William Grove Skelly (June 10, 1878 – April 11, 1957) was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the oil business.

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he moved to Kansas in 1916, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1919, where he founded Skelly Oil Company.

He donated funds to the University of Tulsa for a football stadium in 1930 and for KWGS, the first FM radio station in Oklahoma in 1947.

After completing the business course, he worked with his father hauling oil-well supplies to oil fields in Venango County, Pennsylvania.

Skelly enlisted in the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers and participated in the Battle of Coamo in Puerto Rico.

[1] Observing the fortunes made by others during the oil booms of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, Skelly decided to become an independent producer.

After a brief stay in Texas, he moved to El Dorado, Kansas, in 1916, where he began operating his Midland Refining Company in 1917.

[1] In 1923, while serving as president of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, Skelly helped organize the first International Petroleum Exposition (IPE).

[citation needed] In 1927, Skelly obtained signatures from several prominent Tulsa businessmen put up $172,000 to buy 390 acres (178 ha) of land for use as a municipal airport.

[8] He provided the funding for the University of Tulsa's radio station, founded in 1947 and named KWGS in his honor.

After he died in 1957, Gertrude donated the building and its furnishings to the University of Tulsa, which sold it to private owners in 1959.