a roughneck for Noble Drilling in both Kansas and Oklahoma before transferring to Herndon Drilling Co. drilling wildcat wells in Nebraska and South Dakota.

While in South Dakota, Danny met his wife of 51 years, Darlene Craig. Darlene was a schoolteacher in Faith, SD and she and Danny were married a year after they met. They have three children, two sons; Craig and his wife Jolene of Great Bend, Kim and his wife Kim of Lafayette, Louisiana and daughter Kelly and her husband Rob Bowman of Great Bend. They have been blessed with eight grandchildren.

In 1958 Danny began his long association with Pickrell Drilling Company as an all around oilfield hand, over the years he was promoted at every opportunity and in 1988 became stockholder and vice president of Pickrell and its subsidiaries, Mobil Drilling and Central Dirt Service.

Danny always championed the cause of the oil industry, stepping up as an advocate and supporter by serving on numerous boards and committees. Over the years Danny has received many awards and much recognition for his work in both business and community affairs. But possibly Danny's proudest achievements, outside of his family, were the founding of the Kansas Oil & Gas Museum located in Great Bend and being named the 2004 Citizen of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce.

Barton County Community College has been the beneficiary of Danny and Darlene's generosity and community spirit. Danny served as member of the foundation board from 1987 - 1990 and he and Darlene served as Co-Chairs of the Academic Enrichment Fund Campaign, they established two endowments; the Danny and Darlene Biggs Academic Scholarship and the Danny and Darlene Biggs Nursing Scholarship. In addition, he has been a member of the booster club since its inception in 1969 and served as president in 2005-2006. In August of 2006 Danny and Darlene donated the bleacher complex for the Jimmy Lawson Field on the Barton Campus. Both of their sons and daughter-in-laws attended Barton and Danny & Darlene both know the economic impact and cultural benefit of Barton to this community and the students we serve.

Danny & Darlene have often expressed in both words and actions how proud they are of Barton County Community College - this year the Foundation honors Danny and Darlene Biggs by showing them how proud we are of them and how much we cherish and appreciate their support.

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