The calm amidst the storm: WRD staff leads hundreds of guests to safety

At Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, May 26 is a day that won’t be forgotten any time soon.

Among the team members who were working that night, that’s especially true for casino shift manager Kery Grunewald, who spent the first part of his shift glued to the TV, monitoring stormy weather conditions during a busy Saturday night for the property.

“We had a lot of guests here. We had a band playing and everything,” he said. “And we were prettysure the worst had missed us. But out of nowhere, it just swung back around and before I knew it, I was praying we weren’t going to have to evacuate.”

Kery Grunewald, Casino Shift Manager at Will Rogers Downs, evacuated more than 150 people on the gaming floor to the casino storm shelter.

That scenario came true. Just before midnight, the National Weather Service issued a warning that a tornado touched down in Claremore, moving along State Highway 20 and headed straight for the casino.

Every team member followed the property’s severe weather plan and sprang into action. In a remarkable 15 minutes, the WRD staff evacuated more than 150 people on the gaming floor to the casino storm shelter, and hundreds more at the packed KOA campground during dangerous conditions. Once inside the shelter, employees attended to guest needs and concerns, all while desperately gathering developments about the tornado.

“Inside the shelter, it’s hot, we’re getting lots of jokes about giving guests refunds for the beers they had to leave behind, and lighthearted things like that,” Grunewald said. “Then the wind hit and it sounded just like a loud freight train. And you could start to see the fear appear in people’s eyes.”

An EF-3 tornado slammed into the property just minutes later, significantly damaging the casino and leaving destruction of campers and RVs at the KOA campground. Like many of the employees who live in the area, Grunewald remained calm and collected throughout the ordeal despite being unable to reach his daughter at home in the process.

“As soon as the storm passed, suddenly a call finally came through. She was safe,” he said. “My neighbors went and got her and I’m so thankful for them.”

After the storm passed, people were shocked by the damage.

“The Event Center shutter was twisted in a bow, and the bridge used to evacuate the building was just gone,” Grunewald said. “That’s when I knew we had taken a direct hit.”

Luckily no one was seriously injured – a true testament to the quick actions of the entire WRD team.

“I couldn’t be more proud of this WRD team and how fast they acted to get everyone to safety,” said Rusty Stamps, general manager of Will Rogers Downs. “That is the Big 6 in action. By prioritizing our guests’ safety in a very tense situation, Kery and his people didn’t just show why those principles are so crucial to Cherokee Casino’s values, they proved to be heroes in our community.”

As WRD temporarily goes dark to pick up the pieces from the storm, the culture among the property’s team members continues to shine.

“A few days later, I was inside a smoke shop and the cashier I see normally asked me if I worked at the racino. She said, my mom was in that storm shelter with you and she told me to thank you for how well you did keeping everyone safe,” said Grunewald. “That’s nice to hear, but that’s just what we do here. The backup MODs, security supervisors…they made it easy.

“Work should not just be work. Working at Cherokee Casino is what we do to succeed, to create lives for ourselves, to build a culture. And this makes me feel like we’ve accomplished our goal.”