2008 ALL COLLEGE BASKETBALL

The 2008 All College Classic basketball tournament featured Oklahoma State University defeating Rhode Island 86-82 and the University of Oklahoma beating Virginia Commonwealth University 81-70.

OLYMPICS - JOHN SMITH

John Smith, two-time Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medalist (1988 and 1992), attended high school in Del City OK and was twice NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma State University, where he is currently the head wrestling coach with five additional NCAA championships.

The fieldhouse at Del City High School is named after John and Oklahoma State's "Heritage Hall" athletic museum includes an OSU Olympian exhibit with John as the centerpiece.

BARRY SANDERS

I recently found this ticket from Barry Sanders' Heisman trophy-winning season in 1988. Oklahoma State University defeated Texas A&M 52-15, in what was then a non-conference game. Barry rushed 20 times for "only" 157 yards (his next to lowest total in a game that season), with 2 TDs rushing, including a 58 yard score, and a 61-yard punt return for TD.

WOMEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

The NCAA Women's College World Series (WCWS) is currently taking place in Oklahoma City. I only have one photograph of "ASA Hall of Fame Stadium," taken in December 2000 from the Oklahoma City Zoo.



One of the announcers on the television broadcast of the WCWS is Michele Smith, former star pitcher at OSU who also currently pitches professionally in Japan. Here is a photo of OSU's softball stadium.

NCAA BASEBALL REGIONAL

Oklahoma State University is hosting an NCAA baseball regional for the first time in several years. Other teams at the regional are Western Kentucky, Texas Christian University and Wichita State University. I was often at the Indy 500 when OSU hosted regionals, but I got to go to a couple of them in the late 80's. Here are some photos of Allie P. Reynolds Stadium on the OSU campus in Stillwater.

OSU BASKETBALL IN THE NEWS

It has been an interesting week to be a fan of the Oklahoma State University basketball team. First, on April 17, we got our new coach, Travis Ford. He played at Missouri for 1 year and then finished his playing career at Kentucky. He began his coaching career at Campbellsville University (NAIA), moved to Eastern Kentucky University and most recently has been at the University of Massachusetts. Here is a link to the official announcement at the okstate.com website:

http://www.okstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=1463&SPID=145&DB_OEM_ID=200&ATCLID=1441900

Then today, I was driving through Pawnee Oklahoma, the home of Keiton Page of the Oklahoma State Champion Pawnee Black Bears. Keiton has signed to play for OSU next year. As I drove by the high school gym, there was Keiton and his father/coach. I pulled over and Coach Page very graciously and enthusiastically spoke with Kelly and me for quite some time about his son's future at OSU playing for our new coach. Coach Page said that Coach Ford had talked to Keiton and was very encouraging regarding his future at OSU! Apparently, Coach Ford sees a lot of similarities between himself and Keiton. They are both small, played at small-town schools, were/are great shooters, got scholarships to big-time schools, met with a lot of scepticism as to whether they can play big-time basketball, but most importantly, they both made their teams better. It will be a lot of fun to watch our new coach and new recruit next season.

Coach Page told us that the school basketball team does not play at the high school gym, but rather at the Pawnee Nation fitness center, so we made the short drive there and took these photos.

Finally, we went to a really good place, "Pawnee Prints," and bought a couple of t-shirts of the state champion Black Bears basketball team.


To read my earlier entry about Keiton Page and see some interesting photos, videos and scans, go to my post for March 17, 2008, or click this link to the post. http://khcsportsphotos.blogspot.com/2008/03/keiton-page.html

SEAN SUTTON

ON APRIL 1, 2008, SEAN SUTTON "RESIGNED" AS HEAD BASKETBALL COACH AT OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY. COACH SEAN PLAYED AT OSU FOR HIS FATHER, EDDIE SUTTON, WAS AN ASSISTANT COACH AT OSU AND THEN WAS HEAD COACH FOR 2 YEARS. THESE ARE SOME PHOTOS I TOOK IN RECENT YEARS.

OSU'S OFFICIAL SITE: http://www.okstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=1463&SPID=145&DB_OEM_ID=200&ATCLID=1430759

NEWSOK.COM: http://newsok.com/article/3224045/1207150440

VIDEO OF PRESS CONFERENCE: http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1483902005

KEITON PAGE

Future Oklahoma State University Cowboy basketball player Keiton Page of Pawnee, Oklahoma. Keiton scored 54 points (!) in the Oklahoma 2A State Championships on March 8, 2008. He has signed to play with OSU beginning with the 2008-2009 season.

LINKS:

KEITON'S STORY: http://newsok.com/article/3222840

2008 OKLAHOMAN'S BOYS SUPER 5: http://newsok.com/article/3222866

VIDEO INTERVIEW: http://www.newsok.tv/?titleID=1476789186

OHSSE'S HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 54 POINT STATE FINAL:

IS KEITON STILL GOING TO OSU AFTER SEAN SUTTON "RESIGNS"? http://newsok.com/article/3224085/1207116200

RELIANT STADIUM - HOUSTON TEXAS

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY, MY SON AND I FOLLOWED OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY TO THE 2002 HOUSTON BOWL AT RELIANT STADIUM IN HOUSTON TEXAS. OSU WON OF COURSE. THE ASTRODOME IS IN THE BACKGROUND OF THE EXTERIOR PHOTOS.






















GAME RECAP:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/college/recaps/2002/12/27/20193_recap.html

BEDLAM FOOTBALL

Friends forced me to attend the Bedlam football game in Norman this year. OU 49 - OSU 17 :(