I was in a mini-bus traveling with our women's basketball team to Denton, Texas last Friday morning when word started to reach us about the latest Oklahoma State airplane tragedy.
Shocked and bewilderment were my two immediate reactions, followed quickly by sadness and grief. As an OSU graduate, it hit even closer to home and I just couldn't believe such a catastrophe had happened to the school yet again.
But it also made me realize that accidents involving collegiate athletic programs are really rare. I'm obviously extremely grateful for that, but it's also somewhat amazing if you start to consider how many teams around the country are actually out there traveling the highways and airways during any given day.
UCO alone had its men's basketball, women's basketball and wrestling teams on the road last weekend, with the basketball squads both going to Texas and the wrestlers all the way to Nebraska. All three traveled via bus and two of them didn't arrive back until late Saturday night.
I've been on hundreds of trips during my long career at UCO, traveling virtually every way possible -- car, station wagon, van, mini-bus, charter bus, small airplane, chartered airplane and commercial airplane.
And -- knock on wood -- I've made it here and there and back again on all those trips without an accident. Yes, we hit a deer once during a late-night drive back from a wrestling tournament in Nebraska. And, yes, there's been the occasional flat tire or mechanical issue or weather delay that's hampered a trip.
But those were merely inconveniences, blips on the radar that put us behind schedule and perhaps caused us to be late. And I'm okay with late, as long as we get where we're going and back again safely.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A Special Day
This day - Nov. 2 - will always be a special day to me. It's the anniversary of when I started working at this fine institution we call the University of Central Oklahoma, although it was still Central State University when I came aboard on Nov. 2, 1987.
And here I still am, 24 years later. Who knew? Certainly not me. Although I had worked in media relations - or sports information as we called it - while in college at Oklahoma State, I had been out of the business for five years while working as a sports writer for newspapers in McAlester and Lawton.
But when the job came open back in October of 1987 I took a chance and applied. Skip Wagnon was the athletic director back then and for whatever reason he took a chance on me. For that, and for the unbelievable friend he's become over the years, I'll be forever grateful.
Hard to believe it's actually been 24 years. Time certainly does fly, especially when you're having fun, and I've had a ton of that during the two-plus decades I've had the privilege of working here and living in Edmond.
The profession has certainly changed over time. When I started, weekly press releases were sent via snail mail, fax machines required a special paper and game statistics were kept with pencil and paper before being typed. Scores and sometimes stories themselves had to be dictated over the phone.
Websites weren't around, email didn't exist, nobody had ever heard of a blog.
Now virtually everything is done in the blink of eye and the push of a button. You would think all the advances in technology would make this profession easier, but I'm convinced it's actually made it tougher with all that is expected, mostly in relation to the athletic website.
But it's been a great ride and I've had some unbelievable experiences during my time here, especially when traveling with our teams all around these United States. I've had the good fortune to be with various teams for games from Massachusetts to Hawaii and many, many places in between.
Long bus rides, stranded flights, lost luggage . . . we've had it all and then some.
And the games I've seen. Figuring conservatively, I've witnessed an estimated 3,000 UCO athletic events - home and away - over the past 24 years. That's a lot of wins and losses.
Obviously, the wins and championships stick out more. National titles in wrestling. Conference crowns in a number of sports. Big wins over rivals. Last-minute comebacks over anybody.
And then there's the people. That's what has been really special about this job. Life-long friendships forged with Skip and Jeff McKibbin and David James and Gary Howard and Chuck Stumbaugh and Chris Needham and Chuck Bailey, guys who were here when I first came on board.
That doesn't even begin to count those who have came through the department since that November day in 1987 when I first stepped through the doors of Hamilton Field House as a CSU employee. Nor does it include the student-athletes - the "kids" - that I've met and become friends with. Or the coaches and media relations people at schools we've played against.
UCO is a special place to me and this is a special day. Now I better get back to work, because a wrestling match is on tap and the women's basketball team is on the road. The work, and the fun, seems to never stop.
And here I still am, 24 years later. Who knew? Certainly not me. Although I had worked in media relations - or sports information as we called it - while in college at Oklahoma State, I had been out of the business for five years while working as a sports writer for newspapers in McAlester and Lawton.
But when the job came open back in October of 1987 I took a chance and applied. Skip Wagnon was the athletic director back then and for whatever reason he took a chance on me. For that, and for the unbelievable friend he's become over the years, I'll be forever grateful.
Hard to believe it's actually been 24 years. Time certainly does fly, especially when you're having fun, and I've had a ton of that during the two-plus decades I've had the privilege of working here and living in Edmond.
The profession has certainly changed over time. When I started, weekly press releases were sent via snail mail, fax machines required a special paper and game statistics were kept with pencil and paper before being typed. Scores and sometimes stories themselves had to be dictated over the phone.
Websites weren't around, email didn't exist, nobody had ever heard of a blog.
Now virtually everything is done in the blink of eye and the push of a button. You would think all the advances in technology would make this profession easier, but I'm convinced it's actually made it tougher with all that is expected, mostly in relation to the athletic website.
But it's been a great ride and I've had some unbelievable experiences during my time here, especially when traveling with our teams all around these United States. I've had the good fortune to be with various teams for games from Massachusetts to Hawaii and many, many places in between.
Long bus rides, stranded flights, lost luggage . . . we've had it all and then some.
And the games I've seen. Figuring conservatively, I've witnessed an estimated 3,000 UCO athletic events - home and away - over the past 24 years. That's a lot of wins and losses.
Obviously, the wins and championships stick out more. National titles in wrestling. Conference crowns in a number of sports. Big wins over rivals. Last-minute comebacks over anybody.
And then there's the people. That's what has been really special about this job. Life-long friendships forged with Skip and Jeff McKibbin and David James and Gary Howard and Chuck Stumbaugh and Chris Needham and Chuck Bailey, guys who were here when I first came on board.
That doesn't even begin to count those who have came through the department since that November day in 1987 when I first stepped through the doors of Hamilton Field House as a CSU employee. Nor does it include the student-athletes - the "kids" - that I've met and become friends with. Or the coaches and media relations people at schools we've played against.
UCO is a special place to me and this is a special day. Now I better get back to work, because a wrestling match is on tap and the women's basketball team is on the road. The work, and the fun, seems to never stop.
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