Jay C. Upchurch
11/29/2007, 02:59 AM
Former OU star Gene Corrotto who went on to coaching fame at both the college and high school levels died Monday night at the age of 93. Here is a story Sooner Spectator did on Coach Corrotto back in September of this year....
Coach Corrotto
Former Sooner Created A Lasting Impression On Oklahoma Football Landscape
By Edgar L. Frost
At 93, Gene Corrotto still finds plenty to laugh about. His eyes sparkle when he talks and his voice rings true with stories from an era of Oklahoma football that unfolded more than 70 years ago.
Corrotto is a man surrounded by many treasures — pictures, plaques, memories and family. He has known every Sooner football figure from Bennie Owen to Bob Stoops, and his house resembles a football museum.
The longtime Norman resident played in Oklahoma’s first-ever bowl game, helped coach Barry Switzer as a player at Arkansas, and was honored with a “Sooner Salute” at the 2004 OU-Nebraska game, when the Sooners whipped the Huskers 30-3.
Corrotto also directed Norman High School to a state football championship, and more importantly, he has left a imprint on the game that will last well into future generations.
Born Feb. 23, 1914, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Corrotto ended up at the University of Oklahoma in the post-depression era, when he followed his brother Al and their cousins Art and Bill Pansze to Norman. Each of the four earned three football letters as Sooners, and each served as a team captain during their respective stays.
One of 13 children, Eugene Corrotto grew up in Fort Smith and played high school football at nearby St. Ann’s Academy. He still has a dumbbell that he used to hoist in his back yard for exercise, and a leaping prowess developed by “jumping those creeks in Arkansas” led to a track letter as a broad jumper at OU in 1938. Corrotto had good speed for the era in which he played, as he was once clocked at 10.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash.
When he lettered at OU (1936-38), Corrotto weighed 168 pounds, “stripped, after practice.” So how did he get into football?
“I just liked to tackle. I grew up tackling all my brothers,” Corrotto recalled.
The coaches who invited him to come to Oklahoma — with a scholarship, which included the job of sweeping out the Law Barn — were assistant coach Bo Rowland and head man Lewie Hardage. By the time he saw action for the Sooners, Corrotto played for Biff Jones in 1936 and for Tom Stidham in 1937-38. And although Oklahoma was struggling to find a national identity, Corrotto was part of a group that helped put the Sooners on the map.
Bennie Owen was the most important pioneer of OU football, coaching the team solidly for 22 years and gaining some measure national notice, but it was Tom Stidham who took it a step farther. Stidham’s charges went 2-0-1 in his first three seasons against Texas, before losing a heartbreaking 19-16 battle to the Longhorns his last year at OU.
The crowning moment for Stidham and his program came at the end of the ’38 campaign when they earned an Orange Bowl berth against undefeated Tennessee. The Sooners lost that battle 17-0, but they had arrived on the national stage. Leading up to that game, Oklahoma had gone undefeated at 10-0 and had shut out eight foes and yielded no points during the conference season.
The clash with the Volunteers created quite a stir and set a new Orange Bowl attendance record of 32,191.
Corrotto right in the middle of all that action and commotion.
Exactly how much did he play in the game?
“Too much,” he deadpans. “Probably 55 minutes, and I still feel it.”
Players went both ways then, and Corrotto played halfback on offense and defense. The game was tabbed the “Orange Brawl,” and there were lots of penalties for unnecessary roughness and fighting, with four players — two from each squad — ejected.
A Tennessee player took a swing at Corrotto, but Corrotto did the smart thing: “I ducked,” he said.
And why had the other player swung at him?
“Because I’d blocked him,” said Corrotto.
OU blocking back Earl Crowder got hit and didn’t know where he was.
“He was walking the wrong way after a play, and I grabbed him and said, ‘Hey, you’re playing in the Orange Bowl,’” said Corrotto. He remembers that Crowder’s eyes were glazed, and that Stidham then removed Crowder from the game.
By all accounts, the contest was a brutal affair, and while Oklahoma lost, it gained plenty of respect, from both Tennessee and the press.
As for how the team managed to go unscathed and unscored upon through the Big Six season, outscoring five foes 90-0, Corrotto said, “We just played good defense.”
Oklahoma also whitewashed Texas that year, 13-0, and yielded only 12 points in its first 10 contests — beating Rice 7-6 and Tulsa 28-6. The Sooners ran primarily out of the single wing formation and quick kicked frequently to gain field position.
The walls of Corrotto’s home are adorned with images of the past, pictures of his football playing days in Arkansas and Oklahoma and of his various coaching stints. There’s one of him shaking hands with Bud Wilkinson. And another of him and Barry Switzer, which the Sooner mentor signed to “my coach.”
Corrotto was on Jack Mitchell’s Arkansas staff when Switzer played for the Razorbacks. Switzer maintains ties with his longtime friend and spent the morning at his house on the occasion of Corrotto’s 93rd birthday.
A sly grin manifests itself when Corrotto said, of Switzer, “I taught him everything he knows — that’s why he was a good coach.”
Switzer describes Corrotto “a great guy” and remembers his old coach being “in the huddle with us” during Razorback practices in 1955.
During the birthday morning back in February, Switzer came up with a good trivia question for the audience listening on The Sports Animal: Who coached both Barry Switzer and Dean Blevins? The answer: Corrotto, who coached Switzer in 1955 and Blevins (at Norman High) in 1975.
Corrotto graduated from Oklahoma after the ’38 season with a degree in Physical Education and went on to a career in coaching and teaching. He taught mainly PE in high school, but also a little English and history. He later received a Master’s degree in Administration from OU and was involved with Norman Public Schools for a number of years.
Corrotto initially took a job as assistant football coach at Bartlesville. When World War II broke out, the school’s basketball coach was drafted, and “they told Dad he was going to do it,” said Corrotto’s son Shane Corrotto.
So the elder Corrotto got a book on basketball and proceeded to beat teams Bartlesville wasn’t accustomed to beating and causing quite a buzz in the process.
“Dad’s reaction was, ‘What’s the big deal’?” said the younger Corrotto.
From Bartlesville, Corrotto moved to Seminole, where he coached from 1940-52, with a couple of years out to serve as an officer in the Navy during the war. He was stationed in the Pacific Theater on the U.S.S. Niagara, an attack transport.
In 1953, he became head coach at Tulsa Central, and his team went 10-0, following which he was hired at Arkansas by former Sooner Mitchell. He later followed Mitchell to the University of Kansas.
The next coaching stop was his last, at Norman High School, 1958-72. His record with the Tigers was 105-40-5, including winning a state championship in 1961 and finishing as runner-up in 1959.
Dwight Young, who played for Corrotto in the late 1960s at Norman High, recalls that one of Corrotto’s favorite exhortations was “Gin that cotton!” — which was turned into a Tiger cheer after the coach explained it meant “Get a move on!”
Jay Wilkinson, Wilkinson’s youngest son, who became an All-American at Duke in 1963, played quarterback at Norman High under Corrotto in ’58 and ’59 and has “nothing but positive memories” about his high school mentor.
“He was an excellent teacher,” recalled Wilkinson, “but he also kept it fun.”
Young also remembers that aspect of Corrotto’s coaching, pointing to diversions like bringing actor James Garner into the dressing room to talk to the players.
Said Wilkinson, “We were well conditioned and drilled, but he kept smiles on our faces.” Wilkinson, too, recalls the coach’s admonition to “Gin, gin, gin that cotton!” and adds that he had “great respect and admiration for Corrotto — and still do.”
In Corrotto’s day, the players wore leather helmets and it was not uncommon to punt on first down when field position was in question. The game was low-scoring, but the former Sooner likes the modern version with its speed and passing.
“The game is quicker now,” he admits, “and you can gain a lot of territory passing the ball.”
He has met Coach Stoops, whom he calls “a good fellow,” and he tunes in regularly to follow today’s Sooners. But one can’t blame him for taking time to remember the campus when it was at a more raw and innocent stage — when there were few automobiles, Dr. William Bennett Bizzell was OU’s President, and four cousins from Fort Smith played a big role in the fortunes of the Sooners.
Those were the days.
(Editor's note: Gene was a dear man and a dear friend to all who knew him. He influenced a lot of young lives in a positive way, and he will be missed.)
Coach Corrotto
Former Sooner Created A Lasting Impression On Oklahoma Football Landscape
By Edgar L. Frost
At 93, Gene Corrotto still finds plenty to laugh about. His eyes sparkle when he talks and his voice rings true with stories from an era of Oklahoma football that unfolded more than 70 years ago.
Corrotto is a man surrounded by many treasures — pictures, plaques, memories and family. He has known every Sooner football figure from Bennie Owen to Bob Stoops, and his house resembles a football museum.
The longtime Norman resident played in Oklahoma’s first-ever bowl game, helped coach Barry Switzer as a player at Arkansas, and was honored with a “Sooner Salute” at the 2004 OU-Nebraska game, when the Sooners whipped the Huskers 30-3.
Corrotto also directed Norman High School to a state football championship, and more importantly, he has left a imprint on the game that will last well into future generations.
Born Feb. 23, 1914, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Corrotto ended up at the University of Oklahoma in the post-depression era, when he followed his brother Al and their cousins Art and Bill Pansze to Norman. Each of the four earned three football letters as Sooners, and each served as a team captain during their respective stays.
One of 13 children, Eugene Corrotto grew up in Fort Smith and played high school football at nearby St. Ann’s Academy. He still has a dumbbell that he used to hoist in his back yard for exercise, and a leaping prowess developed by “jumping those creeks in Arkansas” led to a track letter as a broad jumper at OU in 1938. Corrotto had good speed for the era in which he played, as he was once clocked at 10.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash.
When he lettered at OU (1936-38), Corrotto weighed 168 pounds, “stripped, after practice.” So how did he get into football?
“I just liked to tackle. I grew up tackling all my brothers,” Corrotto recalled.
The coaches who invited him to come to Oklahoma — with a scholarship, which included the job of sweeping out the Law Barn — were assistant coach Bo Rowland and head man Lewie Hardage. By the time he saw action for the Sooners, Corrotto played for Biff Jones in 1936 and for Tom Stidham in 1937-38. And although Oklahoma was struggling to find a national identity, Corrotto was part of a group that helped put the Sooners on the map.
Bennie Owen was the most important pioneer of OU football, coaching the team solidly for 22 years and gaining some measure national notice, but it was Tom Stidham who took it a step farther. Stidham’s charges went 2-0-1 in his first three seasons against Texas, before losing a heartbreaking 19-16 battle to the Longhorns his last year at OU.
The crowning moment for Stidham and his program came at the end of the ’38 campaign when they earned an Orange Bowl berth against undefeated Tennessee. The Sooners lost that battle 17-0, but they had arrived on the national stage. Leading up to that game, Oklahoma had gone undefeated at 10-0 and had shut out eight foes and yielded no points during the conference season.
The clash with the Volunteers created quite a stir and set a new Orange Bowl attendance record of 32,191.
Corrotto right in the middle of all that action and commotion.
Exactly how much did he play in the game?
“Too much,” he deadpans. “Probably 55 minutes, and I still feel it.”
Players went both ways then, and Corrotto played halfback on offense and defense. The game was tabbed the “Orange Brawl,” and there were lots of penalties for unnecessary roughness and fighting, with four players — two from each squad — ejected.
A Tennessee player took a swing at Corrotto, but Corrotto did the smart thing: “I ducked,” he said.
And why had the other player swung at him?
“Because I’d blocked him,” said Corrotto.
OU blocking back Earl Crowder got hit and didn’t know where he was.
“He was walking the wrong way after a play, and I grabbed him and said, ‘Hey, you’re playing in the Orange Bowl,’” said Corrotto. He remembers that Crowder’s eyes were glazed, and that Stidham then removed Crowder from the game.
By all accounts, the contest was a brutal affair, and while Oklahoma lost, it gained plenty of respect, from both Tennessee and the press.
As for how the team managed to go unscathed and unscored upon through the Big Six season, outscoring five foes 90-0, Corrotto said, “We just played good defense.”
Oklahoma also whitewashed Texas that year, 13-0, and yielded only 12 points in its first 10 contests — beating Rice 7-6 and Tulsa 28-6. The Sooners ran primarily out of the single wing formation and quick kicked frequently to gain field position.
The walls of Corrotto’s home are adorned with images of the past, pictures of his football playing days in Arkansas and Oklahoma and of his various coaching stints. There’s one of him shaking hands with Bud Wilkinson. And another of him and Barry Switzer, which the Sooner mentor signed to “my coach.”
Corrotto was on Jack Mitchell’s Arkansas staff when Switzer played for the Razorbacks. Switzer maintains ties with his longtime friend and spent the morning at his house on the occasion of Corrotto’s 93rd birthday.
A sly grin manifests itself when Corrotto said, of Switzer, “I taught him everything he knows — that’s why he was a good coach.”
Switzer describes Corrotto “a great guy” and remembers his old coach being “in the huddle with us” during Razorback practices in 1955.
During the birthday morning back in February, Switzer came up with a good trivia question for the audience listening on The Sports Animal: Who coached both Barry Switzer and Dean Blevins? The answer: Corrotto, who coached Switzer in 1955 and Blevins (at Norman High) in 1975.
Corrotto graduated from Oklahoma after the ’38 season with a degree in Physical Education and went on to a career in coaching and teaching. He taught mainly PE in high school, but also a little English and history. He later received a Master’s degree in Administration from OU and was involved with Norman Public Schools for a number of years.
Corrotto initially took a job as assistant football coach at Bartlesville. When World War II broke out, the school’s basketball coach was drafted, and “they told Dad he was going to do it,” said Corrotto’s son Shane Corrotto.
So the elder Corrotto got a book on basketball and proceeded to beat teams Bartlesville wasn’t accustomed to beating and causing quite a buzz in the process.
“Dad’s reaction was, ‘What’s the big deal’?” said the younger Corrotto.
From Bartlesville, Corrotto moved to Seminole, where he coached from 1940-52, with a couple of years out to serve as an officer in the Navy during the war. He was stationed in the Pacific Theater on the U.S.S. Niagara, an attack transport.
In 1953, he became head coach at Tulsa Central, and his team went 10-0, following which he was hired at Arkansas by former Sooner Mitchell. He later followed Mitchell to the University of Kansas.
The next coaching stop was his last, at Norman High School, 1958-72. His record with the Tigers was 105-40-5, including winning a state championship in 1961 and finishing as runner-up in 1959.
Dwight Young, who played for Corrotto in the late 1960s at Norman High, recalls that one of Corrotto’s favorite exhortations was “Gin that cotton!” — which was turned into a Tiger cheer after the coach explained it meant “Get a move on!”
Jay Wilkinson, Wilkinson’s youngest son, who became an All-American at Duke in 1963, played quarterback at Norman High under Corrotto in ’58 and ’59 and has “nothing but positive memories” about his high school mentor.
“He was an excellent teacher,” recalled Wilkinson, “but he also kept it fun.”
Young also remembers that aspect of Corrotto’s coaching, pointing to diversions like bringing actor James Garner into the dressing room to talk to the players.
Said Wilkinson, “We were well conditioned and drilled, but he kept smiles on our faces.” Wilkinson, too, recalls the coach’s admonition to “Gin, gin, gin that cotton!” and adds that he had “great respect and admiration for Corrotto — and still do.”
In Corrotto’s day, the players wore leather helmets and it was not uncommon to punt on first down when field position was in question. The game was low-scoring, but the former Sooner likes the modern version with its speed and passing.
“The game is quicker now,” he admits, “and you can gain a lot of territory passing the ball.”
He has met Coach Stoops, whom he calls “a good fellow,” and he tunes in regularly to follow today’s Sooners. But one can’t blame him for taking time to remember the campus when it was at a more raw and innocent stage — when there were few automobiles, Dr. William Bennett Bizzell was OU’s President, and four cousins from Fort Smith played a big role in the fortunes of the Sooners.
Those were the days.
(Editor's note: Gene was a dear man and a dear friend to all who knew him. He influenced a lot of young lives in a positive way, and he will be missed.)