Eddie Sutton prophesized as he sat in the lobby of his Seattle hotel 20 years ago this week, back when the world was young.
The day before, Sutton’s Cowboys had been eliminated from the Final Four. Seventeen days later, a bomb would explode in downtown Oklahoma City. Six years later, the rest of America would be similarly jarred. Three years after that, the Cowboys would make another Final Four. Not too many years after that, football would replace basketball as OSU’s primary passion.
He got that right.wholesale nfl jerseys from china We’re still telling the tale. Still telling the story of a 7 foot country boy who started out bumpkin and finished up icon. Still remembering the tall tale of an Oklahoma kid who became the favorite Cowboy of them all.
O State claims a Heisman Trophy winner and football heroes galore. The world’s greatest wrestler and golfing champions. Even a transcendent giant on the hardwood half a century before Big Country.
But no OSU athlete ever resonated with Cowboy fans like Bryant Reeves.
“That haircut,” said 60 year old OSU fan Mike Skinner of Oklahoma City, the memories flooding as he starts talking about Big Country. “Those facial expressions from Eddie when asked how raw he was when he first showed up.
“To me, he, OSU, Eddie/Mr. Iba, is the best America success story there is around. Kid comes from the sticks, works hard, finds good coaching that came back to OSU to redeem himself and the school he loved, overachieves.
“But maybe it’s still clear in my mind because Rodman was around to put the extremes in such perspective. You got what you saw with Big Country.”
No, no one ever confused Reeves with Dennis Rodman. Big Country was the ultimate substance over style ballplayer.
“I never got to see Big Country play in person,” said Dave Kroeger, a 1987 OSU grad who now lives in Arizona but lived in California during the 1995 Final Four. “I was happy to represent OSU sports with my wardrobe and the Industrial Engineering department with my work. I got ribbed for not having a flat top like Big Country. People joked about small town Oklahoma with me, even though I was from Midwest City. Big Country basically picked up the Oklahoma State mantle for me after Barry Sanders went to the NFL.”
The 1995 Final Four reinvigorated OSU fans with a pride that has not wavered. Big Country became a national sensation, and Cowboy Nation reveled in knowing that its star was homegrown and homespun, from the Sequoyah County hamlet of Gans, having arrived on campus with little fanfare and little potential. “That boy’s got a long way to go,” Henry Iba famously told Sutton during Reeves’ first practice in Stillwater.
And a long way Reeves went. To All American. To the Final Four in Seattle, leaving Antonio McDyess and Tim Duncan and Marcus Camby in his dust. To a lottery pick selection in the NBA Draft, where Reeves played well enough and long enough to fund his dream. A ranch back in Gans, a quintessential goal for someone called Big Country by his fans and Country by his teammates.
“I’ve been away since 1978,” said OSU alum and Stillwater native Phil Rogers, now a reporter for NBC Chicago. “But I will tell you that the exploits of Big Country, Eddie and Co. engendered so much pride in this transplanted Poke that it was hard to contain. He just had so much incredible talent, encased in an almost impossible structure, presented with such disarming innocence. I loved that run.”
Grant Bergman was a high school senior in Lawton, sitting in a completely dark bedroom, listening to Bill Teegins’ radio broadcast in 1993, when Big Country hit the halfcourt shot that sent a game against Missouri into overtime. “GIA sounded deafening, and I officially adopted my new favorite Cowboy,” said Bergman, who eventually went to OSU and played baseball for Tom Holliday.
Still to come were Big Country’s 33 point, 20 rebound game against Kansas and the shattered backboard in Seattle’s Kingdome during the Final Four public practice.
“Another reason I revered him is because my Sooner friends all hated him,” Bergman said. “He was their version of Lurch mixed with Jed Clampett and Greg Ostertag.”
Brett Davis was seven years old in 1995, growing up in Davis. He eventually went to Oklahoma City University; an older brother went to OU, and crimson dotted much of Brett Davis’ closet.
But there never was a question about his hero. The first two jerseys he ever owned were an OSU No. 50 and a Vancouver Grizzlies No. 50.
“I loved Bryant and the attitude he played the game with,” Davis said. “I even had my school picture taken in that OSU jersey.
“The NCAA tournament run in ’95 was my first experience with being a fan of a team. When the Cowboys fell short against UCLA in the semifinals, there was not much my parents could do to console me.”
Pizza eventually soothed Davis’ dismay. But time has not soothed his devotion to his first athletic hero. Davis still is good for a Bryant Reeves story or two. Eddie Sutton was right. The legend of Big Country lives on. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM 98.1.
Former Oklahoma State player Bryant Reeves watches Stanford play the Cowboys during their college basketball game at Gallagher Iba Arena on the OSU campus in Stillwater, Oklahoma on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Former OSU All American basketball player Bryant Reeves, who now plays for the Vancouver Grizzlies, gives a haircut to a fan before Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers. Fans who showed up at the GM Center with a flattop haircut were given free tickets to the game.
Bryant Reeves, OSU, receives basketball pass against Kevin Lewis, Kansas State, who hails from MWC High. SPORTS COLOR FOR SUB PAGE 19
OSU basketball coach Eddie Sutton, left, and CBS announcer Billy Packer look at broken glass after a reverse slam dunk by Bryant Reeves during Oklahoma State’s practice shattered the backboard Friday, March 31, 1995 in Seattle’s Kingdome. The 7 foot tall center’s shot delayed the practices for the weekend Final Four games. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
Bryant Reeves of OSU lifts a shot over George Zidek (25) of UCLA in the first half of Saturday’s, April 1, 1995 semi final NCAA Final Four basketball game in Seattle. (AP Photo/Erick Draper)
