Boyd Street Magazine November 2021

“ Williams in the Shotgun, Stoops in motion. Direct snap Brooks… fakes the pitch, bounces it outside… he’s to the 30, he’s to the 25, he’s to the 20. HE’S GONNA GO!! KENNEDY BROOKS…HE JUST WON… HE JUST WON THE GAME. Kennedy Brooks… JUST WON OU/TEXAS. A 33-yard touchdown run by Kennedy Brooks. One year after a four-overtime classic, we may have surpassed it with the greatest game in OU/Texas history. Un-Stinkin-Believable.”

Unforgettable, incredible, extraordinary, impressive, EPIC, whichever adjective you chose to describe the 117th edition of the OU/Texas rivalry, they all would fit for fans of the Sooner Nation after the 55-48 win.

A game that featured a little bit of everything came down to the wire and ended in dramatic fashion as Sooner running back Kennedy Brooks sealed the win and the greatest Sooner comeback in OU/Texas history.

“I’m trying to think of the moments in my career that I’ve been prouder of a team,” Sooner head coach Lincoln Riley said afterward. “If there’s any, it’s not many. ... We were poised, and we all felt like our confidence didn’t change and it didn’t get rocked by the fact that we didn’t play well early.”

Oklahoma fell behind by two touchdowns in the game’s opening minutes and saw that deficit grow to 18 by the half. But there was no panic, there were not any heads down as the Sooners tried to regroup in the locker room, just an all-out belief that OU would win the football game.

“We’ve been through worse. We were down 28-3 at Baylor my freshman year and that was in the back of my head the whole game,” Sooner receiver Jadon Haselwood said. “We walk up the same tunnel and they (Texas) walked up the whole ramp at halftime like they had won it all already without any enthusiasm. I told our guys, look they think it’s over.”

The first half featured two Texas touchdowns in the first two minutes of the game including a 76 -yard touchdown reception on the first play of the game and a score two plays after blocking a punt. A fox ran out on the field and the Sooners made a quarterback change turning to true freshman Caleb Williams midway through the first half.

The true freshman looked the part of an experienced veteran.

“He came in and he executed,” Marvin Mimms said of Caleb Williams. “He did what he was coached to do and that was a big help for us. The fans were into it, everybody was into it. We just got rolling at that point so that was huge for us and huge for the game.”

While Williams was directing the offense, Mimms was making jaw-dropping grabs including the game-tying 52-yard reception that he somehow was able to keep his foot down in bounds. Actually, toe down may be more fitting as the pylon cam shot became as memorable as any play in the game.

“It’s just part of the game plan that we need to get more explosive plays down the field,” Sooner Captain Jeremiah Hall said. “The running game also helped. When you’ve got guys worried about Kennedy Brooks rushing for so many yards every single play, you’ve got to account for that. And then you’re leaving guys one-on-one down the field. At the end of the day, we’re just letting guys go out and make plays.”

After opting out during the 2020 season, Brooks made the most of his final Red River Rivalry. With 217 yards on 25 carries, the OU running back paced the Sooner offense for most of the day. His game-winning touchdown run was the second time the Sooners had used that play and, in the mind of Brooks, it was all about just going straight.

“I just ran straight and scored,” Brooks said, crediting the offensive line and the receivers blocking downfield. “Just a great call by Lincoln Riley. It’s a great play setup.”

“Oh man, epic, that second-half run, the energy in that stadium, one of the best things in our sport,” Riley said. “Our crowd was great. I appreciate our crowd. They stayed into it even as we started to make the run. I think we really kind of both fed off each other — us off the crowd, crowd off of us and that’s why it’s the best rivalry in college football. It was as good as I’ve ever seen.”

While the Sooners were mounting a record-setting comeback, the crowd was making a difference. Loud and enthusiastic, the Cotton Bowl South end zone was a difference-maker, packed with fans clad in crimson.

“Our crowd played a massive role in that comeback. It was insane,” Sooner radio analyst Teddy Lehman said afterward on the post-game show. “Texas could not get out of the south end of the field.”

“The crowd for Oklahoma was amazing,” Sooner sideline analyst Gabe Ikard said. “The crowd had as big of an impact on a football team as I’ve ever seen, ever. The crowd deserves some credit.”

Longtime Sooner fan Steve York agreed. The Choctaw native has been to many OU/Texas games and had a hard time imagining a game matching what happened in the stands in 2021.

“It was ranked as one of the very best,” Steve said. “Years may run together but this year was special. This year was different. When we got down, you had a few people that may have left but I promise you they came back. That place was packed and rocking and rolling at the end of the game.

“I know I’ve seen some great games over the years. One minute your cussing, next minute you’re celebrating. It was so up

and down. It was THE loudest that I can ever remember. I’m 66... I can’t remember any game being any louder than that. I can remember some great games, but this will stick in my memory for a long, long time.”

Steve has been a Sooner fan since birth. Along with his brother Jim, they are the definition of Sooner Born and Sooner Bred. For both, the biggest day of the year has always been the second Saturday in October. The family is so dedicated to OU/Texas that weddings have been moved to ensure they don’t miss the annual classic.

“My niece, my brother’s daughter, had scheduled her wedding for the first week in October since the OU/Texas game was always the second Saturday in October,” Steve recalled. “One year, they changed it. For some reason that year, it was the first weekend. When the Sooner football schedule came out, we had a problem. She had to reschedule her wedding and send out new invitations. It’s a big deal in our family.”

Jim attended his first OU vs Texas game in 1969. That season Choctaw Head Coach Bill Jensen took a small group of players to the game and the cost to get in was only .50 cents. The experience not only hooked Jim on the excitement and energy of OU/Texas but also his buddy Delaine Baxter.

Jim went back in 1971 and has only missed one OU/Texas game since then. Delaine was a high school football coach so regular trips were challenging to the big game in Dallas. He

begun his teaching career at Choctaw High School, but moved to McLoud schools and ended up spending more than 30 years as a teacher and coach with a schedule that allowed him to make the trip consistently. Finally, in 1988, the pair of pals made the trip together again and never looked back. 32 years straight Jim and Delaine have attended OU/Texas together.

The pair would go to Dallas on Thursday. Play golf on Friday, attend the OU game on Saturday and sometimes when they were younger, they would sneak in a round on Sunday. But as time passed and they got older the Sunday round went away.

“We have been going as a full family since the early 80s. It’s just something that is very special to our family,” Steve said of his family. “We’ve seen good OU/Nebraska games, but this was the game.”

For 32 years straight years, Delaine “Dog” Baxter was essentially part of the York family as he and Steve went to the game together. They stayed at the same hotel every year. Delaine loved being around the York family and he and Jim would always sit together at the game. 32 years they never missed… until 2020.

In August 2020, Delaine got sick and passed away. He was 67 years old. The popular Choctaw alum, McLoud teacher, coach, and diehard Sooner fan was gone. But the York family was determined to find a way to get Delaine to the OU/Texas game one final time.

In October 2020, tickets were hard to come by due to Covid-19 and reduced capacity, so the family was unable to attend. It was almost fitting that the first OU/Texas matchup after Delaine passed his gameday companion missed as well for the first time in over 30 years. But in 2021, they not only got tickets but found a way to pay a lasting tribute to Delaine Baxter.

Delaine’s brother had given Jim some of Delaine’s ashes. Since the two loved playing golf, some of the ashes were spread at different golf courses that the two enjoyed playing. But the last of the ashes were saved for OU/Texas game.

“Delaine loved that game so much,” Steve said. “We had to find a way to pay a proper tribute so that he could and would always be a part of the OU/Texas weekend.”

A small group of family and friends set about finding the right place to spread Delaine’s ashes. They thought about doing it on the field, but security was a challenge. Sure, they would do it, but they didn’t want to just spread it on the field and leave. They wanted to pay respect. And then, it clicked. The Pirate Ship.

“There is a spot where the Pirate Ship ride is by the main entrance of the Cotton Bowl,” Steve pointed out. “The pirate ship has been in the same spot for decades. That was our meeting spot. That’s where if our family ever got separated or someone called and said they were coming where could we

meet. Before the game, after the game, that was our spot. So, we thought what better place.”

Despite the area being closed off, Steve and the group talked their way past security and held a small ceremony before spreading Delaine’s ashes.

“He’s gonna help us win the game this year,” Jim said after the small ceremony.

And as the game progressed and the momentum swung back and forth, the game was exactly everything that Delaine would have loved.

“Dog (Delaine) would never give up on the Sooners. We could be getting smoked by 20 points or more, but Dog would never give up on them,” Steve recalled. “Even when it was imminent that we were losing he would stay until the very last minute. He was a true believer in Sooner Magic and that they would come back. After the game, everyone was high fiving saying Dog got us this win.”

The stories are many and the memories will never fade for fans that attended the 2021 edition of OU/Texas. But for the York family, a Sooner win capped a fitting tribute to a fallen friend, making this version of the Red River Rivalry the greatest game ever.– BSM