JWil
O-State.com S.I.D
From wavin’ wheat to a black horse: The history and tradition of Oklahoma State sports
By Justin Wilmeth
O-State.com Senior Columnist
In the oldest town in what would become the state of Oklahoma, a tiny college was formed on land recently opened by the United States Government for public settlement.
Mind you, this is 17 years before the state of Oklahoma even existed. And only 20 months after the initial “Land Run” opened the land to citizens of the country. (It had been entirely devoted to Indians at first, before the government changed its mind and forced all the Indians already moved from all over the country into what is now eastern Oklahoma.) It was indeed still the wild, wild, West the folks back East spoke of. Little law and less order. It took a brave soul to settle in a land which had been ignored by past explorers and wasn’t in the plans of folks wanting to go far West to California.
But those who stayed in the area dug in and fought the elements. They created towns. They created their own way of life. And they tried to establish society on the rolling plains.
On Christmas Day of 1890, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College was established in Stillwater.
The first permanent structure on campus didn’t come about until 1894. It was later dubbed “Old Central” and is still at the heart of campus today.
From those modest beginnings spawned research and growth. As time went on, OAMC was re-named Oklahoma State University (in 1957) and became a prominent university in the nation. Common devices still used today – such as the parking meter and shopping cart – were invented at OSU.
And while OSU has discovered enhancements in life from improving crop yields to safer engineering techniques to building one of the nation’s best veterinary schools, it’s also known for something else as well: One of the most outstanding athletic programs in the nation.
This feature will explore everything there is to know about Oklahoma State sports. From its rich athletic history to the current traditions of the day, you’ll feel the orange in your blood starting to flow before you can yell GOOD FOR A COWBOY FIRST DOWN AND TEN!!!
School Colors: From the Ivy League to the prairie
Many settlers to Oklahoma brought their history and culture with them. As a result, many traditions commonplace here have their roots elsewhere. Back when OAMC was still forming and developing its own face, a professor from prestigious Princeton University joined the faculty. He became so popular that the students of the time decided to honor him by adopting the colors and mascot from his school. So Oklahoma A&M quickly became known as the Tigers with the colors orange and black adorning the early uniforms.
And while the mascot name didn’t last long, the colors did. In the 1990s, OSU re-emphasized the orange half of the color scheme. Under then-head coach Bob Simmons, Cowboys fans started to take heed to the request by Simmons and then-Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips to wear more orange to games as a way to show a unified front on gamedays. The move was a wildly-successful one. While the six years of Simmons as head coach had mixed results, the “Wear Orange” campaign was a huge success. To this day, nearly every single fan who goes to an OSU sporting event is decked out in orange hats and shirts and jackets. For those going to the Alamo Bowl, it’ll be easy to spot what parts of the AlamoDome the Cowboys are sitting. If they’re not in orange, they’re not true OSU fans.
Mascot: Yes, he was actually a real person once!
You might have seen him in past SportsCenter commercials or on television in basketball and football games. Either way, the huge orange hat and scruffy-faced Pistol Pete is hard to forget. One of the most entertaining mascots in the country, Pistol Pete isn’t just a mascot, he’s walking history.
You see, Pistol Pete is modeled after a real person.
His name was Frank Eaton. Born in Connecticut in 1860, he moved with his family to Kansas right after the end of the Civil War. His father was a former soldier for the Union Army. They were wanting to settle down in the Midwest.
But only a few years after the end of that war, Eaton’s life would take a serious turn: His dad was shot by a group of lawless Confederate soldiers. Eaton watched it all happen, as each of the six men pumped bullets into his father’s body.
He was only eight years old when that happened.
But from that point on, he was driven for revenge. So he learned to shoot. With the guns given to him by a family friend, he spent the next seven years honing his skills while helping his mother run the house.
When he thought he was ready, he ventured over to Fort Gibson and went toe-to-toe in marksmanship tests with members of the U.S. Calvary. He took on all comers. And beat each one. After a day of competition, the fort’s commanding officer awarded him with a marksman medal and told him: “That’s some nice shootin’ there, Pistol Pete.” It’s a nickname that would never leave him. He was only 15 at the time.
After that, he was off to kill the men who killed his father. And over the course of the next few years, he accomplished that goal, shooting five of them himself and going to the funeral of the other just to make sure he was really dead. In that time, he was awarded a commission to the U.S. Marshals for hunting down those men, who were also in trouble with the law.
That wasn’t the end of his fame, however. People from all over the region remarked on his skills with a six-shooter. His favorite trick was throwing a coin high in the air and shooting the center out of it. He was so talented with his gun that you could draw your weapon before him and still be filled with lead.
He lived out his life just outside of Stillwater in the town of Perkins. In those later years the students of Oklahoma A&M had heard all about his wild stories from the frontier days. It was at about this time the students voted to drop the name “Tigers” in favor of the nickname “Aggies,” to better represent the school. But even though they were officially the Aggies, the name “Cowboys” floated around because of Frank Eaton. He was so popular that the OAMC students asked him to be the mascot for the Aggies after seeing him in an Armistice Day parade in Stillwater. He obliged, bringing his gun and wearing his outfit to games on the sidelines.
Eaton died in 1958, serving as a living mascot for OAMC/OSU for 35 years. After his death, the school honored him by officially creating a Pistol Pete mascot. It’s a point of pride for OSU people everywhere that their mascot has a real root in history.
And this isn’t just dressing up as a cowboy, either. There are very many rules and regulations if you want to be a Pete. Each yeah, two men are chosen by their school spirit, grade-point average and other categories. There’s also a code of conduct to abide by if you’re a Pete. You can’t do anything which would dishonor the memory of Eaton. Besides appearing at every home OSU sporting event, they also do hundreds of special appearances at parties and other events throughout the state. It’s a great honor, but can keep a person just as busy as any athlete when it comes to classwork and duty to the post.
The best part about Pete? He’s entertaining. He constantly does little things for laughs and good spirit. He even gets into “faux friendly fights” against rival mascots. So don’t be surprised to see Pete draw his gun (a real gun using blanks) on Brutus Buckeye, pause, then put it away and offer a friendly handshake.
The Spirit Rider: HEEEEEEEEERE COMES BULLET!!!
Compared to the legend of Frank Eaton and Pistol Pete, The Spirit Rider is a relatively new fad. It first started in 1984 by the band director and a student by the name of John Beall. He used his own horse, named Della, for OSU football games for the next several years. After Beall left OSU, the school decided to keep the cowboy/horse idea going. So in 1988, the school created “The Spirit Rider” and bought its own black horse. Through a contest in the school newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian, the name “Bullet” would be the term for the horse. And for the next 14 years, Bullet I roamed the sidelines of Lewis Field/Boone Pickens Stadium. In 2003, Bullet I was retired and OSU broke in another black horse to roam the sidelines.
After every OSU touchdown, The Spirit Rider will charge Bullet onto the field to about the 30 yard line while Larry Reece, the OSU public address announcer, yells “HEEEEEEEERE COMES BULLET!!!”
Unfortunately, he doesn’t make road trips or bowl games. So unless a surprise crops up, it looks like the Ohio State faithful won’t be seeing Bullet.
The “Wavin’ Wheat” sure looks sweet... after a score!
Whenever the Cowboys score a touchdown or field goal at the Alamo Bowl, Ohio State fans will see every Oklahoma State fan stand up and wave their right arm back and forth. It’s meant to resemble the “wavin’ wheat” that is abundant in western Oklahoma and has been a staple in the economy of the state. It’s also done after every win, to the tune of “The Waving Song.”
So, remember, when the Cowboys score, the fans go crazy! Then get really quiet and wave one arm.
The OSU Trilogy
Long before Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or The Matrix, Oklahoma State had a Trilogy all its own. The Trilogy refers to the trio of songs which make up the core of OSU’s gameday music. It consists of three songs: The Waving Song, Ride’Em Cowboys and The OSU Chant. The Waving Song is typically only played after a Cowboys score, followed immediately by Ride’Em, which is the school fight song and then The OSU Chant.
After a win, all three are played in a row, followed by the OSU Alma Mater.
They call it BEDLAM for a reason
The nickname was earned because the old-school battles between Oklahoma A&M and Oklahoma on the wrestling mat were so heated. “It’s Bedlam out there today!!!” And the Bedlam Series was born. If you’re in San Antonio and hear an Oklahoma State fan say: “We really should have won in Bedlam football this year” you know it means the Oklahoma game. Every sporting event between OSU and OU is labeled “Bedlam.” And it’s lived up to its name many times over. Every year or two there’s an upset in a sport that wasn’t supposed to take place. The Bedlam football wins over OU in 2001 and 2002 definitely fall into that frame, for example.
Bleak past, bright future: OSU football
Oklahoma State has had a mostly bad past. One of the worst probations in NCAA history (in the 1980s and 90s) and past neglect in funding in the 50s and 60s set the program back while powerhouses were cropping up all over the nation. Henry Iba, the athletic director and legendary basketball coach, turned down offers from auto dealers in the state to set up slush funds to help recruit a winning program (though another school down South did, winning three titles in the 50s soon after that deal).
But Mr. Iba was a man of rules and morals and said football would be treated the same as every other sport at OAMC. And while championships abounded in wrestling, basketball and baseball under his watch, the football program decayed. The school couldn’t compete with schools such as Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas, who fielded teams in the hundreds in the days of pre-scholarship limits, keeping other teams in the area from becoming competitive and posing a challenge. And it was tough for a player to not fall for the line: “You can go there and start or be a part of championships here,” from folks like Barry Switzer.
Anyway, aside a nice run of success in the 40s (with an undefeated 9-0 season in 1945; OAMC could have very well “won” a mythical championship that season, but Army was the sentimental favorite for obvious reasons), a couple of years in the 60s and 70s and a five-year span in the 80s, OSU football has had little to brag about. No conference championship since a three-way co-title with Nebraska and Colorado in 1976.
But with the hiring of Les Miles as head coach in 2001, OSU has put together its best string of success ever, becoming only the second coach to lead the Cowboys to bowls in three-straight seasons. (Pat Jones was the other, taking OSU to bowls in 1983-84-85.) The past two seasons the Cowboys have been in the thick of the Big 12 Conference South Division race, before losses to Oklahoma and Texas in back-to-back games both years.
While OSU hasn’t cracked that ceiling to get on OU’s or UT’s level, they are more competitive now. Miles’ Cowboys have a 2-2 record against the evil empire, with this year’s game being a half a hand from a Cowboy win. The Cowboys went to their first New Year’s Day bowl in nearly 60 years last season, losing the Cotton Bowl to Ole Miss in a game that went down to the wire.
Us Cowboy fans know he’s a Michigan man and holds Bo Schembechler in the highest regard, but please don’t hate us for that. In his four seasons in Stillwater, he has been a Luke Skywalker of sorts, organizing the rebellion against the evil empire (OU) and giving folks in orange reason to hope again when the sweltering Summer fades into the cool Fall. After a 4-7 season in 2001, Miles has shown progress in the program each year. With a landmark 16-13 victory over OU in 2001, the Cowboys built on that by going 8-5 in 2002 with a win over Southern Mississippi in the Houston Bowl. Then a 9-4 season and Cotton Bowl berth followed. And this season (a season which could have easily ended with a 10-1 record, which I’ll get into in the season review story), a solid 7-4 year with a berth in the Alamo. This season was intriguing from the start, especially having to replace quarterback Josh Fields (left for pro baseball), running back Tatum Bell (now making waves for the Denver Broncos) and wide receiver Rashaun Woods (currently stuck in the mess that is San Francisco). But the Cowboys survived and, for the most part, had a very solid season.
There are big expectations in Stillwater. Most fans feel the Cowboys have the talent to finally get over the hump and compete for a Big 12 championship in 2005 and 2006 and beyond. After decades of neglect, the OSU football program is quickly growing for many reasons. But the most important has been the hiring of Miles, who is serious about building a power at OSU and has said he’d like to stay here and be the “Bo of Stillwater.” Okay, he hasn’t really said that, but through backchannels, he’s pretty much said as much. He wants to be the legend at OSU and he’s on track if the current success continues.
The stadium and the gameday atmosphere: Hope you like wearing orange
Like above, the football stadium was – for many years – totally ignored. Fallen into disrepair, Lewis Field had become nothing more than a giant high school stadium. Looking like a rusted-out erector set, Lewis Field wasn’t much. But because of oil magnate and OSU alum Boone Pickens, OSU is one third of the way through a three-phase project which will add luxury suites, a horseshoe end to connect the north and south stands and expand the seating to about 55,000. The design leaves room for an upper deck which would go above the suite level and push the capacity to nearly 70,000, but right now, that part isn’t needed. The work will be complete in time for the 2007 season.
Because of the winning seasons recently, attendance has increase. To that end, pre-game atmosphere in Stillwater has exploded. “Tailgate State” might be a good moniker for OSU now, as the tailgate game has taken off in the past five years. All the parking lots around Pickens Stadium have picked up with sizable tailgates. Before the OU game this year, folks parked in the lots the night before and camped out.
The gameday atmosphere in Stillwater has excelled in part to two new traditions. When Miles came to Stillwater, he instituted two things: The Walk and singing Alma Mater after a Cowboy win.
The Walk is great fun. About two and a half hours before kickoff, the OSU team will walk from the on-campus Atherton Hotel (OSU is a big player in the Hotel and Restaurant Management world, with the Atherton being a live lab for students) up Hester Street to the west gate of Pickens Stadium. Fans will leave their tailgates at that time and line the streets in orange, while the pom squad, Bullet and The Spirit Rider crew, the Spirit of Oklahoma State band and the players (wearing suits) will walk up the street, while fans cheer and greet them. It’s great because it gives the gameday a “family” feel, which is something Stillwater and OSU already have exceeding marks in.
When the game is on, OSU fans do several different things. One is the ORANGE POWER chant. This works well in Stillwater because the stadium is divided into two stands on the north and south side. (Yes, our football field runs East-West. Why? Prevailing winds in Oklahoma. Typically, in the fall, Oklahoma received cuttingly cold winds out of the North from the Rockies and Canada. The field was moved from a tradition North-South setup because of this in the early 20th Century.) One side will chant ORANGE and the other will follow with POWER. This chant will make an appearance a couple of times in San Antonio.
Another thing Oklahoma State fans will chant is “OOOOOOOOOOOOO-SSSSSSSSSSS-UUUUUU! COWBOYS!” While chanting, the fans make an O, S and U with their arms. It’ll be interesting to see how Ohio State fans take this, as we’re both used to calling ourselves OSU but aren’t used to playing another OSU.
Pokes’ fans also take out their keys and jingle them when OSU kicks the ball off after a score.
Other notes
Oklahoma State has 45 NCAA national championships. That’s tops in the Big 12 and fourth nationally (behind USC, UCLA and Stanford)... The Cowboys boast the biggest powerhouse in all of sports, the OSU wrestling Cowboys. With 32 national championships, that’s more than any other sporting entity on the North American continent – college or pro. (The New York Yankees only have 26.) ... The Cowboys boast two Top 10 coaches when it comes to all-time wins in college basketball. The great Mr. Iba has 767 while his protege, Eddie Sutton, currently has 762 and goes for another win Saturday against UNLV (and it’s on ESPN2 at 9pm Central if you feel like cheering for another OSU)... The OSU basketball team has seven Final Four appearances and two national championships. Mr. Iba’s Aggies were the first school to go back-to-back, winning the titles in 1945 and 1946... The men’s golf program at OSU is one of the best in the nation. In every year of its existence, it has qualified for the NCAA Championships in all 58 years of its existence. It also has nine NCAA championships... Notable OSU athletes include: John Smith (wrestling); Leslie O’Neal, Barry Sanders, Jason Gildon, R.W. McQuarters, Kevin Williams, Thurman Thomas, Rashaun Woods, Tatum Bell (all football); Desmond Mason, Tony Allen, Bryant Reeves, John Starks (NBA), Robin Ventura, Scott Williamson, Jeromy Burnitz (MLB); Scott Verplank, Bob May, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan (PGA)... While the football team hasn’t had many winning seasons, when OSU does make a bowl, they typically do well. OSU’s all-time bowl record is 10-5.
Justin Wilmeth is the Senior Columnist for O-State.com. He can be reached at [email protected]
By Justin Wilmeth
O-State.com Senior Columnist
In the oldest town in what would become the state of Oklahoma, a tiny college was formed on land recently opened by the United States Government for public settlement.
Mind you, this is 17 years before the state of Oklahoma even existed. And only 20 months after the initial “Land Run” opened the land to citizens of the country. (It had been entirely devoted to Indians at first, before the government changed its mind and forced all the Indians already moved from all over the country into what is now eastern Oklahoma.) It was indeed still the wild, wild, West the folks back East spoke of. Little law and less order. It took a brave soul to settle in a land which had been ignored by past explorers and wasn’t in the plans of folks wanting to go far West to California.
But those who stayed in the area dug in and fought the elements. They created towns. They created their own way of life. And they tried to establish society on the rolling plains.
On Christmas Day of 1890, Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College was established in Stillwater.
The first permanent structure on campus didn’t come about until 1894. It was later dubbed “Old Central” and is still at the heart of campus today.
From those modest beginnings spawned research and growth. As time went on, OAMC was re-named Oklahoma State University (in 1957) and became a prominent university in the nation. Common devices still used today – such as the parking meter and shopping cart – were invented at OSU.
And while OSU has discovered enhancements in life from improving crop yields to safer engineering techniques to building one of the nation’s best veterinary schools, it’s also known for something else as well: One of the most outstanding athletic programs in the nation.
This feature will explore everything there is to know about Oklahoma State sports. From its rich athletic history to the current traditions of the day, you’ll feel the orange in your blood starting to flow before you can yell GOOD FOR A COWBOY FIRST DOWN AND TEN!!!
School Colors: From the Ivy League to the prairie
Many settlers to Oklahoma brought their history and culture with them. As a result, many traditions commonplace here have their roots elsewhere. Back when OAMC was still forming and developing its own face, a professor from prestigious Princeton University joined the faculty. He became so popular that the students of the time decided to honor him by adopting the colors and mascot from his school. So Oklahoma A&M quickly became known as the Tigers with the colors orange and black adorning the early uniforms.
And while the mascot name didn’t last long, the colors did. In the 1990s, OSU re-emphasized the orange half of the color scheme. Under then-head coach Bob Simmons, Cowboys fans started to take heed to the request by Simmons and then-Athletic Director Terry Don Phillips to wear more orange to games as a way to show a unified front on gamedays. The move was a wildly-successful one. While the six years of Simmons as head coach had mixed results, the “Wear Orange” campaign was a huge success. To this day, nearly every single fan who goes to an OSU sporting event is decked out in orange hats and shirts and jackets. For those going to the Alamo Bowl, it’ll be easy to spot what parts of the AlamoDome the Cowboys are sitting. If they’re not in orange, they’re not true OSU fans.
Mascot: Yes, he was actually a real person once!
You might have seen him in past SportsCenter commercials or on television in basketball and football games. Either way, the huge orange hat and scruffy-faced Pistol Pete is hard to forget. One of the most entertaining mascots in the country, Pistol Pete isn’t just a mascot, he’s walking history.
You see, Pistol Pete is modeled after a real person.
His name was Frank Eaton. Born in Connecticut in 1860, he moved with his family to Kansas right after the end of the Civil War. His father was a former soldier for the Union Army. They were wanting to settle down in the Midwest.
But only a few years after the end of that war, Eaton’s life would take a serious turn: His dad was shot by a group of lawless Confederate soldiers. Eaton watched it all happen, as each of the six men pumped bullets into his father’s body.
He was only eight years old when that happened.
But from that point on, he was driven for revenge. So he learned to shoot. With the guns given to him by a family friend, he spent the next seven years honing his skills while helping his mother run the house.
When he thought he was ready, he ventured over to Fort Gibson and went toe-to-toe in marksmanship tests with members of the U.S. Calvary. He took on all comers. And beat each one. After a day of competition, the fort’s commanding officer awarded him with a marksman medal and told him: “That’s some nice shootin’ there, Pistol Pete.” It’s a nickname that would never leave him. He was only 15 at the time.
After that, he was off to kill the men who killed his father. And over the course of the next few years, he accomplished that goal, shooting five of them himself and going to the funeral of the other just to make sure he was really dead. In that time, he was awarded a commission to the U.S. Marshals for hunting down those men, who were also in trouble with the law.
That wasn’t the end of his fame, however. People from all over the region remarked on his skills with a six-shooter. His favorite trick was throwing a coin high in the air and shooting the center out of it. He was so talented with his gun that you could draw your weapon before him and still be filled with lead.
He lived out his life just outside of Stillwater in the town of Perkins. In those later years the students of Oklahoma A&M had heard all about his wild stories from the frontier days. It was at about this time the students voted to drop the name “Tigers” in favor of the nickname “Aggies,” to better represent the school. But even though they were officially the Aggies, the name “Cowboys” floated around because of Frank Eaton. He was so popular that the OAMC students asked him to be the mascot for the Aggies after seeing him in an Armistice Day parade in Stillwater. He obliged, bringing his gun and wearing his outfit to games on the sidelines.
Eaton died in 1958, serving as a living mascot for OAMC/OSU for 35 years. After his death, the school honored him by officially creating a Pistol Pete mascot. It’s a point of pride for OSU people everywhere that their mascot has a real root in history.
And this isn’t just dressing up as a cowboy, either. There are very many rules and regulations if you want to be a Pete. Each yeah, two men are chosen by their school spirit, grade-point average and other categories. There’s also a code of conduct to abide by if you’re a Pete. You can’t do anything which would dishonor the memory of Eaton. Besides appearing at every home OSU sporting event, they also do hundreds of special appearances at parties and other events throughout the state. It’s a great honor, but can keep a person just as busy as any athlete when it comes to classwork and duty to the post.
The best part about Pete? He’s entertaining. He constantly does little things for laughs and good spirit. He even gets into “faux friendly fights” against rival mascots. So don’t be surprised to see Pete draw his gun (a real gun using blanks) on Brutus Buckeye, pause, then put it away and offer a friendly handshake.
The Spirit Rider: HEEEEEEEEERE COMES BULLET!!!
Compared to the legend of Frank Eaton and Pistol Pete, The Spirit Rider is a relatively new fad. It first started in 1984 by the band director and a student by the name of John Beall. He used his own horse, named Della, for OSU football games for the next several years. After Beall left OSU, the school decided to keep the cowboy/horse idea going. So in 1988, the school created “The Spirit Rider” and bought its own black horse. Through a contest in the school newspaper, The Daily O’Collegian, the name “Bullet” would be the term for the horse. And for the next 14 years, Bullet I roamed the sidelines of Lewis Field/Boone Pickens Stadium. In 2003, Bullet I was retired and OSU broke in another black horse to roam the sidelines.
After every OSU touchdown, The Spirit Rider will charge Bullet onto the field to about the 30 yard line while Larry Reece, the OSU public address announcer, yells “HEEEEEEEERE COMES BULLET!!!”
Unfortunately, he doesn’t make road trips or bowl games. So unless a surprise crops up, it looks like the Ohio State faithful won’t be seeing Bullet.
The “Wavin’ Wheat” sure looks sweet... after a score!
Whenever the Cowboys score a touchdown or field goal at the Alamo Bowl, Ohio State fans will see every Oklahoma State fan stand up and wave their right arm back and forth. It’s meant to resemble the “wavin’ wheat” that is abundant in western Oklahoma and has been a staple in the economy of the state. It’s also done after every win, to the tune of “The Waving Song.”
So, remember, when the Cowboys score, the fans go crazy! Then get really quiet and wave one arm.
The OSU Trilogy
Long before Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or The Matrix, Oklahoma State had a Trilogy all its own. The Trilogy refers to the trio of songs which make up the core of OSU’s gameday music. It consists of three songs: The Waving Song, Ride’Em Cowboys and The OSU Chant. The Waving Song is typically only played after a Cowboys score, followed immediately by Ride’Em, which is the school fight song and then The OSU Chant.
After a win, all three are played in a row, followed by the OSU Alma Mater.
They call it BEDLAM for a reason
The nickname was earned because the old-school battles between Oklahoma A&M and Oklahoma on the wrestling mat were so heated. “It’s Bedlam out there today!!!” And the Bedlam Series was born. If you’re in San Antonio and hear an Oklahoma State fan say: “We really should have won in Bedlam football this year” you know it means the Oklahoma game. Every sporting event between OSU and OU is labeled “Bedlam.” And it’s lived up to its name many times over. Every year or two there’s an upset in a sport that wasn’t supposed to take place. The Bedlam football wins over OU in 2001 and 2002 definitely fall into that frame, for example.
Bleak past, bright future: OSU football
Oklahoma State has had a mostly bad past. One of the worst probations in NCAA history (in the 1980s and 90s) and past neglect in funding in the 50s and 60s set the program back while powerhouses were cropping up all over the nation. Henry Iba, the athletic director and legendary basketball coach, turned down offers from auto dealers in the state to set up slush funds to help recruit a winning program (though another school down South did, winning three titles in the 50s soon after that deal).
But Mr. Iba was a man of rules and morals and said football would be treated the same as every other sport at OAMC. And while championships abounded in wrestling, basketball and baseball under his watch, the football program decayed. The school couldn’t compete with schools such as Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas, who fielded teams in the hundreds in the days of pre-scholarship limits, keeping other teams in the area from becoming competitive and posing a challenge. And it was tough for a player to not fall for the line: “You can go there and start or be a part of championships here,” from folks like Barry Switzer.
Anyway, aside a nice run of success in the 40s (with an undefeated 9-0 season in 1945; OAMC could have very well “won” a mythical championship that season, but Army was the sentimental favorite for obvious reasons), a couple of years in the 60s and 70s and a five-year span in the 80s, OSU football has had little to brag about. No conference championship since a three-way co-title with Nebraska and Colorado in 1976.
But with the hiring of Les Miles as head coach in 2001, OSU has put together its best string of success ever, becoming only the second coach to lead the Cowboys to bowls in three-straight seasons. (Pat Jones was the other, taking OSU to bowls in 1983-84-85.) The past two seasons the Cowboys have been in the thick of the Big 12 Conference South Division race, before losses to Oklahoma and Texas in back-to-back games both years.
While OSU hasn’t cracked that ceiling to get on OU’s or UT’s level, they are more competitive now. Miles’ Cowboys have a 2-2 record against the evil empire, with this year’s game being a half a hand from a Cowboy win. The Cowboys went to their first New Year’s Day bowl in nearly 60 years last season, losing the Cotton Bowl to Ole Miss in a game that went down to the wire.
Us Cowboy fans know he’s a Michigan man and holds Bo Schembechler in the highest regard, but please don’t hate us for that. In his four seasons in Stillwater, he has been a Luke Skywalker of sorts, organizing the rebellion against the evil empire (OU) and giving folks in orange reason to hope again when the sweltering Summer fades into the cool Fall. After a 4-7 season in 2001, Miles has shown progress in the program each year. With a landmark 16-13 victory over OU in 2001, the Cowboys built on that by going 8-5 in 2002 with a win over Southern Mississippi in the Houston Bowl. Then a 9-4 season and Cotton Bowl berth followed. And this season (a season which could have easily ended with a 10-1 record, which I’ll get into in the season review story), a solid 7-4 year with a berth in the Alamo. This season was intriguing from the start, especially having to replace quarterback Josh Fields (left for pro baseball), running back Tatum Bell (now making waves for the Denver Broncos) and wide receiver Rashaun Woods (currently stuck in the mess that is San Francisco). But the Cowboys survived and, for the most part, had a very solid season.
There are big expectations in Stillwater. Most fans feel the Cowboys have the talent to finally get over the hump and compete for a Big 12 championship in 2005 and 2006 and beyond. After decades of neglect, the OSU football program is quickly growing for many reasons. But the most important has been the hiring of Miles, who is serious about building a power at OSU and has said he’d like to stay here and be the “Bo of Stillwater.” Okay, he hasn’t really said that, but through backchannels, he’s pretty much said as much. He wants to be the legend at OSU and he’s on track if the current success continues.
The stadium and the gameday atmosphere: Hope you like wearing orange
Like above, the football stadium was – for many years – totally ignored. Fallen into disrepair, Lewis Field had become nothing more than a giant high school stadium. Looking like a rusted-out erector set, Lewis Field wasn’t much. But because of oil magnate and OSU alum Boone Pickens, OSU is one third of the way through a three-phase project which will add luxury suites, a horseshoe end to connect the north and south stands and expand the seating to about 55,000. The design leaves room for an upper deck which would go above the suite level and push the capacity to nearly 70,000, but right now, that part isn’t needed. The work will be complete in time for the 2007 season.
Because of the winning seasons recently, attendance has increase. To that end, pre-game atmosphere in Stillwater has exploded. “Tailgate State” might be a good moniker for OSU now, as the tailgate game has taken off in the past five years. All the parking lots around Pickens Stadium have picked up with sizable tailgates. Before the OU game this year, folks parked in the lots the night before and camped out.
The gameday atmosphere in Stillwater has excelled in part to two new traditions. When Miles came to Stillwater, he instituted two things: The Walk and singing Alma Mater after a Cowboy win.
The Walk is great fun. About two and a half hours before kickoff, the OSU team will walk from the on-campus Atherton Hotel (OSU is a big player in the Hotel and Restaurant Management world, with the Atherton being a live lab for students) up Hester Street to the west gate of Pickens Stadium. Fans will leave their tailgates at that time and line the streets in orange, while the pom squad, Bullet and The Spirit Rider crew, the Spirit of Oklahoma State band and the players (wearing suits) will walk up the street, while fans cheer and greet them. It’s great because it gives the gameday a “family” feel, which is something Stillwater and OSU already have exceeding marks in.
When the game is on, OSU fans do several different things. One is the ORANGE POWER chant. This works well in Stillwater because the stadium is divided into two stands on the north and south side. (Yes, our football field runs East-West. Why? Prevailing winds in Oklahoma. Typically, in the fall, Oklahoma received cuttingly cold winds out of the North from the Rockies and Canada. The field was moved from a tradition North-South setup because of this in the early 20th Century.) One side will chant ORANGE and the other will follow with POWER. This chant will make an appearance a couple of times in San Antonio.
Another thing Oklahoma State fans will chant is “OOOOOOOOOOOOO-SSSSSSSSSSS-UUUUUU! COWBOYS!” While chanting, the fans make an O, S and U with their arms. It’ll be interesting to see how Ohio State fans take this, as we’re both used to calling ourselves OSU but aren’t used to playing another OSU.
Pokes’ fans also take out their keys and jingle them when OSU kicks the ball off after a score.
Other notes
Oklahoma State has 45 NCAA national championships. That’s tops in the Big 12 and fourth nationally (behind USC, UCLA and Stanford)... The Cowboys boast the biggest powerhouse in all of sports, the OSU wrestling Cowboys. With 32 national championships, that’s more than any other sporting entity on the North American continent – college or pro. (The New York Yankees only have 26.) ... The Cowboys boast two Top 10 coaches when it comes to all-time wins in college basketball. The great Mr. Iba has 767 while his protege, Eddie Sutton, currently has 762 and goes for another win Saturday against UNLV (and it’s on ESPN2 at 9pm Central if you feel like cheering for another OSU)... The OSU basketball team has seven Final Four appearances and two national championships. Mr. Iba’s Aggies were the first school to go back-to-back, winning the titles in 1945 and 1946... The men’s golf program at OSU is one of the best in the nation. In every year of its existence, it has qualified for the NCAA Championships in all 58 years of its existence. It also has nine NCAA championships... Notable OSU athletes include: John Smith (wrestling); Leslie O’Neal, Barry Sanders, Jason Gildon, R.W. McQuarters, Kevin Williams, Thurman Thomas, Rashaun Woods, Tatum Bell (all football); Desmond Mason, Tony Allen, Bryant Reeves, John Starks (NBA), Robin Ventura, Scott Williamson, Jeromy Burnitz (MLB); Scott Verplank, Bob May, Charles Howell III, Hunter Mahan (PGA)... While the football team hasn’t had many winning seasons, when OSU does make a bowl, they typically do well. OSU’s all-time bowl record is 10-5.
Justin Wilmeth is the Senior Columnist for O-State.com. He can be reached at [email protected]
