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Thanksgiving in Alaska? Eddie Sutton thankful he wasn't eaten by bear in Alaska
Published: 11/23/2012 12:08 PM
Last Modified: 11/23/2012 12:08 PM

Last week, Oral Roberts University basketball coach Scott Sutton was telling me all the reasons he was looking forward to taking his team to the Great Alaska Shootout.

“It’s a great opportunity for guys that will probably never think about going to Alaska the rest of their lives,” he said.

“It’s a chance for them to be able to go out there and see some things and see a different part of the country. We’ll take them dogsledding. We’ll take them maybe to see a glacier if we can. It’s a very good tournament. The city of Anchorage does a great job of hosting it and running the tournament. They get great support. It’s a great experience and I’m very happy we’ll be able to take (Alaska native) Damen (Bell-Holter) back home.”

The only thing I could think about while Sutton was talking about Alaska was this: Beware of bears.

Scott Sutton had been to the Great Alaska Shootout before, not only with his own team but as a tagalong when his father’s teams played in the event. He had nothing but feel-good things to say about the trips.

But Eddie Sutton got a scare during a summer vacation to Alaska in 1993. The former Oklahoma State coach was fishing in the wilderness when he was pursued by a bear.

OSU practices were open to the media during Eddie Sutton’s tenure in Stillwater and I always laughed to myself when he scolded a lollygagging player by saying “You need to run like the devil is chasing you!”

Eddie Sutton apparently ran from the bear like the devil was chasing him.

“I never had great speed,” Eddie Sutton told then-Tulsa World sports editor Bill Connors after returning from the '93 trip. “But when that
bear was chasing me I was more fleet-footed at my age than I realized.”

From a health standpoint, salmon are supposedly good for the heart. Salmon were great for Eddie Sutton. He had caught five salmon and left them on the bank before spotting the bear and launching into a sprint.

“I never looked back, but (other people on the excursion) told me the bear probably got as close as 15 yards to me,” Sutton said. “Then he saw the salmon and stopped.”

The coach took advantage of the salmon’s assist and sought refuge in a boat.

Scott Sutton’s team won a Great Alaska Shootout opener against Loyola Marymount and will play a CBS Sports Network-televised semifinal against Charlotte in a contest that will tip off after midnight Friday. The first-round game was played on Thanksgiving.

Something to be thankful for? Here’s what Eddie Sutton said in 1993: “I am thankful the bear decided he would rather have those
fish for dinner than me”


Reader Comments 1 Total
Barney Doyle (3 months ago)
I'm glad the bear decided on the fish. Eddie Sutton is an Oklahoma legend. Besides, I bet he'd be tough to chew.
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ORU Sports

Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. Since 2001, he has been honored more than 30 times in Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists contests for sports reporting, sports columns and sports features. He is the Oklahoma State football beat writer and the Oral Roberts basketball beat writer. In 2007, he wrote a book about OSU football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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