Flagstaffsooner
5/12/2010, 11:12 AM
I cant believe Trammel wrote it.
http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title
Barry Switzer assembles 1975 OU football class
Barry Switzer assembles many of his vaunted 1975 OU football recruiting class to help honor Thomas Lott.
By Berry Tramel Oklahoman http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/newsok/images/comment_icon.gif 22 Comments (http://newsok.com/article/3460646#disqus_thread) </SPAN>Published: May 12, 2010
WACO (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Waco&CATEGORY=CITY), Texas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Texas+Longhorns+(Football)&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) — Thomas Lott (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Thomas+Lott&CATEGORY=PERSON) walked through the Hilton (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Hilton+Hotels+Corporation&CATEGORY=COMPANY) lobby Saturday night and almost turned down a hallway, away from the surprise of his life.
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/937658/medium (http://s3.amazonaws.com/newsok-photos/937658/medium.jpg)
From left; Greg Roberts, Barry Switzer, Billy Sims, Thomas Lott and Daryl Hunt all gathered to celebrate Lott's induction into the Texas High School Football Photo provided
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<LI class=odd>[URL="http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2010/05/12/switzer-tales-signing-the-1975-class/"]Switzer tales: Signing the 1975 class
(http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/0)
Berry Tramel's website
(http://newsok.com/berrytramel)
Then he heard a familiar voice. "BOOMER!”
Yep, Billy Sims (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Billy+Sims&CATEGORY=PERSON) was in the lounge. Barry Switzer (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Barry+Switzer&CATEGORY=PERSON) had convened the old gang, many of his 1975 OU football (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+Sooners+(Football)&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) recruits, to celebrate Lott’s induction into the Texas High School (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Texas+High+School&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) Football Hall (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Football+Hall&CATEGORY=PERSON) of Fame.
George Cumby (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=George+Cumby&CATEGORY=PERSON). Greg Roberts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Greg+Roberts&CATEGORY=PERSON). Kenny King (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Kenny+King&CATEGORY=PERSON). Daryl Hunt (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Daryl+Hunt&CATEGORY=PERSON). Victor Hicks (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Victor+Hicks&CATEGORY=PERSON). Sims. Plus Elvis Peacock (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Elvis+Peacock&CATEGORY=PERSON), class of ’74. And OU assistants Rex Norris (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Rex+Norris&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Gene Hochevar, and Jakie Sandifer (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jakie+Sandifer&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Spencer Tillman (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Spencer+Tillman&CATEGORY=PERSON), Sooners of other eras.
"Are you kidding me?” said Lott, Switzer’s bandanaed optioneer from 1976-78. "That’s my class. We’ve always been close. Anytime I see the guys, it warms my heart.”
No heart was warmed like Switzer’s. His spirit soaring, Switzer sat in that lounge beaming like a grandfather who had all the kids back on the homestead.
In what Switzer himself calls the fourth quarter of his life, the old friends, the players who made for so many glorious Saturdays when the world was young, seem more precious than ever.
"Nostalgia,” says the soft-spoken Peacock, the speedy halfback recruited to OU in 1974. "He calls every couple of months to talk about old times.”
Victor Hicks, the round tight end who started as a freshman on OU’s 1975 national-title team, said his associates can’t believe it when he tells them he has a weekly conversation with his old coach.
"But sometimes,” Hicks said, "you just need somebody to tell you it’s going to be all right.”
The old gang doesn’t get together often. Peacock flew in from Miami (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Miami&CATEGORY=CITY), Roberts from Tampa (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Tampa&CATEGORY=CITY). And you know how it is; it’s hard to get everyone together, even with the guys who live close, in DFW or greater Oklahoma City (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+City&CATEGORY=CITY).
But as these Sooner icons approach their mid-50s, reunions are more treasured, renewing the ties that bind more important.
King, the fullback jet, hasn’t been around so much, though he’s now relocated to Fort Worth (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Fort+Worth&CATEGORY=CITY). Lott and King hadn’t seen each other in years. King hadn’t seen Roberts, his Outland Trophy (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Outland+Trophy&CATEGORY=MISC)-winning blocker, in 15 years.
"It’s nice to see the guys, how they’re doing,” King said. "As we get older, you have to realize it’s important.
King was lucky. He played in the NFL (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=National+Football+League&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) with one of the franchises, the Raiders (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oakland+Raiders&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION), that most embrace fraternity. When Raider legend Gene Upshaw (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Gene+Upshaw&CATEGORY=PERSON) died in 2008, Raider czar Al Davis (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Al+Davis&CATEGORY=PERSON) told King, "Get back to Oklahoma, embrace the university.”
King, standing in the twilight of a spring Texas night, said, "You’re at that age, it’s nice to see the guys alive. No one is invincible. We’re all going to die.”
•
•
•
Not every Switzer reunion is a celebration.
Before Lott’s big night, the old Sooners had last assembled on a hot April day in a living room in Houston’s Third Ward.
They had come to say hello to Kenny Franklin (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Kenny+Franklin&CATEGORY=PERSON). Hello and good-bye.
You probably don’t remember Franklin, a linebacker in Peacock’s 1974 class. Franklin never played much. But his teammates never forgot him.
Hunt, the regal linebacker who also started as a ’75 freshman, recalled Franklin’s smile, "his exuberance of life he lived daily.”
Every team has guys like that. Friends and comrades who might never make the spotlight but find a place in teammates’ hearts.
"He called all the time,” said Switzer, who can say a lot with few words. "Great kid, great person. Kids loved him. He was a talker. Great smile. Bust his (butt). Wasn’t big enough to play. Recruited back when you could take more players.”
A few years back, Franklin got colon cancer. But his spirit never waned. Always upbeat.
Then on April 12, Hicks talked to a different Kenny Franklin.
Franklin’s cancer had spread to his liver. "He was tired,” Hicks said. "He called me that Monday, told me, ‘it ain’t gettin’ no better. It probably won’t be long. But be happy for me.’”
Hicks hung up the phone and immediately called Hunt, who lives in Houston (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Houston+(Texas)&CATEGORY=CITY). "Make sure you put eyes on him today,” Hicks told Hunt.
Switzer, too, received a call from Franklin. "This thing’s got me,” Franklin said. "Coach, just wanted to let you know I love you.”
Switzer called Hicks and said they couldn’t wait a week. They had to get to Franklin.
So two days later, Switzer, Hicks, Sims and Joe Washington (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Joe+Washington&CATEGORY=PERSON) flew to Houston, met Hunt and Sandifer, and drove to Franklin’s home.
Franklin was waiting in his bed, placed in the front room, wearing an OU cap and shirt.
For more than four hours, the friends told stories and relived the old days as a big electric fan moved the warm air. Franklin’s family and neighbors stood sentry as he sat up, got up and eventually returned to his bed.
"Sad time,” Hunt said, "but it was a good time for us to get back together.”
Hicks, who played in Orange Bowls and caught three touchdown passes for the 1980 Los Angeles Rams (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=St.+Louis+Rams&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION), said, "Nothing made me feel as good as that did. Knowing we were there for a teammate. A teammate that may not have gotten all the accolades, may not have gotten all the playing time. But he was a Sooner.
"That’s at the top of my list. You could see the joy in his eyes, to see that he was happy to know that people care.”
Four days later, Kenny Franklin died.
•
•
•
Switzer wanted Lott’s old backfield together. That was impossible for the ’78 backfield, since David Overstreet (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=David+Overstreet&CATEGORY=PERSON) died in that 1984 car crash.
But the ’77 backfield — Lott, King, Sims, Peacock — was together.
"I know what it means to have their teammates around them to celebrate individual awards,” Switzer said.
Switzer tried the same thing two years ago, when Joe Wylie (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Joe+Wylie&CATEGORY=PERSON) went into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Switzer wanted to assemble the great ’71 backfield. Leon Crosswhite (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Leon+Crosswhite&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Greg Pruitt (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Greg+Pruitt&CATEGORY=PERSON) made it to Waco, but cancer had made Jack Mildren (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jack+Mildren&CATEGORY=PERSON) too weak for the trip. Two weeks later, Mildren was dead.
Switzer is 72. He’s buried too many of his former players in their 50s or before. He seems to realize that memories are our most precious possession. Seems intent on building as many as possible in the time he has left.
"I enjoy being with ‘em,” Switzer said. "Like I always said, when you recruit ‘em, you got ‘em for life.”
These Sooners are not unique, though the charisma of their coach might be. Many a ballteam builds a bond that, as Lott said, "never goes away.”
But these Sooners, pushed by Switzer, seem intent on celebrating those bonds.
"When you get to a place like Oklahoma, you’re told how you’re going to make lifelong relationships,” Hicks said. "You hear it, but you don’t realize it. Coaches that truly care about you. Teammates that truly love you.” The big bear of a man stood in a Waco hall and wiped a tear from his eye. Soon enough, he was back with the gang, celebrating the priceless gifts of friendship and memory
Read more: http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0njT0t2z O (http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0njT0t2z O)
http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title
Barry Switzer assembles 1975 OU football class
Barry Switzer assembles many of his vaunted 1975 OU football recruiting class to help honor Thomas Lott.
By Berry Tramel Oklahoman http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/newsok/images/comment_icon.gif 22 Comments (http://newsok.com/article/3460646#disqus_thread) </SPAN>Published: May 12, 2010
WACO (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Waco&CATEGORY=CITY), Texas (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Texas+Longhorns+(Football)&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) — Thomas Lott (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Thomas+Lott&CATEGORY=PERSON) walked through the Hilton (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Hilton+Hotels+Corporation&CATEGORY=COMPANY) lobby Saturday night and almost turned down a hallway, away from the surprise of his life.
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/937658/medium (http://s3.amazonaws.com/newsok-photos/937658/medium.jpg)
From left; Greg Roberts, Barry Switzer, Billy Sims, Thomas Lott and Daryl Hunt all gathered to celebrate Lott's induction into the Texas High School Football Photo provided
Multimedia
Photoview all photos (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/0)
http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/937609/sq60/ (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/3460646/1/937609?custom_click=email_multimedia_gallery) http://photos.newsok.com/2/showimage/937658/sq60/ (http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/3460646/1/937658?custom_click=email_multimedia_gallery)
[/URL]
Related content
Links
<LI class=odd>[URL="http://blog.newsok.com/berrytramel/2010/05/12/switzer-tales-signing-the-1975-class/"]Switzer tales: Signing the 1975 class
(http://newsok.com/multimedia/photos/gallery/0)
Berry Tramel's website
(http://newsok.com/berrytramel)
Then he heard a familiar voice. "BOOMER!”
Yep, Billy Sims (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Billy+Sims&CATEGORY=PERSON) was in the lounge. Barry Switzer (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Barry+Switzer&CATEGORY=PERSON) had convened the old gang, many of his 1975 OU football (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+Sooners+(Football)&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) recruits, to celebrate Lott’s induction into the Texas High School (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Texas+High+School&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) Football Hall (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Football+Hall&CATEGORY=PERSON) of Fame.
George Cumby (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=George+Cumby&CATEGORY=PERSON). Greg Roberts (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Greg+Roberts&CATEGORY=PERSON). Kenny King (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Kenny+King&CATEGORY=PERSON). Daryl Hunt (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Daryl+Hunt&CATEGORY=PERSON). Victor Hicks (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Victor+Hicks&CATEGORY=PERSON). Sims. Plus Elvis Peacock (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Elvis+Peacock&CATEGORY=PERSON), class of ’74. And OU assistants Rex Norris (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Rex+Norris&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Gene Hochevar, and Jakie Sandifer (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jakie+Sandifer&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Spencer Tillman (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Spencer+Tillman&CATEGORY=PERSON), Sooners of other eras.
"Are you kidding me?” said Lott, Switzer’s bandanaed optioneer from 1976-78. "That’s my class. We’ve always been close. Anytime I see the guys, it warms my heart.”
No heart was warmed like Switzer’s. His spirit soaring, Switzer sat in that lounge beaming like a grandfather who had all the kids back on the homestead.
In what Switzer himself calls the fourth quarter of his life, the old friends, the players who made for so many glorious Saturdays when the world was young, seem more precious than ever.
"Nostalgia,” says the soft-spoken Peacock, the speedy halfback recruited to OU in 1974. "He calls every couple of months to talk about old times.”
Victor Hicks, the round tight end who started as a freshman on OU’s 1975 national-title team, said his associates can’t believe it when he tells them he has a weekly conversation with his old coach.
"But sometimes,” Hicks said, "you just need somebody to tell you it’s going to be all right.”
The old gang doesn’t get together often. Peacock flew in from Miami (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Miami&CATEGORY=CITY), Roberts from Tampa (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Tampa&CATEGORY=CITY). And you know how it is; it’s hard to get everyone together, even with the guys who live close, in DFW or greater Oklahoma City (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oklahoma+City&CATEGORY=CITY).
But as these Sooner icons approach their mid-50s, reunions are more treasured, renewing the ties that bind more important.
King, the fullback jet, hasn’t been around so much, though he’s now relocated to Fort Worth (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Fort+Worth&CATEGORY=CITY). Lott and King hadn’t seen each other in years. King hadn’t seen Roberts, his Outland Trophy (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Outland+Trophy&CATEGORY=MISC)-winning blocker, in 15 years.
"It’s nice to see the guys, how they’re doing,” King said. "As we get older, you have to realize it’s important.
King was lucky. He played in the NFL (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=National+Football+League&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION) with one of the franchises, the Raiders (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Oakland+Raiders&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION), that most embrace fraternity. When Raider legend Gene Upshaw (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Gene+Upshaw&CATEGORY=PERSON) died in 2008, Raider czar Al Davis (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Al+Davis&CATEGORY=PERSON) told King, "Get back to Oklahoma, embrace the university.”
King, standing in the twilight of a spring Texas night, said, "You’re at that age, it’s nice to see the guys alive. No one is invincible. We’re all going to die.”
•
•
•
Not every Switzer reunion is a celebration.
Before Lott’s big night, the old Sooners had last assembled on a hot April day in a living room in Houston’s Third Ward.
They had come to say hello to Kenny Franklin (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Kenny+Franklin&CATEGORY=PERSON). Hello and good-bye.
You probably don’t remember Franklin, a linebacker in Peacock’s 1974 class. Franklin never played much. But his teammates never forgot him.
Hunt, the regal linebacker who also started as a ’75 freshman, recalled Franklin’s smile, "his exuberance of life he lived daily.”
Every team has guys like that. Friends and comrades who might never make the spotlight but find a place in teammates’ hearts.
"He called all the time,” said Switzer, who can say a lot with few words. "Great kid, great person. Kids loved him. He was a talker. Great smile. Bust his (butt). Wasn’t big enough to play. Recruited back when you could take more players.”
A few years back, Franklin got colon cancer. But his spirit never waned. Always upbeat.
Then on April 12, Hicks talked to a different Kenny Franklin.
Franklin’s cancer had spread to his liver. "He was tired,” Hicks said. "He called me that Monday, told me, ‘it ain’t gettin’ no better. It probably won’t be long. But be happy for me.’”
Hicks hung up the phone and immediately called Hunt, who lives in Houston (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Houston+(Texas)&CATEGORY=CITY). "Make sure you put eyes on him today,” Hicks told Hunt.
Switzer, too, received a call from Franklin. "This thing’s got me,” Franklin said. "Coach, just wanted to let you know I love you.”
Switzer called Hicks and said they couldn’t wait a week. They had to get to Franklin.
So two days later, Switzer, Hicks, Sims and Joe Washington (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Joe+Washington&CATEGORY=PERSON) flew to Houston, met Hunt and Sandifer, and drove to Franklin’s home.
Franklin was waiting in his bed, placed in the front room, wearing an OU cap and shirt.
For more than four hours, the friends told stories and relived the old days as a big electric fan moved the warm air. Franklin’s family and neighbors stood sentry as he sat up, got up and eventually returned to his bed.
"Sad time,” Hunt said, "but it was a good time for us to get back together.”
Hicks, who played in Orange Bowls and caught three touchdown passes for the 1980 Los Angeles Rams (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=St.+Louis+Rams&CATEGORY=ORGANIZATION), said, "Nothing made me feel as good as that did. Knowing we were there for a teammate. A teammate that may not have gotten all the accolades, may not have gotten all the playing time. But he was a Sooner.
"That’s at the top of my list. You could see the joy in his eyes, to see that he was happy to know that people care.”
Four days later, Kenny Franklin died.
•
•
•
Switzer wanted Lott’s old backfield together. That was impossible for the ’78 backfield, since David Overstreet (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=David+Overstreet&CATEGORY=PERSON) died in that 1984 car crash.
But the ’77 backfield — Lott, King, Sims, Peacock — was together.
"I know what it means to have their teammates around them to celebrate individual awards,” Switzer said.
Switzer tried the same thing two years ago, when Joe Wylie (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Joe+Wylie&CATEGORY=PERSON) went into the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame. Switzer wanted to assemble the great ’71 backfield. Leon Crosswhite (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Leon+Crosswhite&CATEGORY=PERSON) and Greg Pruitt (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Greg+Pruitt&CATEGORY=PERSON) made it to Waco, but cancer had made Jack Mildren (http://newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Jack+Mildren&CATEGORY=PERSON) too weak for the trip. Two weeks later, Mildren was dead.
Switzer is 72. He’s buried too many of his former players in their 50s or before. He seems to realize that memories are our most precious possession. Seems intent on building as many as possible in the time he has left.
"I enjoy being with ‘em,” Switzer said. "Like I always said, when you recruit ‘em, you got ‘em for life.”
These Sooners are not unique, though the charisma of their coach might be. Many a ballteam builds a bond that, as Lott said, "never goes away.”
But these Sooners, pushed by Switzer, seem intent on celebrating those bonds.
"When you get to a place like Oklahoma, you’re told how you’re going to make lifelong relationships,” Hicks said. "You hear it, but you don’t realize it. Coaches that truly care about you. Teammates that truly love you.” The big bear of a man stood in a Waco hall and wiped a tear from his eye. Soon enough, he was back with the gang, celebrating the priceless gifts of friendship and memory
Read more: http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0njT0t2z O (http://newsok.com/berry-tramel-barry-switzer-assembles-75-ou-football-class/article/3460646?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0njT0t2z O)