Remembering Bob Hersom
BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com
When I moved over to the RedHawks beat last summer, Matt Patterson, who had the beat, offered a great bit of wisdom. Matt said that the best part of the beat wasn’t the occasional big-time player or ex-player you’d get to meet but the day-to-day relationships that come from being in the press box. He was dead on.
None of those relationships meant more than getting to know Bob Hersom better. I’d known Bob and occasionally shared pleasantries before and after meetings but it wasn’t until I began covering the RedHawks that I really got to know who he was.
Bob Hersom, The Oklahoman’s longtime 89ers and RedHawks writer who had also spent plenty of time covering OU football and the Blazers over the years, died earlier this week of nonalcoholic cirrhosis of the liver. He was 64.
I asked a few of the others who’d regularly shared the press box with Bob to share their memories:
Locust Grove’s Adrian Houser picked by Astros
BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com
Locust Grove right-handed pitcher Adrian Houser, an OU signee, was the first state player to be selected in Tuesday’s second day of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
Houser went in the second round, No. 69 overall, to the Houston Astros.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” Houser said. “I’m not sure what will happen now. My advisor has a number in mind but I’m not even sure exactly what it is.”
Houser was the fourth state high pitcher taken, following the selections of Owasso’s Dylan Bundy, Broken Arrow’s Archie Bradley and Deer Creek’s Michael Fulmer on the draft’s first day.
“It’s pretty awesome (to be a part of this class),” Houser said. “Especially since me, Archie and Dylan used to play on the same team.”
Bundy, Bradley and Houser played together for a few years before reaching high school.
Houser was 9-1 with a 0.76 ERA in 62 innings pitched for the Class 4A state champions. He struck out 125.
At the plate, Houser hit .487 with eight home runs and 41 RBIs.
