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Tramel: Only memories will remain of Sooner Legends Inn & Suites, which paid tribute to OU stars
by BERRY TRAMEL
Published: Wed, September 30, 2020 7:00 AM
Doug Kennon's passion, Sooner Legends Inn & Suites, with every room dedicated to a person or event in OU history, is a victim of the pandemic. [OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]
NORMAN — Doug Kennon got the idea driving through the Louisiana night.
He and his family were en route to New Orleans, for the 2003 national championship game. Kennon had just taken over a hotel, the old Ramada Inn at Interstate 35 and Lindsey Street. His Bob’s BBQ restaurant, brought up from Ada, had gone in at the hotel, and when the landlord went into default, Kennon suddenly had a hotel, too.
And driving in the middle of the night, Kennon hatched a plan. An OU athletic trainer in the 1980s, Kennon had tons of memorabilia. Why not put the collectibles to good use?
Sooner Legends Inn & Suites was born. A 167-room hotel dedicated to OU athletics history. Each room a theme of Sooner stars from a variety of sports. Thousands and thousands of keepsakes, from posters to pictures to plaques.
And Thursday morning, it’s all going up for auction.
The COVID-19 recession has claimed Sooner Legends Inn & Suites. Kennon closed his restaurant in 2017 due to the fallout from the Lindsey Street construction. He closed his hotel on March 13, with a plan to stay shuttered for 17 days, until the crisis passed. It hasn’t passed yet.
The hotel never reopened, and in July, Kennon returned the property to the bank, and now all the contents of Sooner Legends, including the real estate, will be auctioned, beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at Dakil Auctioneers, Inc., 200 NW 114th Street.
“It’s been tough,” Kennon said the other day. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster in a lot of ways. Put 20something years of your life into something, it’s gone overnight … everything you built, worked your whole life for, is gone.”
Kennon retained some of the memorabilia. He’s got the 1971 Game of the Century punt return football, signed by Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers. He did not retain the Boyd Field sign; Boyd Field is where the Sooners played football from 1905-1922, before the construction of Owen Field. The huge sign hung in the lobby of Sooner Legends.
But Kennon knows he has more than he knows what to do with. He was an OU student during the golden 1980s and kept most of the signed items addressed personally to him. He’s got a barn full and a shipping container full of memories.
“I’m eventually going to have to get rid a lot of my stuff,” Kennon said.
That still leaves thousands and thousands of items for the auction, as well as the hotel and restaurant equipment.
Truth is, Kennon wasn’t sure how long he was going to stay in the business anyway. He’s had some offers over the years; I-35 and West Lindsey is prime real estate in Norman. Kennon probably was going to sell at some point.
But he would have preferred going out on his terms.
“Road construction and a 100-year pandemic kind of cashed me in,” Kennon said.
Kennon’s two favorite rooms at Sooner Legends were the first two, just off the lobby. The Barry Switzer Room and the Joe Washington Room. Kennon taped ankles for Switzer’s great teams, and Washington was Kennon’s hero when he grew up in the 1970s.
(Story continued below...)
Fans coming for ballgames or visitors coming for university conferences or tourists just driving through spent 15 years in rooms dedicated to the likes of Wayman Tisdale and Brian Bosworth and the Selmon brothers.
Now the tributes in those rooms are gone, and soon enough the rooms will be gone, since developers are likely to bulldoze the hotel.
Meanwhile, 54-year-old Doug Kennon will start over, glad for the opportunity to spend more time with his 10-year-old daughter and content to forge a new career.
You can bulldoze dreams, but you can’t bulldoze memories.
THE OKLAHOMAN & NEWSOK
SUBSCRIBE NOW--°
NewsOK: Oklahoma City News, Sports, Weather & Entertainment
Tramel: Only memories will remain of Sooner Legends Inn & Suites, which paid tribute to OU stars
by BERRY TRAMEL
Published: Wed, September 30, 2020 7:00 AM
Doug Kennon's passion, Sooner Legends Inn & Suites, with every room dedicated to a person or event in OU history, is a victim of the pandemic. [OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES]
NORMAN — Doug Kennon got the idea driving through the Louisiana night.
He and his family were en route to New Orleans, for the 2003 national championship game. Kennon had just taken over a hotel, the old Ramada Inn at Interstate 35 and Lindsey Street. His Bob’s BBQ restaurant, brought up from Ada, had gone in at the hotel, and when the landlord went into default, Kennon suddenly had a hotel, too.
And driving in the middle of the night, Kennon hatched a plan. An OU athletic trainer in the 1980s, Kennon had tons of memorabilia. Why not put the collectibles to good use?
Sooner Legends Inn & Suites was born. A 167-room hotel dedicated to OU athletics history. Each room a theme of Sooner stars from a variety of sports. Thousands and thousands of keepsakes, from posters to pictures to plaques.
And Thursday morning, it’s all going up for auction.
The COVID-19 recession has claimed Sooner Legends Inn & Suites. Kennon closed his restaurant in 2017 due to the fallout from the Lindsey Street construction. He closed his hotel on March 13, with a plan to stay shuttered for 17 days, until the crisis passed. It hasn’t passed yet.
The hotel never reopened, and in July, Kennon returned the property to the bank, and now all the contents of Sooner Legends, including the real estate, will be auctioned, beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at Dakil Auctioneers, Inc., 200 NW 114th Street.
“It’s been tough,” Kennon said the other day. “It’s been an emotional rollercoaster in a lot of ways. Put 20something years of your life into something, it’s gone overnight … everything you built, worked your whole life for, is gone.”
Kennon retained some of the memorabilia. He’s got the 1971 Game of the Century punt return football, signed by Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers. He did not retain the Boyd Field sign; Boyd Field is where the Sooners played football from 1905-1922, before the construction of Owen Field. The huge sign hung in the lobby of Sooner Legends.
But Kennon knows he has more than he knows what to do with. He was an OU student during the golden 1980s and kept most of the signed items addressed personally to him. He’s got a barn full and a shipping container full of memories.
“I’m eventually going to have to get rid a lot of my stuff,” Kennon said.
That still leaves thousands and thousands of items for the auction, as well as the hotel and restaurant equipment.
Truth is, Kennon wasn’t sure how long he was going to stay in the business anyway. He’s had some offers over the years; I-35 and West Lindsey is prime real estate in Norman. Kennon probably was going to sell at some point.
But he would have preferred going out on his terms.
“Road construction and a 100-year pandemic kind of cashed me in,” Kennon said.
Kennon’s two favorite rooms at Sooner Legends were the first two, just off the lobby. The Barry Switzer Room and the Joe Washington Room. Kennon taped ankles for Switzer’s great teams, and Washington was Kennon’s hero when he grew up in the 1970s.
(Story continued below...)
Fans coming for ballgames or visitors coming for university conferences or tourists just driving through spent 15 years in rooms dedicated to the likes of Wayman Tisdale and Brian Bosworth and the Selmon brothers.
Now the tributes in those rooms are gone, and soon enough the rooms will be gone, since developers are likely to bulldoze the hotel.
Meanwhile, 54-year-old Doug Kennon will start over, glad for the opportunity to spend more time with his 10-year-old daughter and content to forge a new career.
You can bulldoze dreams, but you can’t bulldoze memories.
