Tales from the Oklahoma Sooner Sideline Read online

  And so, the oldest men’s collegiate pep group was born. The name was adopted by the organization and altered to RUF/NEKS. As the group became more defined with time, the RUF/NEKS evolved from basic cheerleading into a group that helped promote school spirit at other levels, including pregame bonfires and postgame celebrations.

  Passing to the Crown

  Bennie Owen had long preached the forward pass, but not until 1915 did he have the player who could utilize it fully. Spot Geyer was that player, and by the end of the Sooners’ initial season in the Southwest Conference, he had matured into one of the best passers in the land.

  Geyer helped lead OU to a perfect 10-0 record and the conference title. He threw for a school-record 288 yards in a victory over Kansas and kicked the extra point that was the difference in a 14-13 win against Texas.

  The senior quarterback’s celebrity grew tremendously on campus and throughout Norman, and he capped his career by earning All-America honors, making him only the second Sooner to achieve that status.

  Too Hott to Handle

  Long before Eufaula’s Selmon brothers descended on Memorial Stadium with the heart and ferocity that helped earn the Sooners two national championships in the 1970s, the Hott brothers were all the rage in Norman. Sabert, Oliver and Willis Hott earned the nickname “The Terrible Hotts” for their spirited style of play.

  Between the years 1910-16, at least one Hott brother favored the Sooner lineup with unparalleled fervor and mettle. Sabert, the eldest, also known as Old Sabe, played four seasons despite having only one eye, the other having been lost in a railroad accident some years earlier.

  Younger brothers Willis and Oliver, nicknamed Big Hott and Little Hott, respectively, were among the most popular players on coach Bennie Owens squads from 1913-16.

  Fans became so enamored with the brothers that they came up with a special chant thanks to the help of OU’s first yellmaster, Leslie High.

  It went something like this: “Big Hott! Little Hott! Red Hott! Too Hott! Woo!”

  What’s in a Name?

  Lawrence Haskell was a well-known name around the Oklahoma campus for most of 30 years. Besides lettering in football and baseball for the Sooners from 1918-22, he served as head baseball coach and freshman football coach for his alma mater from 1927-41. And after serving in the navy during World War II, Haskell returned to OU as athletics director.

  Jap, as he was known throughout his life, was the nickname he earned while growing up in the small Oklahoma town of Anadarko. As a teenager, Haskell would borrow his brother Pat’s harness horse named Jasper W., along with his rubber-tired, maple-wheeled buggy. Young Haskell was seen so frequently in the company of the horse, the people of Anadarko referred to him by the horses name, shortening the Jasper to Jap.

  While athletic director, Haskell was credited with helping discover legendary OU football coach Charles “Bud” Wilkinson. The university named its new baseball field after Haskell in 1963, just months prior to his death.

  Nice Stadium, Lousy Facilities

  When Oklahoma poured almost $350,000 into the construction of a new 32,000-seat stadium in the 1920s, most people believed the university had elevated its athletic programs, especially football, to unthinkable heights. And in many ways, they were right.

  Spectators traveled from near and far to watch Bennie Owens Sooners perform on the gridiron. Memorial Stadium was beautifully displayed as the centerpiece of the everexpanding campus, and it would one day be home to one of the greatest traditions in the annals of college football.

  But for those players who initially put their talents on display at the venue, there was little to cheer about when it came to amenities. The locker rooms were dark and cramped, as were most of the facility’s inner workings. One OU player described the players’ quarters as less desirable than what he had experienced at his small high school back home.

  While Owen was responsible for helping raise the money for the new stadium and building the Sooners into a vastly respected program, there was still room for major improvement. It would not come for another 10 years.

  Oklahoma’s Most Famous Dog

  During the 1980s and ’90s, Oklahoma debuted a new mascot for home basketball games. His name was “Top Daug,” and his performances and antics became popular with Sooner fans, young and old.

  But there was another dog in OU sports history that enjoyed unequaled popularity. Mex, a handsome tan and white terrier dressed in a red sweater and cap with a white embroidered “O,” served as the school’s original mascot from 1919-28. His familiar staccato bark accompanied Sooner touchdowns as well as runs scored at OU baseball games.

  Prior to his career as a mascot, Mex was rescued by a U.S. Army field hospital unit in 1914 during the Mexican Revolution. Medic and soon-to-be OU student Mott Keyes found the dog among an abandoned litter of puppies near the Mexican border.

  As mascot, Mex helped entertain spectators between quarters by catching hedge apples tossed to him by members of the Spirit Squad.

  When Mex died on April 30, 1928, the entire university closed for his funeral. He was buried in a small casket under Memorial Stadium.

  Three Captains from Caddo County

  There are no documented records showing where team captains have come from over the years. But it is fairly safe to say few towns the size of Anadarko, Oklahoma, (population 6,000) produced as many Sooner captains.

  Charles Ross Hume, Jap Haskell and Pete Hämmert Jr. did their part to put the small Caddo County community on the map.

  Interestingly enough, Hume’s run as captain during the 1896 season was expunged from the records when officials determined the two games OU played that season were recorded only as exhibitions. Hume, who played quarterback, later became the first OU graduate.

  Haskell captained the Sooners during the 1921 season, and he went on to become head baseball coach and freshman football coach at his alma mater in the late 1920s. In 1945, Haskell was hired as OU director of athletics.

  Meanwhile, Hämmert was a captain for Bennie Owen’s 1923 OU squad.

  Staggering Victory

  When Adrian Lindsey took over in 1927, Oklahoma fans were unsure how the new coach would perform in the lingering shadow of legendary mentor Bennie Owen. And while the young Oklahoma native enjoyed a memorable debut—the Sooners defeated Amos Alonzo Stagg’s powerful University of Chicago squad, 13-7—his four seasons at the helm proved mostly unproductive.

  Lindsey’s teams went 19-19-6 during that span, and Lewie Hardage followed with three more seasons of mediocrity. During an era when the Great Depression took its toll on the country, Oklahoma football fans didn’t even have a football team to help them forget the hard times.

  To worsen matters, by 1934, a major drought had turned parts of Oklahoma into a wasteland that became known as the Dust Bowl. While other elite teams were earning invitations to prestigious bowl games, the Sooners were again buried in obscurity—and dust.

  Not until the 1990s did OU followers have as much to lament when it came to their football program.

  No Strays Allowed

  When OU officially made Mex the dog its mascot in 1919, one of his original duties was to chase stray dogs off of Boyd Field during game days. Located near a group of houses and without a surrounding fence, the football venue seemed like a magnet for curious animals, especially when the locals would gather to watch their favorite college team.

  As a spectator, it was not unusual to see the feisty terrier nipping at the heels of a much larger canine, all while the Sooners were calling signals and running plays somewhere nearby on the field.

  It’s All Relative

  Leo, Al and Gene Corrotto, who hailed from Fort Smith, Arkansas, scripted their Sooner story in 1930s when the program was vying for national status. The strapping trio preceeded their cousins—Art and Bill Pansze—as members of OU’s football program.

  The Corrotto brothers arrived in Norman via a freight train in the summer of 1935 and wasted little time making
their presence felt on Biff Jones’ OU squad. At least, Al and Gene did. Leo, who had been one of the top kickers in the Southwest Conference as a freshman at Arkansas the previous season, found out the Razorbacks would not release his credits to allow him to play at OU. Instead of going to a junior college for a season, he returned home and soon after decided to quit playing football.

  Al and Gene remained and became staples in the Sooners’ double- and single-wing sets. The 5-foot-11, 168-pound Gene returned to action as right halfback after suffering a shoulder injury his freshman season, while Al excelled for three campaigns at blocking back and linebacker.

  “It’s funny because Leo was the best athlete out of the three of us, and he ended up not playing anymore,” said Gene, who was co-captain with Earl Crowder on the OU squad that played in the 1939 Orange Bowl.

  The Dreaded List

  Biff Jones arrived in Norman after spending three tumultuous seasons at LSU, where he was best known for running Louisiana Gov. Huey P. Long out of his locker room at halftime of the 1934 LSU-Tulane game. Although Jones’ Tigers went 20-5-5 during his time there, he decided the head coaching position at Oklahoma presented a new challenge.

  Jones, a captain for the West Point football team during his collegiate playing days and a former army major, was hard working and well disciplined. He was a no-nonsense kind of coach, and he expected the same type of dedication from his players.

  “He kind of ran the football team like it was army. He hardly ever spoke to the players and basically sat back and let his assistants do their work,” said Barth “Jiggs” Walker, who played line for the Sooners from 1935-37. “When he wanted you to know something, it was posted on the bulletin board.”

  At the end of his initial spring practice as the Sooners were breaking camp and preparing to finish the school year, Jones posted a list of names on the infamous bulletin board with a note that read, “The following players will not return next season.”

  Jones and his staff had analyzed every player and every position that spring, weeding out a number of young men who did not fit into the future of the program, at least in their eyes.

  “It was pretty scary walking up and looking at that list. Your heart was basically in your throat,” added Walker, who made the cut. “Coach Jones was sort of aloof, but he really knew his football. I actually believe he was the beginning of the turnaround of Oklahoma football.”

  Teammate Gene Corrotto agreed: “Biff Jones is the man responsible for reorganizing the OU football program and pointing it in the right direction for those who followed.”

  Jones stayed only two seasons at OU, going 9-6-3 in the process. He went on to coach Nebraska and West Point before retiring with a career mark of 87-33-14.

  And That’s the Way It Is

  Even before Oklahoma football became decorated with icons such as Bud Wilkinson, Billy Vessels, Barry Switzer and Billy Sims, the Sooners had at least one brush with greatness. Even though it happened years before the man grew into legend.

  Prior to the 1937 football season, WKY radio in Oklahoma City hired a young journalist by the name of Walter Cronkite to do its play-by-play commentary. The company that owned WKY had signed an exclusive contract to broadcast Sooner games that season, and it wasted no expense promoting its new radio team of Cronkite, Wray Dudley and Tom Churchill.

  “It was most enjoyable,” Cronkite once said. “I wasn’t that long out of college myself. Of course, my association with the students was not extensive, because most of the time I was with the football team and the coaching staff.

  “It was just the beginning of Oklahoma’s surge into national prominence. It was a very exciting season.”

  Even though Cronkite remembers his first OU broadcast as “disastrous,” he slowly became the voice of the Sooners as coach Tom Stidham’s team forged a 5-2-2 record that included back- to-back ties with Texas and Nebraska and a 16-0 victory over Oklahoma State.

  “I enjoyed that year at OU a great deal. It was great fun, but Ididn’t think it was a career,” Cronkite offered. “It never occurred to me to make a career out of sports reporting.”

  After the ’37 campaign, Cronkite decided to take a job with Braniff Airlines, and he eventually went on to become the most famous anchorman in television history.

  Hey, Cactus Face

  Arkansas native Gilford Duggan was a two-time All-Conference selection and a 1939 All-America tackle for the Sooners. Duggan earned the nickname “Cactus Face” due to the fact he almost always had a wiry three-day growth going. Teammate Gene Corrotto slapped the prickly nickname on Duggan after hearing it on the Jack Benny radio show late one night.

  The 1939 Orange Bowl team. Photo courtesy of the University of Oklahoma

  It was a great look for game days and probably served to provide Duggan with a more menacing appearance. But he usually broke out the razor on Saturday nights after games when it was fashionable to pursue young ladies at Rickner’s bookstore-beer garden-soda fountain or the infamous Town Tavern on Campus Corner.

  Steer Wrestling Sooner

  The Oklahoma-Texas football rivalry took on monumental status long before the game became an annual tradition in Dallas and despite the fact that the Longhorns won 21 of the first 34 meetings. Both schools promoted the game with equal fervor, and the local press was quick to fan the flames that made the game one of the most hotly contested in the country each season.

  The Norman Transcript newspaper did its part to create a little added tension between the two teams when it ran a photo of Oklahoma lineman Barth Walker wrestling a Bevo lookalike to the ground prior to the 1937 showdown. Texas fans did not find a photo of their mascot being manhandled by a Sooner too amusing.

  “Everybody kidded me about that picture. It was rather humorous, but I think it helped promote the game at a time when our program was getting back on its feet after some fairly lean years,” explained Walker.

  The game ended in a 7-7 tie.

  The Orange Brawl

  Oklahoma’s defense had surrendered only 12 points during the entire 1938 regular season en route to a perfect 10-0 record. Defensive back Waddy Young, recognized as one of the best athletes on campus, spearheaded the Sooners’ stingy attack as he became the program’s first consensus All-American.

  As a reward for their efforts, coach Tom Stidham’s Sooners earned a trip to the 1939 Orange Bowl, their first ever postseason game. Winner of 14 straight games overall, OU might have been favored to beat Major Bob Neyland’s undefeated Tennessee Volunteers if not for a rash of injuries that depleted its starting lineup.

  The Sooners entered the contest missing starters Bill Jennings (broken leg), Howard “Red Dog” McCarty (broken thigh), Jerry Bolton (knee), Cliff Speegle (knee) and Steven Wood (knee). To make matters worse, both Cactus Face Duggan and Ralph Stevenson were ejected from the game for fighting in the first quarter.

  And it didn’t end there. Two minutes into the game, starting blocking back Earl Crowder was temporarily knocked unconscious, and he was unable to recover in time to be effective.

  “It was awful. We had so many players injured over the latter part of the season that we were playing a lot of guys from our second team,” said halfback Gene Corrotto. “I don’t want to make excuses, but remember we only had a 40-man roster and most of the starters went both ways. So, you lose a guy, you lost him on both sides of the ball.”

  OU managed only 81 total yards, while Tennessee double-teamed Young most of the game and churned up almost 270 yards against the Sooner defense. The game was marred by over 200 yards in penalties as the Vols ran away to a 17-0 victory in Miami.

  The contest was so rowdy that the headline in a Miami newspaper the following day read: “Orange Brawl.”

  It would be eight seasons before the Sooners returned to a bowl game.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The 1940s

  Indian Jack

  EVEN THOUGH LONGTIME COACH BENNIE OWEN had helped the Sooners devise a fairly effective passing attack during th
e early part of the century, OU fans had never seen the likes of Jack Jacobs when it came to throwing the football.

  Jacobs, whose nickname was Indian Jack, was the proud owner of a rifle arm and quick wits. His speed and scrambling ability gave opposing defenses fits and earned him All-Big Six honors as a senior in 1941. He was also known for his punting ability, and he best demonstrated that during a game against Santa Clara at Memorial Stadium in his final season.

  The Sooners were clinging to an 8-6 lead and pinned deep in their own end of the field when they were forced to kick. A slight wind was hitting Jacobs in the face as he retreated into punt formation, and he noticed the Santa Clara return man positioned very shallow in the secondary. Jacobs playfully motioned the player to move back, but he was not budging.

  Jacobs shook his head and proceeded to boot a spiraling ball that cut through the October winds and did not stop until it had bounced and rolled inside the Santa Clara 10-yard line, finally covering a total of 85 yards. The OU defense subsequently held the Broncos, took over possession and scored the clinching touchdown in a 16-6 victory.

  The Sooners were 18-8-1 during Jacobs’ three seasons under center.

  Big Red

  Dewey Luster, who had spent most of the previous 24 years at OU as either a player, assistant coach or administrator, revealed a somewhat eccentric side when he took over as head coach in 1941. Nicknamed “Snorter” from his days as a lightweight boxer, Luster was bent on returning the Sooners to the glory years of an earlier period.

  During his one short stint away from Norman, while studying law at Columbia University, Luster joined the New York Giants’ staff as an apprentice and learned all about the revolutionary “A” formation that was all the rage in the NFL.

  Luster deployed the “A” over his five seasons at the OU helm and saw his Sooners produce three highly successful campaigns. It was during that time the term “Big Red” became synonymous with OU football, thanks to Luster’s penchant for favoring his junior and senior players over the team’s less experienced players. As a result, the upperclassmen became known as Luster’s “Big Red.”