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Sooners looking forward to next August’s enshrinement August 12, 2001 By Contributing Editor Darl DeVault This weekend 25 former players and coaches will be enshrined at College Football Hall of Fame's Enshrinement Weekend on the grounds of the Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. Although former Oklahoma University center-linebacker Kurt Harris richly deserves his enshrinement this weekend into the College Hall of Fame, August of 2002’s enshrinement will herald two of the most famous men associated with Oklahoma football. This story is about one of those men. The names Barry or Switzer are known throughout this part of the country, whether it is in the stands or on the football fields. All you have to say is Barry and everyone knows exactly whom you are talking about. That name will be in the news again next August. Whether he is surrounded by his fellow members of the 2001 Division I-A College Football Hall of Fame class or just talking to a friend, this man’s name means football. Although born in Arkansas, Barry L. Switzer has adopted Oklahoma as his home and Oklahoma has a much richer football tradition to show for it. "The greatest honor that could be bestowed upon a collegiate player or coach is to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame," said Switzer, just after being selected in April. "I think about all of the inductees who came before me and it's a tremendous honor to join that group. This reflects the hard work of so many University of Oklahoma assistant coaches and players. They all made this possible. This honor represents all of us." As offensive coordinator in 1970 at the University of Oklahoma, he convinced head coach Chuck Fairbanks to revamp the Sooner offense after a lackluster 3-3 start that season. The Sooners installed the wishbone, a high-risk rushing game that was unorthodox at the time. As they say, the rest is history. The head football coach at OU from 1973 to 1988, Switzer concluded his career with a winning percentage of .837. He had a 157-29-4 record, making him the winningest active college coach his entire career. His OU teams carried him 31 games into his career before losing and never lost more than 3 games in a regular season. His teams notched eight bowl victories in 13 post- season games. Historically, Switzer ranks fourth all-time in winning percentage among college coaches behind Notre Dame's Knute Rockne (.881), Frank Leahy (.864) and Carlisle's George Woodruff (.846). Switzer, 64, notched a dozen more wins than OU's other legendary coach, Bud Wilkinson, with the same number of losses and ties. During Switzer's tenure, his teams won three national championships (1974, 1975 and 1985) and 12 Big Eight titles. Along the way Switzer gained a reputation for recruiting top talent to OU. His players won every type of award given to college football players. His players won: All-America and Academic All-America honors; the Dick Butkus, Vince Lombardi, Jim Thorpe and NCAA Top Six Awards; Player of the Year honors from Chevrolet-ABC (Defensive), Football News (Freshman), Helms Foundation, NCAA, New York Athletic Club (Defensive Back), UPI Lineman and Washington D.C.; GTE Academic Hall of Fame; and the Heisman, Outland and Walter Camp Trophies. In 1996, Switzer coached the Dallas Cowboys to a NFL championship. He became only the second coach ever to win national championships in college and pro ball. When his four years as Dallas head coach were over, he had posted the best won-lost record ever for any Dallas Cowboys coach. Lee Roy Selmon, one of the three feared Selmon brothers on defense on the 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, presented Switzer into the Oklahoma Heritage Association Hall of Fame in 1999. Selmon is the only one of Switzer's players at OU that has been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. "It is an honor and humbling for me to be asked by coach Switzer to present him," Selmon said at the time. "I may be more excited about this than he is. I am excited just to be here to extend my sincerest congratulations to him as someone so much deserving of this honor since he is such a great man. He has accomplished so much in his life I think it is quite appropriate that he be in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame." "An example of what kind of man Switzer is was back in 1994 when he had just gotten the job as the Cowboys head coach. Two weeks later he took time out to come up to Washington D.C. to my induction into the GTE Academic All-American Hall of Fame. To me that epitomizes the heart that Barry Switzer has." Switzer made many non-athletic contributions to Oklahoma along the way. He is a founding organizer of the Swing for Sight golf tournaments, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for the Society for the Prevention of Blindness. He also has given thousands of hours of his time over the last 26 years to the Oklahoma Special Olympics. "Oklahoma Special Olympics is my number one priority," Switzer said. "I have done a lot of other things, but Special Olympics is the one I really have a passion for." Besides the annual championships held each year in Stillwater, Switzer has helped with national and world championships in Special Olympics. Switzer knows the importance of an education. He has worked with a private foundation to fund non-athletic college scholarships for minority students over the years. The schools most prolific receiver and often its most famous standout in the NFL, tight-end Keith Jackson, will join Switzer in that enshrinement but it can be said that the Sooners revere Switzer. The University of Oklahoma named the athletic facility built under the south end zone of Oklahoma's Memorial Stadium in honor.
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Other Stories by Contributing Editor Darl DeVault: Crescent welcomes home Hubert "Geese" Ausbie |
