ADA, Okla. - East Central University announces the appointment of Thomas Blake Crabtree, president of Ada Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and third generation owner, and ECU alumnus as campaign co-chair for the ECU Forward capital campaign.
ECU Forward is a comprehensive $36.3 million capital campaign dedicated to advancing ECU’s future. This initiative will enhance the ECU campus, strengthen academic programs and ensure that ECU students will continue to be provided with life-changing educational opportunities at an affordable cost.
Crabtree, an Ada native and graduate of Ada High School, received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration-Marketing from ECU in 1994.
Crabtree’s association with ECU began long before he attended the university as a student, himself. His family’s connection reaches back more than a century with his grandmother, Mable Riddle Crabtree, attending East Central State Normal School in the 1910’s and later working at the university in the music department.
“My family has been connected to East Central [University] for over 100 years,” said Crabtree. “We’ve been proud to be a part of its story, and we hope others will join in moving it forward. It takes financial support to make that possible. Living here in Ada, the needs are more visible—it’s clear just how much this university matters. ECU doesn’t just educate students; it strengthens the entire community.”
In addition to Crabtree’s historic family connection to ECU, he is also the president of the Ada Coca-Cola Bottling Co., a position he has held for more than two and a half decades. The company is a five-generation family-owned business with a history spanning nearly 120 years in Ada, Okla., two years before the state was officially recognized. The company was purchased by Crabtree’s grandfather, Thomas Ballad (T.B.) Blake, in 1908, with his grandmother, Agnes Craddock Blake, playing an instrumental role in the business’s earliest success.
Crabtree credits his leadership and drive to his family, “What my father and grandfather accomplished during their time in the military and in our business is what motivated me to work harder and accomplish everything I could.”
Over the years, Crabtree served a wide range of roles for the Ada Coca-Cola Bottling Co. including time in the production department bottling soft drinks, delivering products, repairing vending machines, operating a sales route and managing the full line vending business before he became senior management for the company.
Under the Crabtree family’s leadership, Ada Coca-Cola Bottling Co. has grown and expanded exponentially, allowing the business and family to give back to the community and the university to which they are historically tied. From student scholarships dating back decades to the family’s contribution toward ECU’s state-of-the-art football scoreboard, Crabtree’s time on the ECU Foundation board, and his service as Ada Area Chamber of Commerce Long Range Planning chairman, the Crabtree family remains entwined with the university.
Currently, the Ada Coca-Cola Bottling Co. resides in a new 80,000 square foot building completed in 2023 and shown to the public during a come-and-go open house in 2024.
Hanging in this new location are photographs of Crabtree’s grandparents, which serve as a constant reminder of the family’s long history and commitment to the Ada Coca Cola Bottling Company, ECU and the community as a whole.
In his free time, Crabtree enjoys traveling, cooking, running marathons and spending quality time with his wife, children and grandchildren.
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