Senior Sooner....

[CTOkie]

I have always considered the 1963 team the most disappointing Oklahoma team in my lifetime. So much was expected after the 1962 season and there was widespread talk of a national championship.
After rallying from a 14-0 deficit to beat Clemson 31-14, then beating USC 17-12 in 120 degree heat in Los Angeles, the showdown vs Texas was a blowout as Texas won 28-7 and was clearly the better team that day as it went on to win the national championship.
OU went on to lose to Nebraska 29-20 the day after the Kennedy assassination and did not go to a bowl.
I thought that team had the talent to run the table but maybe the Looney situation (hitting a coach) was a distraction.
Do you agree ?

 

[Oklabama]

The grad assistant that Joe Don had a scuffle with was John Tatum. John was an assistant coach for our high school team the 1964 season, my senior year. He downplayed the incident and in his book Sooner Football (Old School and other stories) he gives his version of what happened on pages 45, 46, and 47. Without going into detail, John was surprised that the incident was given as the reason for Looney’s dismissal as the incident happened 12 days before Joe Don was dismissed and 11 days before the RRR. “Nothing much was ever said about our scuffle. It was not unusual for “fights” to break out during practice. After all, the testosterone levels amongst that group ran at a pretty high level. Besides, in just eleven days the Sooners had to be ready to play Texas”. BTW, John Tatum was a damn good coach and still a great, avid Sooner.

 

[Senior Sooner]

I have always considered the 1963 team the most disappointing Oklahoma team in my lifetime. So much was expected after the 1962 season and there was widespread talk of a national championship.
After rallying from a 14-0 deficit to beat Clemson 31-14, then beating USC 17-12 in 120 degree heat in Los Angeles, the showdown vs Texas was a blowout as Texas won 28-7 and was clearly the better team that day as it went on to win the national championship.
OU went on to lose to Nebraska 29-20 the day after the Kennedy assassination and did not go to a bowl.
I thought that team had the talent to run the table but maybe the Looney situation (hitting a coach) was a distraction.
Do you agree ?

Good Read, CT...I always enjoy the way you come up with original thoughts, and give us something NEW to consider...Thanks!

It was about that time,1963, that I began to learn how Self-Defeating are Great Expectations! Every year, I swear off of getting my hopes up, only to be drawn into the Frenzy, and set myself up for another disappointing finale to an unsuccessful season. At many schools, it takes a 5-6 record to qualify for unsuccessful...At Oklahoma, 10-1 gets the 'Loser Label'. We have raised the bar high, and strongly resist settling!

Unpleasant events and distractions are always hard-at-work in locker rooms, in dormitories, on-the-field, and anywhere you have 10 high school Super Studs competing for every position, which they are convinced belongs to THEM! Those earlier years had so much less Media Attention, so weren't as highly visible, or Exposed! as the behavioral problems of some of Today's Players, but they WERE present, and they Were UGLY. Good Teams Play On...Great Teams find ways to Overcome...

If we are honest, and stop and consider how many different pieces...Coaches...Players...Injuries...Egos...Replacing 5*****Recruits who bomb, and even dealing with adverse Weather, must be made to fit perfectly, in putting together a Winning Team, we would/should probably be more grateful for our many 'Near Misses'. That IS Difficult, but once in a while, when the moon is in the seventh house, a No-Name QB steps up, from out of Nowhere, and leads us in a Victory Lap and a National Championship, and we get to call JACKPOT!!!

John Greenleaf Whittier said it best...'Of all the words, of tongue, or pen, the saddest are these...It Might Have Been'...

 

[Oklabama]

Good Read, CT...I always enjoy the way you come up with original thoughts, and give us something NEW to consider...Thanks!

It was about that time,1963, that I began to learn how Self-Defeating are Great Expectations! Every year, I swear off of getting my hopes up, only to be drawn into the Frenzy, and set myself up for another disappointing finale to an unsuccessful season. At many schools, it takes a 5-6 record to qualify for unsuccessful...At Oklahoma, 10-1 gets the 'Loser Label'. We have raised the bar high, and strongly resist settling!

Unpleasant events and distractions are always hard-at-work in locker rooms, in dormitories, on-the-field, and anywhere you have 10 high school Super Studs competing for every position, which they are convinced belongs to THEM! Those earlier years had so much less Media Attention, so weren't as highly visible, or Exposed! as the behavioral problems of some of Today's Players, but they WERE present, and they Were UGLY. Good Teams Play On...Great Teams find ways to Overcome...

If we are honest, and stop and consider how many different pieces...Coaches...Players...Injuries...Egos...Replacing 5*****Recruits who bomb, and even dealing with adverse Weather, must be made to fit perfectly, in putting together a Winning Team, we would/should probably be more grateful for our many 'Near Misses'. That IS Difficult, but once in a while, when the moon is in the seventh house, a No-Name QB steps up, from out of Nowhere, and leads us in a Victory Lap and a National Championship, and we get to call JACKPOT!!!

John Greenleaf Whittier said it best...'Of all the words, of tongue, or pen, the saddest are these...It Might Have Been'...

Well stated, Senior. Some of us old fans were just too spoiled, I guess. I like it that way though.

 

[Soonerborn59]

In 1963 I was only 4 but as far as I am concerned the three of you are a treasure to this board. Love the stories you all have lived and shared with us.

 

[iasooner1]

On this date 56 years ago America lost a good man and 'Camelot' ended. I was in 2nd grade when they let us go home early from school.
JFK & LHO were both buried (in far different circumstances) on 11/25/63. Maybe someday the whole truth will be revealed but probably not in my lifetime.
RIP

 

[CTOkie]

Well stated, Senior. Some of us old fans were just too spoiled, I guess. I like it that way though.

I'm "spoiled" by OU's history, but while I want a national championship every year, I do not expect a national championship every year.....but those close calls in 1971, 1978, 1987 (1988 Orange Bowl), 2008, 2017, 2018 sure do sting.

 

[Oklabama]

I'm "spoiled" by OU's history, but while I want a national championship every year, I do not expect a national championship every year.....but those close calls in 1971, 1978, 1987 (1988 Orange Bowl), 2008, 2017, 2018 sure do sting.

That’s a fricking under statement, my friend. LOL

 

[CTOkie]

Good Read, CT...I always enjoy the way you come up with original thoughts, and give us something NEW to consider...Thanks!

It was about that time,1963, that I began to learn how Self-Defeating are Great Expectations! Every year, I swear off of getting my hopes up, only to be drawn into the Frenzy, and set myself up for another disappointing finale to an unsuccessful season. At many schools, it takes a 5-6 record to qualify for unsuccessful...At Oklahoma, 10-1 gets the 'Loser Label'. We have raised the bar high, and strongly resist settling!

Unpleasant events and distractions are always hard-at-work in locker rooms, in dormitories, on-the-field, and anywhere you have 10 high school Super Studs competing for every position, which they are convinced belongs to THEM! Those earlier years had so much less Media Attention, so weren't as highly visible, or Exposed! as the behavioral problems of some of Today's Players, but they WERE present, and they Were UGLY. Good Teams Play On...Great Teams find ways to Overcome...

If we are honest, and stop and consider how many different pieces...Coaches...Players...Injuries...Egos...Replacing 5*****Recruits who bomb, and even dealing with adverse Weather, must be made to fit perfectly, in putting together a Winning Team, we would/should probably be more grateful for our many 'Near Misses'. That IS Difficult, but once in a while, when the moon is in the seventh house, a No-Name QB steps up, from out of Nowhere, and leads us in a Victory Lap and a National Championship, and we get to call JACKPOT!!!

John Greenleaf Whittier said it best...'Of all the words, of tongue, or pen, the saddest are these...It Might Have Been'...

In August of 1963 when I was 14, my dad and I attended "media day" and we were able to chat with Jim Grisham as he was leaving the field. I asked him how the team looked and he said they would be okay as long as the team stayed healthy. A few years ago I was very said to hear of his death knowing that he was part of a great time I had with my dad.

 

[owenfieldreams]

The '63 Texas game was my first OU/TX game. It fell around the time of my 1st wedding anniversary. My father-in-law and my wife's uncle and I drove down from Tulsa. We only had 2 tickets so my father-in-law decided he stay on the fairgrounds while my wife's uncle and I went to the game. Uncle Leon was not well. He'd had a lobotomy at Menningers in Kansas. My instructions were to never let him out of my sight. It was hot! As the game progressed and Scott Appleton continued to whip Ralph Neely's ass, Leon began talking to someone. He then said he needed to go get a soft drink. He never came back. When I got to the car my father-in-law was furious so we spent the next couple of hours searching the fairgrounds. Finally, we went to my brother-in-law's room at the Hilton on Central to call Leon's wife. When she got on the phone my father-on-law said we've lost Leon. She replied, he's right here would you like to talk to him. Leon had caught a cab and gone to Amon Carter field and flown home. The ride home with my father-in-law was not pleasant.

 

[trademarcs]

I feel like a child in here......LOL

 

[owenfieldreams]

I should clarify the decision by my father-in-law to let me use one of the tickets. We had hoped we could scalp one. When we weren't able to do so, because he had seen so many OUvsTexas games watching his 2 sons play for Bud, he let me use one of the two tickets we had. My wife still tells stories about eating at Jeff House and having Vessel or Max Boydston visit her home when she was growing up. She was in the stands when ND broke our 47 game winning streak.

 

[Oklabama]

I feel like a child in here......LOL

I should be so lucky.