Okla-homey
11/20/2007, 07:58 AM
:D
Retirement honors set for a faithful pair
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/33776/2005187528351653485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005187528351653485)
Sooner (left) and Boomer (right) pull the Sooner Schooner onto the field following a field goal by Oklahoma in the fourth quarter of the OU-Baylor game in Norman on Nov. 10. The current Shetland pony team will soon be retiring.
By MANNY GAMALLO Tulsa World Staff Writer
11/20/2007
The 14-year dynasty of Boomer and Sooner, the current Shetland pony team pulling the University of Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner, will come to a close Saturday.
Kenny Mossman, OU's sports information director, said Monday the two horses will be officially retired during a ceremony before the start of the OU-Oklahoma State University football game.
Game time is 2:30 p.m. in Norman.
Bill and Linda Warden, who care for Boomer and Sooner at a ranch in Sapulpa, said the new Boomer-Sooner team will also be at Saturday's game.
Bill Warden said the current Boomer-Sooner team is the fourth in a line of teams to pull the Sooner Schooner, and also the longest serving at 14 years.
The two, both geldings, are 18 and 19 years old, he said, comparing their ages to a man in his 60s. "They're not as frisky as they once were," he said.
Warden said Shetlands typically have a life span of about 25 years, though he noted that Sooner No. 3 lived to be 34 years old.
All of the horses pulling the schooner have been named Boomer and Sooner, and all have been Shetlands. The current Sooner is half Shetland and half Welsh.
The Wardens said the new Boomer and Sooner team will be slightly larger Welsh ponies, and will be available for service by next year's football season.
Meanwhile, the new horses -- both 4-year-old geldings -- are undergoing training. (note: "gelding": a male horse which has had its you-know-what's removed)
In addition to pulling the schooner, Bill Warden said he is training the new horses to be around noisy crowds, shotgun blasts, blaring music, and any other distraction at a football game.
"That's the hardest part of the training," he said.
Warden said the new horses have already been to four high school games in the Tulsa area, along with the Tulsa State Fair, to get them acclimated to crowds and noise.
As for the retiring horses, they will be put out to pasture on the 10-acre Boomer-Sooner Ranch, maintained by the Bartlett Foundation in Sapulpa.
It was Sapulpa brothers Charley "Buzz" Bartlett and Dr. M.S. Bartlett who came up with the idea of the Sooner Schooner mascot in 1965.
Their foundation has been caring for and maintaining the horses and schooner ever since. The Wardens, both employees of the Bartlett Foundation, have been caring for Boomer and Sooner for the past 10 years.
Bill Warden said he may take the retired horses to area schools to show children, but they will no longer pull the schooner, which also is kept at the ranch.
On Monday, Boomer and Sooner visited Pratt Elementary School in Sand Springs.
Meanwhile, the new team will be pulling the schooner at local civic events and parades, as other teams have done. Linda Warden said although the current Boomer and Sooner retire Saturday, they are expected to show up at any post-season football games OU may have.
She said Boomer and Sooner are expected to receive flowers at Saturday's retirement, and the two will lead the OU football team onto the field for the ****** matchup.
Manny Gamallo 581-8386
[email protected]
It’s been a long road traveled by Boomer and Sooner, the two Shetland ponies pulling the University of Oklahoma’s Sooner Schooner mascot.
In their 14-year run, the ponies have:
- Been to 87 home games.
- Seen OU win 69 games and lose 18.
- Watched OU score 386 touchdowns.
- Celebrating those touchdowns amounted to on-the-field runs of about 38,600 yards — or about 22 miles — for the two ponies, the fourth team since the mascot was created in the mid-1960s.
- Traveled to 10 bowl games, five Big 12 championship games and more than a dozen OU-Texas games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
-The mileage just going to all those bowl games and championships adds up to 24,384 miles — about once around the Earth.
Source: Tim George, a marketing director for University of Oklahoma athletics
Retirement honors set for a faithful pair
http://aycu17.webshots.com/image/33776/2005187528351653485_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2005187528351653485)
Sooner (left) and Boomer (right) pull the Sooner Schooner onto the field following a field goal by Oklahoma in the fourth quarter of the OU-Baylor game in Norman on Nov. 10. The current Shetland pony team will soon be retiring.
By MANNY GAMALLO Tulsa World Staff Writer
11/20/2007
The 14-year dynasty of Boomer and Sooner, the current Shetland pony team pulling the University of Oklahoma's Sooner Schooner, will come to a close Saturday.
Kenny Mossman, OU's sports information director, said Monday the two horses will be officially retired during a ceremony before the start of the OU-Oklahoma State University football game.
Game time is 2:30 p.m. in Norman.
Bill and Linda Warden, who care for Boomer and Sooner at a ranch in Sapulpa, said the new Boomer-Sooner team will also be at Saturday's game.
Bill Warden said the current Boomer-Sooner team is the fourth in a line of teams to pull the Sooner Schooner, and also the longest serving at 14 years.
The two, both geldings, are 18 and 19 years old, he said, comparing their ages to a man in his 60s. "They're not as frisky as they once were," he said.
Warden said Shetlands typically have a life span of about 25 years, though he noted that Sooner No. 3 lived to be 34 years old.
All of the horses pulling the schooner have been named Boomer and Sooner, and all have been Shetlands. The current Sooner is half Shetland and half Welsh.
The Wardens said the new Boomer and Sooner team will be slightly larger Welsh ponies, and will be available for service by next year's football season.
Meanwhile, the new horses -- both 4-year-old geldings -- are undergoing training. (note: "gelding": a male horse which has had its you-know-what's removed)
In addition to pulling the schooner, Bill Warden said he is training the new horses to be around noisy crowds, shotgun blasts, blaring music, and any other distraction at a football game.
"That's the hardest part of the training," he said.
Warden said the new horses have already been to four high school games in the Tulsa area, along with the Tulsa State Fair, to get them acclimated to crowds and noise.
As for the retiring horses, they will be put out to pasture on the 10-acre Boomer-Sooner Ranch, maintained by the Bartlett Foundation in Sapulpa.
It was Sapulpa brothers Charley "Buzz" Bartlett and Dr. M.S. Bartlett who came up with the idea of the Sooner Schooner mascot in 1965.
Their foundation has been caring for and maintaining the horses and schooner ever since. The Wardens, both employees of the Bartlett Foundation, have been caring for Boomer and Sooner for the past 10 years.
Bill Warden said he may take the retired horses to area schools to show children, but they will no longer pull the schooner, which also is kept at the ranch.
On Monday, Boomer and Sooner visited Pratt Elementary School in Sand Springs.
Meanwhile, the new team will be pulling the schooner at local civic events and parades, as other teams have done. Linda Warden said although the current Boomer and Sooner retire Saturday, they are expected to show up at any post-season football games OU may have.
She said Boomer and Sooner are expected to receive flowers at Saturday's retirement, and the two will lead the OU football team onto the field for the ****** matchup.
Manny Gamallo 581-8386
[email protected]
It’s been a long road traveled by Boomer and Sooner, the two Shetland ponies pulling the University of Oklahoma’s Sooner Schooner mascot.
In their 14-year run, the ponies have:
- Been to 87 home games.
- Seen OU win 69 games and lose 18.
- Watched OU score 386 touchdowns.
- Celebrating those touchdowns amounted to on-the-field runs of about 38,600 yards — or about 22 miles — for the two ponies, the fourth team since the mascot was created in the mid-1960s.
- Traveled to 10 bowl games, five Big 12 championship games and more than a dozen OU-Texas games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
-The mileage just going to all those bowl games and championships adds up to 24,384 miles — about once around the Earth.
Source: Tim George, a marketing director for University of Oklahoma athletics