Your Top 3 OU Football Role Models.....

[SteelClip49]

for me it would be.....

1. Bob Kalsu
2. Carl Pendleton
3. Sam Bradford

HM: Joe Washington, Lee Roy Selmon, Josh Heupel

[GottaHavePride]

No mention of JD Runnels?

[Dr. Jelly Finger]

Gute?

[SteelClip49]

it's tough to choose!

[Pricetag]

I have told my son the story of Paul Thompson many, many times.

I always admired Seth Littrell a great deal, as well. OU sucked when he went there--he came because he loved it. I'll never forget that 69-7 thrashing in Lincoln when Seth was the only player on the field who was still trying. When I saw the look on his face during the coin toss at the Orange Bowl, I became very confident of an OU victory.

[Sooner04]

1. Bob Kalsu
2. Jerry Anderson

I'm not sure anyone else stacks up.

[Boomer.....]

Carl Pendleton is up there.

[sooner59]

What is the story with Kalsu? I guess I'm too young to remember. Pendleton, Gute, Paul Thompson, and Bradford seem like decent choices.

I have heard things about Runnells that would make you change your mind on that choice. I don't know if they are true, but it was stuff if ex g/f said he did while playing in Norman.

[Boomer.....]

JD seemed super nice and humble every time that I have met or hung out with him. You never know though.

[sooner59]

True Boomer, I don't know anything for certain, but the rumor was bad. I just ain't spreading it on here. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt though and just say maybe his ex was bitter.

[meoveryouxinfinity]

What is the story with Kalsu? I guess I'm too young to remember. Pendleton, Gute, Paul Thompson, and Bradford seem like decent choices.

I have heard things about Runnells that would make you change your mind on that choice. I don't know if they are true, but it was stuff if ex g/f said he did while playing in Norman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kalsu

[Soonerntxs]

I got a chance to meet some of the players for the 1960 O at the Sooner Legends following the Spring Game. I would say that these guys are some of my all time favorite players. They were all very nice and still HARDCORE SOONERS they told us a bit about the days of past and WOW it was a blessing to learn history from the guys that lived it. I guess in a nut shell my hat goes off to all Sooner Legends! Some may not live up to the standards that I have set for myself or that I would want my son to follow but this is also where we learn from others mistakes, and as a Sooner learn to forgive them.

[...sooner]

Gerald McCoy.

[yankee]

Rhett Bomar
Charles Thompson
J.D. Quinn

[SteelClip49]

there's a reason why I hate yankees.

[yankee]

what? you don't look up to those guys?

[BillyBall]

there's a reason why I hate yankees.

They don't watch porn while having sex?

[ndpruitt03]

I think Jerry Anderson has to be up there. Didn't he save 2 kids from drowning?

Kalsu and Waddy Young are up there also.

[goingoneight]

Spencer Tillman - IMO, the only CFB commentator worth a damn today.
Josh Heupel - winner on and off the field, charitable and never hesitates to shake the hand of a fan in public.
Mark Clayton - some guys walk on and start... other guys flat-out earn every inch of every yard in their career, and are humble rather than arrogant about their accomplishments.

I just picked three, but I could pick several more. The late, great Godfather of the Wishbone was one of my faves, even though I never saw him play on anything other than Grandpa's old VHS... even that was recorded long after those games were played.

[badger]

:eek: too many to choose from!

[NormanPride]

Nic Harris

[swardboy]

Who was it that gave up a year of eligibility in order to raise his nephew and get a masters degree? Do I have that right?

[AlbqSooner]

Who was it that gave up a year of eligibility in order to raise his nephew and get a masters degree? Do I have that right?

That was Carl Pendleton. I am thinking it was his younger brother rather than his nephew.

[Monster Zero]

1. Bob Kalsu
2. Jerry Anderson

I'm not sure anyone else stacks up.

These guys are obviously in a class by themselves. There was also a guy who was a B-29 pilot in WWII who was killed in action. Sorry, I can't think of his name but I'm sure someone around here can.

Other than that, there are so many.

At the top of my list is Prentice Gautt.

During his playing days with the St. Louis Cardinals, he came to my grade school in south OKC. This would have been in about 1962. An all-white grade school in a not-so-well-to-do neighborhood near where Crossroads Mall now stands in OKC.

And our teachers sent notes from the principle home with us, explaining that a young man named Prentice Gautt (insert bio info here), working with the PE dept of the OKC Public Schools, would be coming to visit our school the next day. The point of the note was this:

"Oh by the way, Mr. Gautt is colored. If you have a problem with your child's class being visited by a colored man, absences will be excused."

And in fact a couple of my classmates were no-shows that day.

Mr. Gautt was there making the rounds of the schools, doing the popular thing at the time - helping the little white hsits learn to operate those giant bamboo poles, two of them, that two kids would take an end of one of them in hand, facing each other, and click them together kinda rythmically, together, and then apart on the ground... together, apart...

And then everyone had their turn stepping thru and doing this really kinda goofy dance step. Any of you old guys remember that?

Anyway, being the incorrible little hsit that I was, I had to invent my own way of doing it. Instead of placing my hands on my hips and doing it the way Mrs. Tibbits wanted me to, I kinda ran in a circle... until... this big, giant black hand caught me by the shoulder ever so gently and the voice it was attached to said "Let's do it this way."

Whereupon Prentice Gautt instructed me in the correct way to do the little dance step with the bamboo poles.

That was the first time I ever met a black person.

After that, I remember one time a certain relative who let's say "had a problem" with black people came to the house. Remember this was the early 60's.

My mom said "Bobby", (not my real name), who's your favorite football player?

"PRENTICE GAUTT!!", I said. You shoulda seen the look on the guy's face.

My mom and dad just smiled.

So anyway, the three guys who died in the service of their country deserve top honor. But for me, the guy who helped a delinquent little white kid out with something his mom and dad had been struggling with, considering the place and time... Prentice Gautt is right up there with Steve Owens and LeeRoy Selmon.

Guys like Sam are carrying the tradition on.

I suppose Mr. Gautt and my dad catch a game with Bud now and then. Is there beer in heaven?

[Monster Zero]

Bud Wilkinson, Bob Stoops.

Barry Switzer, "warts and all". Great football coach, and a better man later in life than at the peak of his career.

[stoopified]

LeeRoy Selmon-Football legend who went on to be AD at USF

Spencer Tillman-Intelligent,articulate,hardworking model citizen who was suessful in life even though injury curtailed NFL dreams

Josh Heupel-Great leader,hardworker ,active in community,charity work

Waddy Young- A talented,intelligent young man who was AA at OU.volunteered for service prior to WW2(interrupting pro caree)r.He gave his life as B-29 pilot over Japan after already serving in Europe.

Prentice Gautt- Model of character who broke color barrier at OU and later served in the conference front office

Bob Kalsu- AA player who is the only NFL who died in Viet Nam.

Sorry I couldn't stop at 3 and I'm sure if I think about it I can come up with several more.

[Boomer.....]

That was Carl Pendleton. I am thinking it was his younger brother rather than his nephew.

You are correct.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2639742

[OUmillenium]

So many great choices...I'll go with some guys who have been noted for their strong Christian witness (not that they are the only ones) as well as playing through some injuries...

Auston English

Rocky Calmus

[IB4OU2]

Leroy Selmon
Dewey Selmon
Patrick Fletcher

[freshchris05]

Prentice Gautt, Jerry Anderson, Michael Thompson, Bob Kalsu

[PLaw]

for me it would be.....

1. Bob Kalsu
2. Carl Pendleton
3. Sam Bradford

HM: Joe Washington, Lee Roy Selmon, Josh Heupel

Can't just have a TOP 3 here - I believe these are all #1's:

Bud Wilkinson
Prentice Guatt
Bob Kalsu
Steve Davis
The Honorable JC Watts
Jacob Gutierrez
Carl Pendleton
Josh Heupel

I'm sure there are countless others whose good deeds do not get public acclaim.

BOOMER

[SanJoaquinSooner]

http://bulletcrossexchange.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/selmon-brothers3.jpg

[texaspokieokie]

Don Key

[Wishboned]

Paul Thompson tops my list.

He was the very definition of a team player. I do believe if Stoops asked him to work one of the concession stands during halftime to benefit the team Paul would have done it, and he would have given 100%.

He has an abundance of character, and heart.

[IronHorseSooner]

Like many, I have a hard time just keeping it to three. My top 10 is:

1. Bob Kalsu: He was the Pat Tillman of Vietnam.
2. Waddy Young: He was the same for WWII.
3. Jerry Anderson: What he did was truly selfless.
4. Prentice Gautt: True personal courage; I can only imagine what he went through.
5. Steve Owens: From my hometown, met him when I was six. A really outstanding and successful man.
6. Carl Pendleton: What he did for his brother will outlive anything he could have done or did on the gridiron.
7. Jacob Gutierrez: A man of deep faith who actually lives what he believes.
8. Sam Bradford: Great rep for the state, and talent, and a class act.
9. Jason White: Not many a person can come back from what he went through to win a Heisman and play for two MNCs.
10. Paul Thompson: Another selfless person who put the needs of his teammates before his own.

[OUmillenium]

That is a sweet list IronHorse.

[Sooner in Tampa]

That is a sweet list IronHorse.
A sweet list indeed, but personally ANY list with Role Models and OU that does not include Lee Roy Selmon is incomplete

[IronHorseSooner]

A sweet list indeed, but personally ANY list with Role Models and OU that does not include Lee Roy Selmon is incomplete

I think it is indicative of just how many good folks we have had wearing an OU uniform. You could also put Lee Roy, Steve Davis, TGRW, Rocky Calmus, Q, and JC Watts. I could probably list more than that.

[texaspokieokie]

what about Don Key, they named an award after him.

also, the kid that was gonna be QB in Catfish's last season as coach.
he hung in there for the team. can't think of his name, but will later.

[stoopified]

All of the players on the various lists mentioned here are inded great role models but i would like to elaborate on one person on my list who many may not know much a bout,Walter Roland (Waddy) Young.If I had not lived in Ponca City and attended Po-Hi I wouldn't know much about him eiter since he died in 1945,15 years before I was born.

When I was a freshman I was looking at some photos hanging on the wall and saw one of a group of young men grouped around the nose of a B-29 bomber called Waddy's Wagon.Waddy Young who graduated from Po-Hi in 1934 ans was an All-American at OU in 1938(the first Consensus All-American atOU).Following OU Waddy played 2 years of professional fooball with the Brooklyn Dodgers(Dodgers football,go figure).

Following his second season of pro ball Young joined the Army and became a bomber pilot.It should be remembered that at this time the USA was not yet inolved in WWII.When America did enter the war Waddy first flew antisubmarine missions out of Newfoundland,later he flew B-24 missions over Germany,and followe that up by flying B-29 missions over Japan.It was over the Sea of Japan that Walter R.Young and his crew paid the ultimate sacrifice as the B-29 Waddy's Wagon was shot down over the Sea of Japan in the summer of 1945 with no surviors.To me Walter R. Young is the perfect example of a member of America's GREATEST GENERATION.

[the_ouskull]

In whatever order you see fit...

1. Jamelle Holieway
2. Brian Bosworth
3. Barry Switzer

I've had a fun life.

the_ouskull

[Leroy Lizard]

I can't think of any celebrity I look up to. I enjoy watching some of them play and I appreciate their contributions to the team, but role models? Meh.




God I enjoy this.

[soonerfan28]

It's hard to say, but I'll go w/Kalsu and Billy Vessels for sure.

[fossil]

What is the story with Kalsu? I guess I'm too young to remember. Pendleton, Gute, Paul Thompson, and Bradford seem like decent choices.

I have heard things about Runnells that would make you change your mind on that choice. I don't know if they are true, but it was stuff if ex g/f said he did while playing in Norman.

James Robert "Bob" Kalsu (April 13, 1945–July 21, 1970) was an All-American tackle at the University of Oklahoma and an eighth-round draft pick by the Buffalo Bills of the American Football League in 1968.

Kalsu was a starting guard in 1968. He played the entire season and was the Bills' team rookie-of-the-year.[1] Following the 1968 season, to satisfy his Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) obligation, he entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant and arrived in Vietnam in November 1969 as part of the 101st Airborne Division. He was killed in action on July 21, 1970 when his unit came under enemy mortar fire at FSB Ripcord near the A Shau Valley.[2] His family, out of respect, refused to talk in detail about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Lieutenant Kalsu had one child, a daughter named Jill. At home in Oklahoma City, his wife, Jan Kalsu, gave birth to his son, James Robert Kalsu Jr., on July 23. Mrs. Kalsu was informed of her husband's death only hours later. Kalsu was the only recently active professional football player to lose his life in the Vietnam War.

[josh09]

1. Gerald McCoy
2. Gerald McCoy
3. Gerald McCoy