Sneaking a peek at the new OSU football book
Published: 7/16/2012 5:48 PM
Last Modified: 7/16/2012 5:48 PM
What's in the new book ("More Than a Championship") about Oklahoma State’s historic football season? Preview copies were emailed to the media Monday.
I’ll have a story about the contents of the book in Tuesday editions of the Tulsa World and, in the meanwhile, here are a few random excerpts that I did not include in the story:
--Coach Mike Gundy and sideline reporter Robert Allen are listed as co-authors. Two chapters are biographical in regard to Gundy.
Gundy and OSU wrestling coach John Smith apparently go way back. When they were youth wrestlers, they rode together to a tournament in Colorado and, during a CB radio conversation, someone in another vehicle grinched that “nobody wants to wrestle that Smith kid.” Smith grew up to be an Olympic gold medalist.
--One of the first things Gundy did after becoming head coach was offer a scholarship to Zac Robinson, who was OSU’s all-time leading passer until having his records wiped out by Brandon Weeden.
Also, Gundy did some housecleaning after getting promoted to head coach. Among players who left was receiver Prentiss Elliott, who was described by Gundy as being perhaps “the greatest athlete here other than Barry Sanders.”
--According to the book, two people who complained about OSU’s uniform combination (hard-to-distinguish orange numbers on light gray jerseys) in the season opener were radio play-by-play man Dave Hunziker and megabooster Boone Pickens. Perhaps not so coincentally, that particular jersey has never seen the light of day again and likely won’t until numbers can be more easily read.
--OSU’s offensive linemen are either ornery or playful or both. Gavin Lang of OSU’s sports information department contributed a vignette that said offensive linemen like to loosen the light bulbs in elevators, setting the stage for unsuspecting passengers to ride in the dark once the doors close. The vignette also was highly complimentary of the blockers’ contributions to the Cowboys’ success.
--Who arranged the first contact between Weeden and OSU officials when the former pro baseball player decided he wanted to give college football a try? It’s one of the co-authors. And it’s not the one that you might think.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
