A game ball for the Pride
Bob Stoops symbolically presented a game ball to the fans after OU’s 65-21 rout of Texas Tech last Saturday. Barry Switzer never did that, so far as I know, but he did something similar. Switzer presented a game ball to the Pride of Oklahoma after OU’s 21-20 Bedlam victory in 1983.
Here’s the inside story, courtesy of David Renner, one of my 1979 Norman High School classmates and a six-year member of the OU marching band.
Renner says Gene Thrailkill, the venerable director of the Pride, a band leader affectionately called “Coach” by two generations of Sooner musicians, was ejected from Lewis Field because he didn’t have a field pass. Then as now, OSU’s stadium had a high, white wall surrounding the field. In order to direct the band, Thrailkill stood on an aluminum ladder that sat on the artificial turf out of bounds. At some point in the game, which wasn’t going well for the Sooners, security personnel said no pass, no stay.
That was the game, remember, in which OSU took a 20-3 lead. “On his way out,” Renner said of Thrailkill, “he told someone, I’m not sure who, to ‘keep playing Boomer Sooner and don’t stop until we take the lead.’ So we did. Nonstop. For most of the second half.” Then came the Sooners’ great rally. Eighteen points in the final 11 minutes to win 21-20.
Switzer was so impressed and so thankful, he paid a visit the next Monday to the Pride and presented the band a ball inscribed with the date, the score and the words: “The Day the Pride Won.”
Of course, OU couldn’t afford to give every saxophonist and drummer a separate game ball, so the university did the next best thing. It gave each band member a 5×7 glossy photograph of that game ball.
Renner thought of those days after the Tech game. He even had an idea. Take a photo of the game ball Stoops symbolically presented to the fans and post it on the OU website for downloading.
It was a solid olive branch by Stoops, who earlier in the week offended some Sooner fans by saying they weren’t as loud as some crowds. It’s a gesture some won’t forget. David Renner certainly hasn’t forgotten what Barry Switzer did 25 years ago.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
It appears that the athletic dept has “taken the ball and run with it” so to speak. The image of the ball is available for downloading. here’s the link:
http://soonersports.com/ot/okla-wallpapers.html
The game ball is in the lower right corner of the panel with all the images.
I remember this event well. The Pride is among the outstanding university marching bands in the country. The members are AVID supporters of the Sooners. They do not get nearly the recognition and thanks they deserve. Switzer’s gesture was a class act.. But once in 25 years? Such things should occur regularly.
The games I remember most as far as the Pride is concerned were the two games we played in Lincoln in 1972 and 1974. They didn’t get seats in the stadium. They were on this little track just behind our bench. They played Boomer Sooner and the drum thing were everyone goes Go, Go, Go Go Go! almost the whole second half. When we had a time out they would keep playing but they’d get very quiet so we could hear the coaches on the sideline. They were just like part of the team. We won both games in the fourth quarter. Gene Thrailkill and the Pride were the greatest. I’m sure they love the game and the team as much now as they did then.
I remember this well (Thanks David Renner for reminding us of it). I was there as a member of the Pride that day, playing Boomer Sooner and challenging all the Sooner fans in that corner to not give up. There is nothing more thrilling than to be a part of a comeback like that. What I vividly remember is after the game, while we are still celebrating and playing Boomer Sooner and Oklahoma, the whole football team rushes to the end zone where the band is to applaud and thank us for not giving up on them! From what Coach Thrailkill told us, that had never happened before. Talk about a Kodak moment. I still have that picture in a frame on my desk at home proudly displayed.
Cool story.