Catching up with former Norman High football coach Butch Peters
This story isn’t posted on the high school blog, so in case you missed it in print, here’s my report on catching up with former Norman High football coach Butch Peters:
NORMAN — Butch Peters resigned as Norman High School football coach following the 2007 season. It was the end of a 35-year tenure with the Tigers.
And yet, though nobody could have been more entrenched with the city’s athletic community given the length of time he spent coaching at Norman, since he’s been gone he may be even more up to speed on the local talent. In fact, he’s getting a good idea about the town’s top athletes a lot earlier than most.
“The way it’s worked out, I didn’t really get out of the loop, I just took a different direction,” Peters said.
Peters owns and operates Sooner Trophies and Awards in Norman. And because he’s the contact for team hardware, coaches from pee-wee soccer to both the high schools are in his shop on a regular basis.
“I’m working with a lot of little league coaches in pretty much all (youth league) sports and I get to see coaches from all four middles schools in town and both high schools. And I really enjoy talking to them.”
Parents, too. Peters’ trophy shop, which he runs with his wife and oldest daughter, gets the scoop on the young up-and-comers from all the moms and dads who come in to get more personalized awards for their kids’ teams.
“We make the trophies in the shop. You use component parts and we’re a custom shop that allows people to come in and choose what they want,” said the 61-year old Peters. “You start to recognize a lot of the names of the kids.
“And I’ve even had players I’ve coached come in because they’re coaching teams now, and that’s been pretty neat.”
The list of players Peters coached during his time as an assistant (23 seasons) and head coach (12) at Norman is long and distinguished. More than 35 players who were under his guidance went on the Division I-A careers, including current Oklahoma star receiver Ryan Broyles.
In his time at Norman, Peters also served as the volleyball coach from 1977-1990, winning four state championships, including a 50-0 season in 1990. Peters’ football squads went a combined 75-54 from 1996-2007.
Peters misses the relationship with the players and assistant coaches and, of course, the energy of high school football friday nights.
“After 35 years, that was a real change of pace,” Peters said. “That was the hardest thing for me to do — go sit down and watch a football game on Friday nights.
After keeping a little distance in his first season away from the job, Peters returned to Harve Collins Field for home games this year.
“I’ve made several of them,” he said of the Tigers’ games. “If I don’t go, I catch the high school TV games. I try to keep up with the kids that I still know, some of the younger kids from my last year. And there are four or five assistant coaches that I hired that are still there and it’s good to see those guys once a week.”
Peters is also a regular at Alcott Middle School football games, where his grandson Colton is a seventh-grade quarterback. His granddaughter, Ashton, is a second-grader who keeps Peters constantly traveling to Griffin Park for soccer and softball games.
“It’s been a big change,” Peters said. “Some of the things you miss, some it’s good to get away from. But I stay busy and I’m enjoying what I do.”
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment