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How It Was..' The BUD Days'....Lonnnng, But Worth It!

This thread has brought back so many wonderful memories that sometimes gets pushed back in my subconscious. They’re there somewhere but until posters like Senior, CT and Plaino reminisce and share their past OU life highlights, I can’t recall those times, but then it opens up an old world that I once enjoyed. I was there. Thank you, great Sooner fans.
 
I have yet to talk football with a Horn fan with any civility. They are like Red Sox fans in that they want to remind me how much they hate my team and how great their team is, rather than just talk football/baseball.
I fully agree with your analogy. I ran in to a whorn fan at our local dry cleaners in rural Scottsdale about five years ago. He drives a burnt orange chevy SUV and I drive a Crimson Ford Expedition. He was relentless with the bevo bullsh!t when texass hired Sarkisian. We took sporty jabs at each other but it became far less jovial after 2021 Red River SHOOTOUT! I did not see him again after early December. The dry cleaner said he took his business elsewhere. I asked if he messed up his cleaning and his response with a chuckle was "his cleaning was all good, he does not want to talk football with you anymore". The cleaner is Korean immigrant confessed that the whorn takes his cleaning to another of his locations. So he didn't lose business but separated his customers. In military parlance, we held our ground and forced the enemy to retreat.
 
I fully agree with your analogy. I ran in to a whorn fan at our local dry cleaners in rural Scottsdale about five years ago. He drives a burnt orange chevy SUV and I drive a Crimson Ford Expedition. He was relentless with the bevo bullsh!t when texass hired Sarkisian. We took sporty jabs at each other but it became far less jovial after 2021 Red River SHOOTOUT! I did not see him again after early December. The dry cleaner said he took his business elsewhere. I asked if he messed up his cleaning and his response with a chuckle was "his cleaning was all good, he does not want to talk football with you anymore". The cleaner is Korean immigrant confessed that the whorn takes his cleaning to another of his locations. So he didn't lose business but separated his customers. In military parlance, we held our ground and forced the enemy to retreat.
Too many people are like this Texas fan and OU has its share as well. All teams have fans that have the "us versus them" mentality and view fans of opposing teams as enemies. Life's too short for such nonsense.
 
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Too many people are like this Texas fan and OU has its share as well. All teams have fans that have the "us versus them" mentality and view fans of opposing teams as enemies. Life's too short for such nonsense.
But I must admit, sometimes the opportunity to rag a texass fan in jest is too good to pass up.
 
I enjoy absorbing the OU history and experiences that you "old timers" grant us. Although I believe I am the same age as Plaino my OU days started much later and were never as enriched. My first OU football game on TV was also the first time I saw a color TV ..... Jan. 1, 1968. OU vs Tennessee. I was hooked.
I'll be 71 in August, assuming I make it. This thread has reminded me of better days in Scoop, when there was a lot of reminiscing here and on the premium side. But over there it has become sooooo hostile. "Olds" they call us. It's not a compliment. I left the premium side two or three years ago, and post over here not too much.

I have a longtime friend who created a new premium handle over a year ago, but he's planning to leave. I get a bunch of notifications that I've been name dropped over there, that he let me have his password so I could read what was being said. It was 95% hateful, or more. I wasn't supposed to post anything, but a few times I responded. He's been mistreated since it's now been perceived that he's me.

I should hang out here more, but I've found a friendlier overall experience on TOS and appreciate the premium content. And I like that they have a board exclusively for the non-football OU sports. I love OU softball and OU women's gymnastics. I've now been single again for ten years. I'm not sure i'd enjoy life enough without OU sports. I've gone to great lengths to find a tv provider that lets me have Fox Sports Oklahoma, now called Bally Sports Oklahoma.

I get to watch all the coaches shows, and more and more softball games and ladies gym meets. Made my first trip to Norman for women's gym last weekend and had GREAT seats. Sooners blew away number one Michigan.

I'll talk about the old days of OU football any time with anybody, as long as it's mostly friendly. I remember watching Bud's show in 1960 or 61.I remember when we started the year 0-5 and ended up 5-5. and I remember a couple of trick plays that we key in two of the five wins, especially the no huddle touchdown to Mike McClellan, beating Army 14-8 in Yankee Stadium back when it was home of the football Giants.

I saw the play live on grainy black and white tv national broadcast on Saturday. I saw it on Sunday on Bud's show. And I saw it Sunday on the Sooner playback show. I think Ross Porter was the pbp on the playbacks. That's they year I fell in love with OKLAHOMA SOONER football. We didn't dream about anything like recording a tv show in 1961. So watching those great plays was a special excitement.
 
I'll be 71 in August, assuming I make it. This thread has reminded me of better days in Scoop, when there was a lot of reminiscing here and on the premium side. But over there it has become sooooo hostile. "Olds" they call us. It's not a compliment. I left the premium side two or three years ago, and post over here not too much.

I have a longtime friend who created a new premium handle over a year ago, but he's planning to leave. I get a bunch of notifications that I've been name dropped over there, that he let me have his password so I could read what was being said. It was 95% hateful, or more. I wasn't supposed to post anything, but a few times I responded. He's been mistreated since it's now been perceived that he's me.

I should hang out here more, but I've found a friendlier overall experience on TOS and appreciate the premium content. And I like that they have a board exclusively for the non-football OU sports. I love OU softball and OU women's gymnastics. I've now been single again for ten years. I'm not sure i'd enjoy life enough without OU sports. I've gone to great lengths to find a tv provider that lets me have Fox Sports Oklahoma, now called Bally Sports Oklahoma.

I get to watch all the coaches shows, and more and more softball games and ladies gym meets. Made my first trip to Norman for women's gym last weekend and had GREAT seats. Sooners blew away number one Michigan.

I'll talk about the old days of OU football any time with anybody, as long as it's mostly friendly. I remember watching Bud's show in 1960 or 61.I remember when we started the year 0-5 and ended up 5-5. and I remember a couple of trick plays that we key in two of the five wins, especially the no huddle touchdown to Mike McClellan, beating Army 14-8 in Yankee Stadium back when it was home of the football Giants.

I saw the play live on grainy black and white tv national broadcast on Saturday. I saw it on Sunday on Bud's show. And I saw it Sunday on the Sooner playback show. I think Ross Porter was the pbp on the playbacks. That's they year I fell in love with OKLAHOMA SOONER football. We didn't dream about anything like recording a tv show in 1961. So watching those great plays was a special excitement.
We are the same age. I turned 71 in Feb. I am in very good health now. Proper weight to height ratio and excellent vital signs.

I am envious of you early Sooner fans. My parents were not sports fans. My dad bought a 1951 Ford F-250 and a 8' X 30' mobile home when I was born and we set out following pipeline projects from coast to coast border to border for 12 years. I picked up two brothers and a sister along the way. We changed locations about every 4 to 6 weeks depending on the project. I went to 13 different schools by the end of third grade. We didn't have a TV until about 1960 or so. We moved back to NE Oklahoma in 1963 to attend permanent school system. My dad took my brothers and me to a Milwaukee Braves game in 1961. Spahn and Torre were unknown to me before that day that I saw them play. My dad was bored to tears but he knew the four of us would not survive the day in an 8 by 30 house with our mother and a very spoiled sister. I have asked myself If I would have preferred a different kind of life in order to experience more this or more that. I can honestly say no I would not change a thing. My dad worked our asses off when we were kids and I thanked him for it many times before he passed away. I can say for certain that I have not been unemployed one day in my life. Even while I was going to school in the 70s. I get my daily dose of OU from my friends on this board. Who knows what I would have become without you guys? Definitely not an OSU or Texas fan. Ive been on this board since 1998 I think. I was Singapore Sooner until 1999 and then Dubai Sooner until 2012. I have been afforded many good stories here. I hope to meet all of you at one time or another. Plaino, you will make it. Our better days are tomorrow!
 
Scottsdale, my dad (from Wewoka) was a big CFB fan growing up and my grandfather played freshman football at OSU before WWI. So my lifelong interest in CFB was started by both men.
When we lived in Houston (Sharpstown and West University) from 1956-60, Dad took me Rice and Houston games at Rice Stadium and we usually had endzone seats. When I complained about sitting in the endzone, my dad told me that they were great seats because we could watch the blocking lanes develop from that vantage point.
When we visited my grandparents in Wirt (a few miles west of Healdton) we had friends there with a family whose son played in the OU band. As a result, I would look at pictures in the 1956-1957 OU yearbooks of the football team during its 47 game winning streak...while drinking gallons of Dr. Pepper.
In 1958, my obsession with OU football was cemented forever when Dad took me to the OU-Texas game, won by Texas 15-14 by Royal using the new 2-point conversion rule that he had voted against having earlier that year. That was followed in 1959 when I attended the OU-Texas game and watching Texas spot OU a 12-0 lead before prevailing 19-12.
We moved to New Jersey in 1960, but were able to attend the OU-Army game at Yankee Stadium in 1961 and the OU-Maryland game in 1964. Both games were won by OU on two long plays: McClellan's 75 run on a play run from no huddle and Lance Rentzel's 90 yard reception in the 4th quarter with OU trailing 3-0.
My time in NJ also made me an Army football fan as we lived an hour away from West Point.
We moved back to Houston in 1969 after my first year at OU, so I watched Steve Owens in his Heisman year, taking handoffs from Jack Mildren. Many, many handoffs.
In 1971, Dad took me to the OU-Texas game and I watched OU end its long drought against Texas, 48-27....as OU reinvented the wishbone offense.
My last attended OU game was in 1980 vs Stanford as Elway and company stunned OU 31-14 in the rain.
While I have lived in the northeast for 36 years....and soon in Gettysburg....I have been able to see every OU game and have been able to follow the team far better (via the internet and two cousins in OKC and Topeka) than when I lived in Houston.
And as a frustrated sports writer, this message board as been a lot of fun.
 
Scottsdale, my dad (from Wewoka) was a big CFB fan growing up and my grandfather played freshman football at OSU before WWI. So my lifelong interest in CFB was started by both men.
When we lived in Houston (Sharpstown and West University) from 1956-60, Dad took me Rice and Houston games at Rice Stadium and we usually had endzone seats. When I complained about sitting in the endzone, my dad told me that they were great seats because we could watch the blocking lanes develop from that vantage point.
When we visited my grandparents in Wirt (a few miles west of Healdton) we had friends there with a family whose son played in the OU band. As a result, I would look at pictures in the 1956-1957 OU yearbooks of the football team during its 47 game winning streak...while drinking gallons of Dr. Pepper.
In 1958, my obsession with OU football was cemented forever when Dad took me to the OU-Texas game, won by Texas 15-14 by Royal using the new 2-point conversion rule that he had voted against having earlier that year. That was followed in 1959 when I attended the OU-Texas game and watching Texas spot OU a 12-0 lead before prevailing 19-12.
We moved to New Jersey in 1960, but were able to attend the OU-Army game at Yankee Stadium in 1961 and the OU-Maryland game in 1964. Both games were won by OU on two long plays: McClellan's 75 run on a play run from no huddle and Lance Rentzel's 90 yard reception in the 4th quarter with OU trailing 3-0.
My time in NJ also made me an Army football fan as we lived an hour away from West Point.
We moved back to Houston in 1969 after my first year at OU, so I watched Steve Owens in his Heisman year, taking handoffs from Jack Mildren. Many, many handoffs.
In 1971, Dad took me to the OU-Texas game and I watched OU end its long drought against Texas, 48-27....as OU reinvented the wishbone offense.
My last attended OU game was in 1980 vs Stanford as Elway and company stunned OU 31-14 in the rain.
While I have lived in the northeast for 36 years....and soon in Gettysburg....I have been able to see every OU game and have been able to follow the team far better (via the internet and two cousins in OKC and Topeka) than when I lived in Houston.
And as a frustrated sports writer, this message board as been a lot of fun.
Very good story CT. I envy your experiences. My mother's older sister married a half Delaware half Cherokee full blood and lived in the same little town in Oklahoma. He was my real introduction into sports. He had access to keys to the high school gym. We played basketball in a freezing cold gym in the winter and touch football in the spring and fall. All summer every summer was baseball baseball baseball. My high school was too small for 8 man football. My uncle didn't really have a favorite team but I remember his excitement for NBA games at my grandmother's around Christmas dinner. My uncle took six of us to my first football game, Tulsa vs OSU in Stillwater in 1965. Tulsa lost but I remember Howard Twilley running around untouched for 4 quarters. I rarely got to sit at home to watch a game on a Saturday until I was in the army. I worked with my dad from a young age. I remember OU-Texas games blaring on the AM radio while working on a pipeline project. I liked being a welder's helper because I stayed in one spot for extended periods to listen to games. My army days were a real introduction to OU vs The World in football. I have vivd memories of where I was and what the score was. OU vs USC 1973 was a heartbreaker. I was fully hooked on OU prior to accepting my fate of working on pipelines internationally. I developed means and ways of getting college footballs score to some of the remote places in the world. Aramco Saudi would fax the scores on the following Tues/Wed to our camp in the desert on sat fax communications. Like your father, I think I was responsible for "hooking" my niece and nephew in going to OU at early ages. My nephew is a research doctor at St Francis in Tulsa and my niece holds a PhD in Math from OU and works in Tulsa also. My niece still loves OU football. Thanks for the memories!!!
 
My first “in-person” game experience was at Skelly Stadium watching H. Twilley. I was pretty young and can’t remember too much about it except a Tulsa win
 
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Love the stories of you two guys.

SS you got to Oklahoma a year before my family left to go to Plano. I've been there pretty much ever since. It had less than 4,000 people in June, 1964 and was just leaving a farm community status to become a suburb. We told people in Tulsa that we were moving to Fort Worth, because it was an embarrassment to go to Dallas 7 months after the Kennedy assassination. And nobody had ever heard of Plano. When I graduated in 1969, there were 142 in my senior class. Plano is now the 70th largest city in America, with a little over 300,000.

I liked it better back then. I consider myself half Okie and half Texan. With the admirable humility of Oklahoma, and the business positivity and confidence of Texas, I think it's a good combination. The education I got in Tulsa through the 7th grade was excellent. Seven years at Eisenhower Elementary and a year at Edison Jr High. It was not against the law in the 50's for my 2nd grade teacher to allow each row a day to have a student stand and briefly recite any scripture verse of their choosing. So in my public school, I heard John 3:16 recited several times a week.

It was a very different time.
 
Love the stories of you two guys.

SS you got to Oklahoma a year before my family left to go to Plano. I've been there pretty much ever since. It had less than 4,000 people in June, 1964 and was just leaving a farm community status to become a suburb. We told people in Tulsa that we were moving to Fort Worth, because it was an embarrassment to go to Dallas 7 months after the Kennedy assassination. And nobody had ever heard of Plano. When I graduated in 1969, there were 142 in my senior class. Plano is now the 70th largest city in America, with a little over 300,000.

I liked it better back then. I consider myself half Okie and half Texan. With the admirable humility of Oklahoma, and the business positivity and confidence of Texas, I think it's a good combination. The education I got in Tulsa through the 7th grade was excellent. Seven years at Eisenhower Elementary and a year at Edison Jr High. It was not against the law in the 50's for my 2nd grade teacher to allow each row a day to have a student stand and briefly recite any scripture verse of their choosing. So in my public school, I heard John 3:16 recited several times a week.

It was a very different time.
Good story.

I loved getting on the school bus to go to Tulsa and play the private schools in basketball. Holland Hall is one a remember. We played C Class (one horse towns) schools within 50 mile radius. Ball park lights are like a beacon of joy for me today.

I had 86 people in my high school. The two classes after me were big at around 25 kids in each. I had 11 in my graduating class. One of the smallest classes every. 1969 was the last year. They consolidated with Ramona into what is Caney Valley High School today.

I had about six months of temp duty at Ft. Hood in 1976. I did the highway from Tulsa to Dallas to Waco to Killeen a few times. On Highway 75 south of Sherman Dennison - Plano - the Texaco station was a fill up point for me. There was not much to Plano in those days. We are dating ourselves here.
 
Yes, thanks to my friends on this board. I have been privy to experiences that won't show up on Youtube or ESPN. Mickey Ripley was a family friend and enchanted my mother with his tales of OU football from inside the program.
Mickey Ripley was my high school coach in Bartlesville. Your post inspired me to look him up. Sadly, he passed away in 2019.


I didn’t know that Coach Ripley was quite the athlete. To this day, I tell my 12 year old about the ways Coach Ripley used to coach me. Besides my Dad and Grandfather, Coach Ripley was the most influential man in my life.

Would love to hear more about him!
 
Mickey Ripley was my high school coach in Bartlesville. Your post inspired me to look him up. Sadly, he passed away in 2019.


I didn’t know that Coach Ripley was quite the athlete. To this day, I tell my 12 year old about the ways Coach Ripley used to coach me. Besides my Dad and Grandfather, Coach Ripley was the most influential man in my life.

Would love to hear more about him!
Hey Nick. Good to hear from you. Do you know coach Don Burt? I am from Ochelata. Mickey was family friend through Coach Burt (my brother-in-law) and my sister. My sister and Coach Burt were best friends with Mickey and Gail. I met Mickey and Gail on occasion. I spent most of my life working internationally in the pipeline construction biz so my contact with Mickey was very social. I have been a donor and season ticket holder for many years. Switzer once said that Mickey was the "ultimate team player" in OU history. I have 3 males i n my life that I consider major influences in my life. One being my high school coach.
 
Hey Nick. Good to hear from you. Do you know coach Don Burt? I am from Ochelata. Mickey was family friend through Coach Burt (my brother-in-law) and my sister. My sister and Coach Burt were best friends with Mickey and Gail. I met Mickey and Gail on occasion. I spent most of my life working internationally in the pipeline construction biz so my contact with Mickey was very social. I have been a donor and season ticket holder for many years. Switzer once said that Mickey was the "ultimate team player" in OU history. I have 3 males i n my life that I consider major influences in my life. One being my high school coach.
Coach Burt was my weightlifting coach and also ran the defense. Love that guy! Please tell him I send my best. Nick QB ‘88
 
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Mickey Ripley was a senior my freshman year at OU. I was a manager for the football team. In retrospect, Mickey was somebody meriting absolute respect. Back then, you couldn't play as a freshman. They had their own team and played a four game schedule, usually on Monday nights. So Mickey's soph and Junior year, he was a backup to Bob Warmack, a three-year starter. Ripley was a year younger. Mickey's soph year, OU recruited Jack Mildren, who came in as likely OU's highest profile recruit ever. two year eligibility behind him. Mildren's recruitment was so big, that he was the focus of a Sports Illustrated feature, back when that had never been done. There was little recruiting news in these parts, outside of Texas Football magazine. Nothing really on OU, other than the Texans going to Norman.

Ripley's senior year, he was first on the depth chart all spring. He was first for the first two plus weeks of August. Chuck Fairbanks, OU's third year head coach, created a new offense call the Diamond-T. It was an inverted wishbone, with a full house backfield, one tight end and one split end. It had good concepts, but a poor overall philosophy, especially for the talent we had. Steve Owens was the tailback. Mike Harper, the returning I fullback lined up behind the guard or a little wider, about the level of a wishbone fullback on oneside. Roy Bell, the wingback type, lined up semetrically on the other side.

It was intended to combine the threat of the returning great tailback Owens, with a full house option. But it was one sided. Harper wasn't much of a run threat, especially as an option pitch man. Bell wasn't a fullback blocker type. He was effective as a pitch man on the option the other way, or a dive back onside. But Owens was never the option pitch man, just an option blocker. And it was hard to throw out of.

Even though Mickey was first team for all spring and most of the preseason, he wasn't really an option quarterback. He was a good passer. When Warmack got hurt in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, along with OU's last really two way player, Steve Zabel, Ripley and another backup Johnny Barr put on a show in the bowl. OU lost 28-27, failing on a late two point conversion. But most would say Mickey played an exceptional game. Had OU won, he'd have been MVP. Coming off that, it had to be a tough pill, but lose his job to Mildren . Even when we got slaughtered in 3 conference games, Ripley never had a chance to show his stuff again. Mildren was a favorite of mine. He gave me my nickname, and I had neat relationship with him. But I suspect most felt that Mickey wasn't treated right.

He was a handsome man. I don't know if he smoked, but he'd have been the perfect Marlboro man. I think he was from Perry. A country boy. A team player. And I suspect universally liked by his fellow seniors. Their final year was a lousy season. 6-4 after back to back conference titles, including a one-loss soph year ending up second or third nationally. For Switzer to call him a team first guy, tells a lot.

I'm sorry to hear of his passing.
 
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Mickey Ripley was a senior my freshman year at OU. I was a manager for the football team. In retrospect, Mickey was somebody meriting absolute respect. Back then, you couldn't play as a freshman. They had their own team and played a four game schedule, usually on Monday nights. So Mickey's soph and Junior year, he was a backup to Bob Warmack, a three-year starter. Ripley was a year younger. Mickey's soph year, OU recruited Jack Mildren, who came in as likely OU's highest profile recruit ever. two year eligibility behind him. Mildren's recruitment was so big, that he was the focus of a Sports Illustrated feature, back when that had never been done. There was little recruiting news in these parts, outside of Texas Football magazine. Nothing really on OU, other than the Texans going to Norman.

Ripley's senior year, he was first on the depth chart all spring. He was first for the first two plus weeks of August. Chuck Fairbanks, OU's third year head coach, created a new offense call the Diamond-T. It was an inverted wishbone, with a full house backfield, one tight end and one split end. It had good concepts, but a poor overall philosophy, especially for the talent we had. Steve Owens was the tailback. Mike Harper, the returning I fullback lined up behind the guard or a little wider, about the level of a wishbone fullback on oneside. Roy Bell, the wingback type, lined up semetrically on the other side.

It was intended to combine the threat of the returning great tailback Owens, with a full house option. But it was one sided. Harper wasn't much of a run threat, especially as an option pitch man. Bell wasn't a fullback blocker type. He was effective as a pitch man on the option the other way, or a dive back onside. But Owens was never the option pitch man, just an option blocker. And it was hard to throw out of.

Even though Mickey was first team for all spring and most of the preseason, he wasn't really an option quarterback. He was a good passer. When Warmack got hurt in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, along with OU's last really two way player, Steve Zabel, Ripley and another backup Johnny Barr put on a show in the bowl. OU lost 28-27, failing on a late two point conversion. But most would say Mickey played an exceptional game. Had OU won, he'd have been MVP. Coming off that, it had to be a touch pill, but lose his job to Mildren . Even when got slaughtered in 3 conference games, Ripley never had a chance to show his stuff again. Mildren was a favorite of mine. He gave me my nickname, and I had neat relationship with him. But I suspect most felt that Mickey wasn't treated right.

He was a handsome man. I don't know if he smoked, but he'd have been the perfect Marlboro man. I think he was from Perry. A country boy. A team player. And I suspect universally liked by his fellow seniors. Their final year was a lousy season. 6-4 after back to back conference title, including a one-loss soph year ending up second or third nationally. For Switzer to call him a team first guy, tells a lot.

I'm sorry to hear of his passing.
Mickey absolutely would have been the Bluebonnet Bowl MVP had we won. I was there and really liked Mickey. He and I did our student teaching together at Midwest City High School. He was as down to earth a guy as you could find. Personality wise, he reminded me of Bob Kalsu a lot. Two of OU’s all time good guys.
 
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