Return to the Rock
Published: 9/7/2006 5:46 PM
Last Modified: 9/7/2006 5:46 PM
I suppose it was an unwritten rule. Or something else.
As a youngster growing up in Tulsa in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was amazed that every single year the University of Tulsa had to travel east across the state border to play the Arkansas Razorbacks. Every year in Fayetteville. No return trips to Skelly Stadium.
TU fans to this day feel that UA athletic director Frank Broyles owes the Golden Hurricane a handful of games, or at least one, in Tulsa. No such luck. Razorbacks will fly before they ever play football in Tulsa.
Apparently, a form of this rule applied to Oklahoma State as well in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
In doing research this week on OSU’s history in Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium, it was quite surprising to see that OSU playing in the Arkansas capital city was an annual rite of autumn. Between 1950 and 1980, the Cowboys played Arkansas 28 times. Twenty five of those matchups came in Little Rock.
Did Broyles and his predecessor John Barnhill have something against playing football in Oklahoma?
Well, the Cowboys return to Little Rock on Saturday to play Arkansas State. Or simply Jonesboro, according to Broyles. The Arkansas AD to this day will not play Arkansas State in Fayetteville, Little Rock or Jonesboro in any athletic activity.
OSU will, though. The matchup is part of series reached a few years ago. Arkansas State athletic director Dean Lee worked five years in the OSU athletic department before heading to Jonesboro in 2002. Lee was able to negotiate a two-year series with the Indians’ home game being played in Little Rock.
“They (OSU) have a tremendous history of playing in Little Rock,” Lee told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "Their fans, when I was working over there, talked about how great a trip it was and how they loved to come over for the game. It’s one where they feel like they’re going to travel well and it’s going to bring back some big memories for them.”
--- Matt Doyle
Written by
Bill Haisten
Sports Writer
