And, I know it well.
Full disclosure.
As the song goes, “I’m Sooner Born and Sooner Bred and before I die I’ll be Sooner Dead!”
But I was born and raised in Tulsa.
And a University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane fan.
Legend has it I was a toddler in the Skelly Stadium stands when Glenn Dobbs’ aerial circus had taken Tulsa by storm.
Quarterback Jerry Rhome and receiver Howard Twilley erased the NCAA record books in 1964-65.
All the while at the other end of I-44, Oklahoma was reverberating with the departure of Bud Wilkinson.
So, Tulsa Golden Hurricane football ruled the state of Oklahoma for a few years.
And I was a part of that.
A regular at TU football camps and a member of the Junior Golden Hurricane Club, I was always around the program.
Whether it was painting the TU helmets their golden color under the west stands, attending camps or shagging foul balls at Tulsa baseball games at Oiler Park and then LaFortune Park, I bled blue and gold.
Along the way I saw some of TU’s greatest players and coaches.
All are in the TU Sports Hall of Fame.
Twilley even retired to Tulsa after his NFL career with the Miami Dolphins and had an Athlete's Foot store in the new Fontana Shopping Center. I used to buy my sports shoes there and got this autographed photo from Howard himself!
And, I even played football at Skelly Stadium in high school against none other than future Oklahoma All-American and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys Tony Casillas.
I even played American Legion ball and high school baseball at LaFortune Park.
And, later in college, I played Stan Musial ball (where all the Tulsa college players who didn’t get drafted returned home to play summer ball) at the new Driller Stadium which was basically built on the same site as old Oiler Park where I grew up shagging foul balls for Tulsa head baseball coach Gene Shell.
But I digress.
The Sooners would soon slowly awake from their haze and in 1971, #2 Oklahoma and #1 Nebraska met in Norman for the Game of the Century.
And the tables turned.
Barry Switzer took over in 1973 and immediately won back-to-back national championships and a had record run for 16 years until 1989.
And I would find myself a diehard Sooner fan and eventually alumni graduating in 1984.
Along the way, Oklahoma and Tulsa Football games were few and far between.
Other than the early games in the 1900’s, OU and Tulsa just didn’t play each other.
And the series was tied at 6-6-1.
Until 1979.
Tulsa travelled to Norman during the height of Switzer’s reign and promptly lost 49-3.
In 1983, Tulsa returned to Norman and lost again 28-18.
OU wanting to appease the Tulsa alumni and followers, travelled down the Turner Turnpike and Skelly Stadium in 1987.
The final score: OU 65-0.
A 3-0 Sooner run in the nineties would run the total to 12-6-1.
The Golden Hurricanes would win their last game in the series in 1996 during the John Blake years—a Tulsa boy who played and then coached in Norman.
That 12-7-1 record was a better rivalry than Oklahoma has with its soon to be departed Bedlam partner.
And since then, Bob Stoops stepped up the rivalry and played Tulsa eight times.
Most recently in 2015.
Raising the series total to 20-7-1 in favor of the Sooners.
And a lot of those games were spent with my daughter Lucy indoctrinating her into her dad’s football rivalry.
Newbie Brent Venables is the latest Oklahoma coach to embrace his Green Country rivals.
But he’s no newcomer to the Turnpike Series.
Venables was an assistant to Bob Stoops for 13 seasons.
The first time Oklahoma ventured to Tulsa in the Stoops era was recently a topic on Venables weekly coaches show Monday night.
Venables retold a story about how his co-host Teddy Lehman, Sooner All-American linebacker, figured into the Tulsa rivalry.
Venables recounted how the Sooners had spent all week studying Tulsa game film.
When all of a sudden on the first drive TU rolled out a new play that the OU coaches hadn’t seen and resulted in a 67-yard gain.
Venables continued and said after the play that featured a slew of OU All-Americans strewn all over Skelly Stadiums’ turf, Mike Stoops, his Co-Defensive Coordinator, grabbed Venables and screamed, “Where’s Teddy?”
To which Venables pointed at the 50-yard line and said, “He’s over there on his butt!”
Oklahoma and Lehman recovered and won 37-0.
So, Saturday’s contest has come full circle.
Longtime Sooner assistant coach Kevin Wilson was named Tulsa’s head coach last year.
And Brent Venables is well aware of his coaching acumen.
Wilson was on Bob Stoops staff with Venables in the Stoops go-go days.
When Jason White and Sam Bradford were winning Heisman trophies in Norman, Kevin Wilson was either offensive line coach, tight ends or offensive coordinator for some of Oklahoma’s most memorable games.
2003 BCS National Championship game in New Orleans versus LSU?
Yep.
Kevin Wilson was there.
Fast forward to 2008 when Sam Bradford, DeMarco Murray and Jermaine Gresham were setting NCAA records on the way to a national championship game loss to Florida?
Yep.
Kevin Wilson was the offensive coordinator calling the shots.
Wilson has since been on a journeyman role since departing Oklahoma in 2010 with stints at Indiana and Ohio State most recently.
But all roads led back to Tulsa and now he has himself facing off against an old coaching nemesis from their practice days in Norman as part of Bob Stoops staff.
Venables had nothing but good things to say about Kevin Wilson this week.
And Wilson has since returned the favor.
Which is understandable.
He should since he went head-to-head against Wilson's high-powered offenses during his days as Co-Defensive Coordinator.
Wilson gave as good as Venables could give him.
They both know each other's tendencies very well.
However, this time the talent pool appears heavily slanted toward Venables as Wilson is in his first year rebuilding the program at Tulsa.
Although Wilson has hired former Sooner assistant and Bob Stoops' mentor's son, Steve Spurrier, Jr. as his Offensive Coordinator, and former Sooner player under Venables and Tulsa Union grad, Dominique Franks as a Special Assistant on defense.
And Wilson is not without support from their former boss either.
Yep, Bob Stoops and entourage including Toby Keith flew to Tulsa recently to support Wilson's first game as the head coach at Tulsa.
No word yet if Big Game Bob and Toby are returning to Tulsa this weekend.
However, regardless Brent Venables has tons of respect for Kevin Wilson as both a coach and a person.
And that feeling is mutual.
So, this Saturday’s tilt in midtown Tulsa has special meaning for both coaches.
And also, for yours truly who will be watching in Dallas and who grew up in Tulsa loving both schools.
#Boomer
#GoldenHurricanes
