FOOTSTEPS

STORY BY ROGER MOORE

For junior Trey Reeves , not a day goes by without some mention or reminder of Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. One of the most beloved athletes to ever wear the orange and black, Reeves brought his small-town smile and large 7-foot frame to Stillwater in 1991. His collegiate career ended with a Final Four bang in Seattle in 1995; it was the men’s basketball program’s first trip to the Final Four since 1951 and, under head coach Eddie Sutton , put the Cowboys back on the national basketball map.

“It’s pretty cool to hear those stories,” said Trey, born in 1997. “He’s recognized pretty much everywhere he goes. What surprises me is when younger people start talking about things he did. There is no way they were alive when he was playing, but they seem to know a lot about him.

“You see his pictures in the arena, in the locker room, everywhere around (GallagherIba Arena). It feels great to see the way everyone treats him. I can remember coming to games when I was little, and he always brought a smile to everyone’s face.”

Trey Reeves does not have the 7-foot frame of his father. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, the native of Gans who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, during his dad’s NBA days with the Grizzlies, does have a work ethic that equals two-straight years of 4.0 grade point averages and a respect for the game taught him by his father.

Bryant Reeves was and remains humble to the core, equally matterof-fact with a 30-point, 20-rebound game or zero points and a tough night. His half-court miracle in a 1993 game against Missouri will be shown on OSU highlight reels for eternity. It is hard to find someone comparable in Cowboy sports lore.

“It can put pressure on you, of course,” said Trey, who played in nine games as a sophomore. “There’s a lot to live up to. But it is never about him, it’s always about us. I’ve always tried to find my own way, and he has supported me in everything I’ve done.”

The elder Reeves played in the NBA for six seasons before injuries cut his career short after the 2000-01 campaign.

“I was pretty small, but I remember how (Vancouver) would lower the baskets after the games and let a bunch of kids run around,” Trey said. “It was always nice to fantasize about playing in a big place like that. The first few times I came to (Gallagher-Iba Arena) I remember thinking the same thing, about playing basketball in this place with a big crowd. You hear the stories of how it was packed, loud as ever. My dad was part of that, part of some really fun times. I’m proud to be a part of that.”

Like “Big Country” there are very few places John Smith can go in Stillwater without being recognized. Actually, walk into any arena hosting a wrestling tournament: 10-yearolds in Bixby, a collegiate event coast-tocoast, in Iran or Mongolia, the current head coach of Oklahoma State wrestling will create a buzz. All Smith did was win two Olympic gold medals (1988 and 1992) and four World Championships (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991). The 2018-19 season marks his 28th as head coach of his alma mater.

Try living up to those expectations or following in those footsteps.

“There’s always pressure when you come into a university where your father has done something special,” said junior wrestler Joe Smith, a two-time All-American who redshirted in 2017-18. “But just wrestling for Oklahoma State you are already on a pedestal. The family pressure is there, but it’s more about my team, about living up to what I need to do to help us win.

“As a kid, it can scare you a bit, having everyone asking if you are going to win four state titles, a national title or if you are going to be like your dad. I was lucky to have uncles growing up, a lot of people who had been there, who went through what I’m going through now.”

The Smith family includes the first fourtime NCAA champion in Pat, national champion and executive director of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame & Museum Lee Roy and All-American Mark. Since Lee Roy took the mat inside Gallagher Hall back in 1977, wrestling has certainly been on the family’s to-do list. It can be argued that the Smith family is the “First Family” of collegiate wrestling, with John Smith the United States’ most accomplished international freestyler in history.

“To see what he achieved, all the things it takes, it’s pretty impressive,” said Joe, who lost one high school match in four seasons for Stillwater High before entering OSU. “But he’s really let me be me. There are always things to learn, always ways to improve and to have him as a resource, not just in wrestling but in everything I’m doing, is nice.”

Another current Cowboy grappler, Wyatt Sheets , has also heard the stories and understands the expectations.

“Every time I see someone who is older they say, ‘Man, I remember your dad. He was as tough as anybody I’ve seen.’ I actually enjoy hearing old stories about him; I wish I could have seen him wrestle, but since it was so long ago … there’s like one video of him out there I think.”

Mike Sheets was simply a monster on the mat. Equally as nice off the mat as he was painful to wrestle on it, the Tahlequah native won two NCAA titles (1983, 1984). In a program where respect is earned, Dr. Mike Sheets takes a backseat to none.

“I have learned to respect what he did more and more the older I get,” said Wyatt, a sophomore who won 143 of 145 high school matches and three Oklahoma state titles. “To win national championships, to grind through everything, to be that good takes a lot. I just look at it as a positive. A lot of kids don’t get those kind of expectations, that extra attention where everyone expects you to be good. But when you come to a place like Oklahoma State to wrestle, everybody is good. Your name or what you did in high school doesn’t matter.”

Expectations for wrestling and men’s golf at Oklahoma State are above and beyond most college campuses. With 45 NCAA Championships between them – wrestling owns 34 with golf claiming its 11th last May – they do not accept mediocrity. Lacing up the golf spikes or snapping a headgear requires a special student-athlete. Both sports require an individual yet team mentality and a discipline built in the wrestling room and on the driving range.

“What a resource to have, not just in golf, but in everything,” said men’s golf coach Alan Bratton. “To most of these kids it’s just dad. But when you have someone (in the family) I think, regardless of the program, it helps prepare them for what it takes to be successful. To see the amount of work it takes at the highest levels, that’s a great resource to have.”

The 1980s produced some quality golf under head coach Mike Holder. Eight of the 10 NCAA championships staged in that decade saw the Cowboys finish first or second in the team race, claiming the top prize in 1980, 1983, and 1987. The names Willie Wood and Scott Verplank are synonymous with OSU golf and championship-caliber teams. Wood was twice an All-American (1982, 1983), while Verplank was named All-American three times, from 1984 through 1986. They each earned collegiate golf’s version of the Heisman Trophy, The Fred Haskins Player of the Year Award.

“I kind of got hooked as an 11- or 12-yearold,” said Hayden Wood , a senior for Bratton’s squad this season. “And I’ve always been able to play with my dad a lot. The golf course was his office so I was fortunate enough to grow up by a driving range and fall in love with golf at an early age.”

Growing up at Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond meant Hayden had the opportunity to hang with the likes of Verplank and Bob Tway and members of the “Oak Tree Gang.”

“What I’ve gone through at OSU is similar to what my dad did,” Hayden said. “The OSU golf family is so special; it’s an honor to play golf at OSU, but to be able to play where your dad played and to hear some of those great stories is really special.

“Growing up in Edmond, I’ve had the privilege of being able to play rounds with so many great golfers, many who played at OSU.” Willie Wood has played professionally since 1983. Now 58 and on the Champions Tour, he continues to provide plenty of challenges to his son.

“We have some fun,” Hayden said. “I’ll drive by his ball on the way to mine because I’m hitting it a little farther than he is these days off the tee. But he’s still playing competitive golf for a reason. I have a long way to go to accomplish what he’s done in golf. Being able to play rounds together, not just as a dad, but as someone who can really help you get better in so many ways.”

Former Cowboy All-American Kevin Tway, who turned professional in 2011 and is the son of another OSU golfing legend, dealt with the father-son dynamic during his stay in Stillwater.

“To see Kevin get that first PGA win, that’s awesome,” said Hayden of Kevin’s win at the Safeway Open in early October. “He went through some of the things I’m going through and to see another former OSU golfer have success, on the PGA Tour, on the Champion’s Tour, anywhere, we all support each other. We have for a long time.”

Emma Verplank never caught the golf bug. It is and was about horses since she can remember.

“I never played golf, never really tried it,” said Emma, a sophomore for OSU’s equestrian team. “To be honest I never really liked it, didn’t have the patience for it. I ended up riding horses, kind of a random thing when I was four or five. There was never a question about me coming to Stillwater. It was a pretty easy decision with the equestrian program.

“There’s been a few times when someone hears my name and they ask if (Scott) is my dad. Around here everyone definitely knows who he is and what he did. It’s kinda cool.”

The 1980s saw some pretty good football at Lewis Field while baseball played at the friendly confines of Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, which opened for business in 1981.

Six times the Cowboys participated in bowl games, including the 1981 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., and the 1983 Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston. Both squads included a hardhitting defensive back named Chris Rockins, who teamed with All-Americans Ricky Young and Gary Lewis to give head coach Jimmy Johnson a pretty salty defensive unit. A second-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns, Rockins played in the NFL from 1984 to 1987. His daughter, Jordan , is a member of the OSU women’s track and field squad. At College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas, she was all-district in basketball and all-region in track.

Mike Cassity has coached football for 40-plus years, including a stop in Stillwater as a defensive coordinator on Bob Simmons’ staff in 2003, a year after the fourth of his four children, Braden , was born. Braden is now a 6-foot-2, 240-pound freshman defensive tackle for Mike Gundy’s 2018 squad. Another young defensive lineman, Triston Grant , a redshirtfreshman from Owasso, is the son of Ken Grant , a two-year letterman and teammate of Gundy on the 1987 and 1988 Cowboy teams.

In 2016, Joe Lienhard got a chance to walk in his father’s footsteps in Omaha, Neb., at the College World Series. Although the venue was different, Joe was part of Josh Holliday’s baseball team that advanced to Omaha, something Steve Lienhard did four times for Gary Ward’s great 1980s teams that played CWS games at old Rosenblatt Stadium The elder Lienhard lettered four times (1984-87) at OSU and played six seasons of minor league baseball. He coached Joe in high school in Wichita, Kan.

Another giant in the history of OSU is Jerry Winchester, who, you guessed it, attended OSU in the 1980s. The 1983 engineering technology graduate lettered three times for Jimmy Johnson’s football teams as a defensive lineman. His impact, not just in Stillwater but globally, has been felt off the field for 30-plus years. The Dickson native started at Halliburton, then became CEO of Boots & Coots, and eventually a CEO of oilfield services for Chesapeake Energy. He served as Chairman of the OSU Alumni Association Board and is a past president of the OSU Alumni Association Houston Chapter. In 2012 he was a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.

As a freshman in 2017-18 for Jim Littell’s Cowgirl basketball squad, Abbie Winchester, Jerry’s daughter, played in 13 games. The 6-foot-1 product of Heritage Hall in Oklahoma City, like nine other current student-athletes on campus, has plenty to live up to.

And, for all 10 current student-athletes with famous Oklahoma State fathers, there is still time to leave their mark. Who knows, 20-orso years from now maybe “old” Cowboy or Cowgirl fans will be telling stories about them.

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