Very Interesting

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About 10 days ago, I started a thread about the Ken Mendenhall, the Enid, OK product bound for Arkansas until the OU head coach flipped him just before signing day.  That HC being Jim McKenzie, who, along with Barry Switzer, had just left the Arkansas assistant coach ranks to coach at OU. 

Tulsa World, Feb 26, 2018, Columnist Guerin Emig at guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com

During my last thread, I didn't realize WHO Ken Mendenhall was so this is who he ended up being.

Mendenhall included this in his acceptance speech into the Oklahoma football Hall of Fame.

In the 1960s, Freshmen played on a freshman team and practiced separately from the Varsity.  Varsity coaches usually only saw them practice on Fridays which would be a light practice day for the Varsity.  Mendenhall recalls in this Friday practice.  As a smallish O-lineman, he fired off the ball and drove his man into a heap among several others.  While in the pile,he could hear someone screaming, Kenny Mendenhall.  That someone drags him off the pile by the back of the neck, swings him around, grabs his facemask and yells, "Your gonna be a great football player." Then shoves him back into the pile.  That someone was Barry Switzer who coached the varsity O-linemen that year.  Mendenhall mentions that he was a freshman and had no real idea if he would ever be good.  That was the affirmation I needed, he said.  ANYWAY, THAT UNDERSIZED KENNY MENDENHALL FROM ENID, OK AND NEARLY AN ARKANSAS RAZORBACK, WENT ON TO BE AN OU ALL AMERICAN AND PLAYED 10 YEARS AS THE CENTER FOR THE BALTIMORE COLTS IN THE NFL. 

An aside to that story was the fact that Barry Switzer, with the reputation of running a LOOSE program, was actually rooted in the kind of effort that could peel paint off a helmet.

My memory is that Switzer would peel cash out of his wallet and buy a Kid a ticket home if there was a family emergency, or buy the Kid a beer if he was old enough to enter a bar. 

[Vantage 8 dude]

About 10 days ago, I started a thread about the Ken Mendenhall, the Enid, OK product bound for Arkansas until the OU head coach flipped him just before signing day.  That HC being Jim McKenzie, who, along with Barry Switzer, had just left the Arkansas assistant coach ranks to coach at OU. 

Tulsa World, Feb 26, 2018, Columnist Guerin Emig at guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com

During my last thread, I didn't realize WHO Ken Mendenhall was so this is who he ended up being.

Mendenhall included this in his acceptance speech into the Oklahoma football Hall of Fame.

In the 1960s, Freshmen played on a freshman team and practiced separately from the Varsity.  Varsity coaches usually only saw them practice on Fridays which would be a light practice day for the Varsity.  Mendenhall recalls in this Friday practice.  As a smallish O-lineman, he fired off the ball and drove his man into a heap among several others.  While in the pile,he could hear someone screaming, Kenny Mendenhall.  That someone drags him off the pile by the back of the neck, swings him around, grabs his facemask and yells, "Your gonna be a great football player." Then shoves him back into the pile.  That someone was Barry Switzer who coached the varsity O-linemen that year.  Mendenhall mentions that he was a freshman and had no real idea if he would ever be good.  That was the affirmation I needed, he said.  ANYWAY, THAT UNDERSIZED KENNY MENDENHALL FROM ENID, OK AND NEARLY AN ARKANSAS RAZORBACK, WENT ON TO BE AN OU ALL AMERICAN AND PLAYED 10 YEARS AS THE CENTER FOR THE BALTIMORE COLTS IN THE NFL. 

An aside to that story was the fact that Barry Switzer, with the reputation of running a LOOSE program, was actually rooted in the kind of effort that could peel paint off a helmet.

My memory is that Switzer would peel cash out of his wallet and buy a Kid a ticket home if there was a family emergency, or buy the Kid a beer if he was old enough to enter a bar.

Actually I suspect knowing Barry he'd buy a kid a beer even if he WASN'T old enough to legally drink. And no telling how many "auto loans" he also managed to arrange.