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I attended Thursday night my first Oklahoma Hall of Fame induction banquet, which is produced by the Oklahoma Heritage Association. It had a decidedly sports bent.

Clay Bennett and Aubrey McClendon were inducted, not because they own the Seattle SuperSonics and want to bring them to Oklahoma City, but for other endeavors. NBA commissioner David Stern was in the house to present Bennett. Toby Keith was inducted and was late because he was coaching his son’s little league football team. Jane Jayroe Gamble, Miss America 1967 and a former Channel 5 news anchor, was inducted and talked of playing high school basketball at Laverne in the 1960s.

But before we get to the sports, one question: Why was Clara Luper inducted Thursday night, and not 30 years ago? The mother of the Oklahoma civil rights movement led the famous sit-in at Katz Drug Store’s lunch counter in August 1958 and became the civil-rights leader in Oklahoma. She led the fight to integrate Oklahoma City Public Schools and led the first Freedom March in Tulsa to desegregate public accommodations. That was in the 1960s. How the heck was she not in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame until 2007?

Oh well, let’s move on.

Flash Point

Burns Hargis and Mike Turpen hosted the event. The gregarious debaters on “Flash Point” were funny and short-winded hosts; the best kind. Hargis soon will be named president at Oklahoma State University, and they had a little fun with that.Turpen did a short “I’m a man! I’m 40!” bit. He also said Hargis is rumored for a career change soon and wondered if Hargis could produce some football tickets. “I’ve only got ‘em for the fourth quarter,” Hargis cracked.

Men’s room generosity

Part of the introduction of McClendon, co-founder of Chesapeake Energy, dwelled on his philanthropy and generosity. No holes in that theory. The Hall of Fame provided an attendant in the men’s room to hand out cloth towels. McClendon tipped the kid $100.

Seattle on the Mind

When McClendon took the podium, he pulled out his written remarks and said, “Because I’m told there might be some reporters here from Seattle, I’ve prepared a speech and I’m sticking to it.” McClendon, remember, got in trouble when he told the Journal Record he always wanted to move the Sonics to OKC. McClendon also referred to Bennett as “Seattle’s favorite son.”

The Commish

Stern’s appearance drew a reproach from Seattle, where at least one columnist ripped the commissioner for supporting Bennett at the event. Which shows that some people in Seattle still don’t get it. Stern is on Bennett’s side. He’s not a neutral party.

Anyway, Stern was his usual charming self. He said, “I don’t know what a scissored-tail flycatcher is,” referencing the state bird. And Stern said he always enjoys the “opportunity to teach Aubrey about public speaking.”

Bennett chuckled at how the NBA owners’ meetings are interesting: 30 full-blown, Type-A personalities, each certain of their position as “master of the universe.” But then Stern walks in, and the 30 owners sit down like it’s the first day of kindergarten.”

Do Your Homework

Bennett talked about his family, including teen-age son Graham. “If I could get Graham to do a little math homework like he studies NBA and OU football statistics, we could get something done.”

Familiar Refrain

Bennett’s speech praised Oklahoma City, and without referring to the NBA, he talked of why he is so gung-ho on the city. “The success of Oklahoma City has been dramatic, it’s been important, it has changed things,” Bennett said. He called it the Oklahoma City Model, which other cities should emulate. “I think it defines community stewardship. A highly-engaged, forward-thinking elected government and staff, engaged and forward-thinking and committed business community, fair and forward-thinking media environment, and an involved citizenry.”

The result? Building consensus, putting aside self-interests, being creative and being bold. “We recognize it,” Bennett said. “We cherish it. It will serve Oklahoma City for a long time.”

A Fight Song in Waiting

Toby Keith was introduced by Gen. James L. Jones, the 32^nd commandant of the Marine Corps. The general was welcomed to the stage by the Marine Corps Hymn. “Catchy little song they’re playing there,” Jones said. Again, no holes in that theory. “Anchors Aweigh” is the best fight song in America, but if the Marines had a football team, the Marine Corps hymn would give it a run for its money.

Go Mud Dogs!

Keith was late to the ceremony and apologized but said some things are more important than Toby Keith. Turns out, he was coaching his son’s little league football team in a game, Keith said, that would determine who went to the Super Bowl of Norman little league.

“And after five stinkin’ overtimes, the Roosevelt Mud Dogs are going to the Super Bowl.”

Every speaker Thursday night  —  host, presenter, inductee  —  spoke off a teleprompter, except two. 1. Clara Luper’s daughter, Marilyn Luper Hildreth, gave a short but rousing speech when her frail mother was unable to speak. 2. Toby Keith.

If you’ve never heard Keith talk, he’s excellent. No prepared remarks. Just talks. And it’s big-time good stuff. He talked of being an OU fan and writing the song that became an OSU anthem (“Should Have Been a Cowboy”). He talked of why he has constantly visited troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and why politics are beside the point, saying we’ve got soldiers over there doing their duty, and he’s not going to forget about them. He talked of how he wishes his dad could have been there, and how his dad would have been at the coffee shop the next morning, bragging on his son and saying, “He bought me that Ford truck out there.” He talked of the grandmother who got him interested in music and how he played bars and honky-tonks, trying to break into the music business, and he talked of how he never will be Nashville’s poster boy and move to Tennessee.

It was good stuff. If you can catch it on an OETA rerun, I recommend it. “I hate to eat beets and I hate boring speeches, so I’m going to say good night,” Keith said.

I’m not going to the PGA this week, and I hope that’s OK with you readers. I know it’s OK with the golf world.

Anyone who golfs in his Converses and who thinks the funnest part of golf is driving the cart and putting out, well, that person doesn’t exactly fit in on America’s most hallowed golf clubs.

Besides, our golf coverage is in the capable hands of Jenni Carlson and John Rohde. Jenni played golf in high school, at the links powerhouse Clay Center, Kan., and Rohde has forgotten more golf than I ever knew.

I’m skipping Tulsa because of a family situation and it’s best if I stay close to home. The Oklahoman is a great place to work; the PGA is one of the biggest events to hit our state in a long time, but my bosses put my welfare above our coverage, and I’m eternally grateful.

Sorry for the delay in blogging. I had vacation, the trip to San Antonio, some family issues and trying to finish up the Centennial series, which ate my lunch.

And angered some of the masses. I heard from many an Oklahoman who offered up ideas on how I could have improved my Centennial lists, but most of them suffered from fatal logic. Many wanted me to add someone to the list, but few offered a suggestion on who to take off.

This wasn’t a Dick Vitale NCAA bracket. Listen to Dickie V., and 136 teams should be in the field of 65. If someone goes on the list, someone else goes off.

I was pleased with most of my lists. I wish I could redo the athletes list; I think I would make it strictly Oklahomans, people who were raised here. That would eliminate the collegiate move-ins, but that would have been OK. My team list was so subjective, you could have turned it almost upside down and not been overly scandalous.

But the venues, I thought were great. The coaches was good, too, and the events. Few people have convinced me I made any kind of oversight on those lists.

The criticism can be funny. I’m told Pat Jones, who was very kind after my venue list and had me on his radio show, was upset that I didn’t include the 1984 Oklahoma State football team. Those Cowboys went 10-2 and could have played for a national title had they beaten OU in late November.

But this wasn’t a could-have list. This was a did-have list. Funny thing, the 1984 SOONERS weren’t on the list, either. Don’t you think they deserved to be higher than the ’84 Cowboys?

Sometimes living right pays off. Sometimes it takes time.

I arrived in San Antonio at 9:30 a.m. Monday, got downtown to our hotel at 10:30 a.m. and got online fully about 1 p.m. Tuesday. I spent 27-plus hours wrestling with the staff at the St. Anthony Wyndham Hotel to get the Internet activated.

But I was rewarded, in a big-time way. I’m now staying in the John Wayne Suite.

The St. Anthony is an historic hotel. Photos of famous guests dot the ground floor.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and wife Maria.  Audie Murphy. Princess Grace. John Wayne.

Frankly, the hotel has seen better days. It’s more quaint than hospitable these days. My phone didn’t work. My keys didn’t work. My Internet didn’t work.

I can get by without a phone. I can get by without keys if security will let me in. But the job has changed; I need my Internet.  I need it to blog, and I need it to finish the final installment of our Centennial series, the 100 best teams in state history, which I’ll figure out tonight somewhere around 3 a.m.

I was staying in a suite anyway at the St. Anthony. When we checked in Monday, they were running out of regular rooms, so they gave me a suite, since I had booked the rooms for The Oklahoman. It was spacious and charming, I suppose, except for that danged Internet.

I couldn’t get on, and couldn’t get on, and couldn’t get on. I talked to the Internet provider six times and spent so much time at the front desk, other Big 12 writers asked if they were passing out drinks. Finally, they said they would move me to a room where the Internet worked.

I got the John Wayne Suite. It’s where Wayne stayed while filming “The Alamo” in 1960 and where he returned in 1978 during a convention.

It’s SIX rooms and more spacious than the new apartments in downtown Oklahoma City that are all the rage and going for $1,000 a month.

I’ve got a living area, a dining area; an entry way that’s big enough to serve as a dance floor, complete with bar (unstocked); a bedroom with two closets; a spacious bathroom; and a little room between the bathroom and the bedroom. It’s the dangdest thing you’ve ever seen.

I could have a cocktail party up here. I could have the Big 12 reception up here. You could put 50 people in this suite and nobody would be crowded.

I’m no operator. I’m no conniver. These kinds of things usually don’t happen to me. The next time I sit in first class on an airline will be the first. When a restaurant screws up and wants to comp my meal, I usually decline.

 But I’ve got to tell you. The John Wayne Suite is pretty cool.