Bobby Warmack Remembered...

[Senior Sooner]

Good Read...Bobby is one of the players I've always felt was under-appreciated in OU History...

My husband and I were at the '68 Bluebonnet Bowl, in the Astrodome, when both Bobby and Steve Zabel went down with knee injuries. It was Amazing how the crowd went down with 'em...A Black Cloud moved in over the Oklahoma Section, the Party was over, and the Fans went silent...

http://newsok.com/the-collective-wisdom-of-bobby-warmack/article/5561685

 

[CalSooner_rivals250695]

Thanks for the post.

I really like to hear about these players of the past.

 

[OklaBama]

Good Read...Bobby is one of the players I've always felt was under-appreciated in OU History...

My husband and I were at the '68 Bluebonnet Bowl, in the Astrodome, when both Bobby and Steve Zabel went down with knee injuries. It was Amazing how the crowd went down with 'em...A Black Cloud moved in over the Oklahoma Section, the Party was over, and the Fans went silent...

http://newsok.com/the-collective-wisdom-of-bobby-warmack/article/5561685

I too remember all that Bobby talks about in this article........especially getting beat by Ada his (our) senior year in the state championship game on Owen Field. I ended up 0-1 playing on the glory turf. Bobby is a great Sooner.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

That headline was a little weird. I thought it meant Bob had died. Thankfully, not the case

Bob moved to Plano back in the 80s. I was refereeing high school basketball the year his daughter was a senior on a really good Plano girls' basketball team. She was also a stud on their volleyball team, and I believe she ended up getting a volleyball scholarship to Texas.

I worked two or three of their games, I think around 1988. They were undefeated until playing Duncanville in the state playoffs. Plano had another player who started on Texas Tech's national champs with Sheryl Swoopes and another who played at Rice, so they were pretty good. But they lost one of their two starting post players while winning what was then called the Dr. Pepper Tournament in Dallas.

Whatever, the Warmacks were winners just about everywhere they played. I talked to Bob a couple of times sitting in the stands at other games.

His senior year was the year before my freshman year, but I never talked to him much when he was briefly on OU's staff in the early 70s. But he was a great leader. The guys who I worked with at OU who were older than me, and knew him when he was a player, loved him, for being a great leader, and just who is was. A great all time Sooner player. I remember the stories about moving from the seventh team to three year starter.

 

[OklaBama]

That headline was a little weird. I thought it meant Bob had died. Thankfully, not the case

Bob moved to Plano back in the 80s. I was refereeing high school basketball the year his daughter was a senior on a really good Plano girls' basketball team. She was also a stud on their volleyball team, and I believe she ended up getting a volleyball scholarship to Texas.

I worked two or three of their games, I think around 1988. They were undefeated until playing Duncanville in the state playoffs. Plano had another player who started on Texas Tech's national champs with Sheryl Swoopes and another who played at Rice, so they were pretty good. But they lost one of their two starting post players while winning what was then called the Dr. Pepper Tournament in Dallas.

Whatever, the Warmacks were winners just about everywhere they played. I talked to Bob a couple of times sitting in the stands at other games.

His senior year was the year before my freshman year, but I never talked to him much when he was briefly on OU's staff in the early 70s. But he was a great leader. The guys who I worked with at OU who were older than me, and knew him when he was a player, loved him, for being a great leader, and just who is was. A great all time Sooner player. I remember the stories about moving from the seventh team to three year starter.

Thanks for sharing, Plaino.

 

[JackieTreehornDoodle]

Just met Bob while I was sitting down with a few friends for some breakfast tacos in Rockwall, TX. He has been living here for awhile and still looks great with an awesome attitude about everything. Didn’t get to talk for very long but he is neighbors with my friend and he said Bob is still an extremely competitive person

 

[harolds]

Growing up in Ada, Oklahoma, the elemntary schools competed against each other in
football, basketball, baseball and track and field. Bobby went to Hayes Elementary School and
I went to Glenwood Elementary School as I remember, back then Bobby was a man among boys.
probably one of the best athletes to come out of Ada.

 

[CTOkie]

His games against Texas and Nebraska in 1966 and the game against Nebraska in 1967 are great memories for me including the win over Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

Bob played in the days when freshmen couldn't play on any varsity team. The freshmen teams, the Boomers, played four game schedules mostly on Monday nights. And because there were no women on any athletic scholarship, and each year, they had to have enough to have a team with just freshmen, they gave ou 45 football scholarships per year.

When Bob was a soph, the new head coach, Jim MacKenzie, and almost a whole new football coaching staff came in, mostly from Arkansas, and when they said every position was up for grabs, they absolutely meant it. Bob wasn't the best athlete competing to be quarterback, but he was the best leader, and he moved from 7th team qb, to the starter by the time the season began. He started for three years, which was all anyone could do.

We were 3-6-1 in 1965, the year before. But we started 4-0 before Granville Liggins was taken out during the 38-0 home loss to likely Nortre Dame's best ever team. They were loaded with future pro stars, including Jim Lynch and Alan Page, and tied MIchigan State's best team ever, with Bubba Smith and George Webster. The Domers ran out the clock seeking a tie.

But ND won the National title when they beat USC in the last game of the season in LA, 51-0. When Granville left the game, there was no score. He healed enough to play the next to last game against undefeated Nebraska, and we won, 10-9. I remember watching that game. At the end, Warmack and Eddie Hinton drove us down the field for the winning score. Whoever said Bob was still competitive late in his life, his friend was correct. That defined who he was.

 

[CTOkie]

I know that Cagle, Burgar, Decon and Warmack were on the 1966 roster but I’m not aware of any other QBs.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

Maybe I was confusing him with Steve Davis.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

Maybe I was confusing him with Steve Davis.

No you weren't plaino, Steve Davis was mid '70s. Back to back.

 

[CTOkie]

No you weren't plaino, Steve Davis was mid '70s. Back to back.

Pretty sure Plaino knows this.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

Pretty sure Plaino knows this.

Yeah, Steve was a freshman, my junior year. It was a class that he seven quarterback recruits, and he was down the list. But by the end of the spring, he'd climbed to 2nd on the depth chart by mid spring. Then one late March afternoon, there were rumors about why number one wasn't at practice, Kerry Jackson. Y'all know the story. The line coach that I was assigned to, took the hit for the staff and surrendered his job. Billy Michael. I worked for him for three years, and really liked him. He'd recruited Jackson.

The NCAA threw the book at us, not because of what the assistant principal did at Ball, but because they thought we cheated a lot and couldn't catch us. So this was their chance. They took it. As a result, the class that I consider the best in OU history, had to play with no TV for two seasons. Joe Washington and Lee Roy Selmon were, I believe, the third and first players picked in the draft. Dewey was first in round 2. WHen I saw Leroy in his first practice with pads, I told my dad I thought he'd win the Outland Trophy twice. He would have, too, if he'd have been TV for 4 years. As it was, he only won it once.

 

[CTOkie]

Yeah, Steve was a freshman, my junior year. It was a class that he seven quarterback recruits, and he was down the list. But by the end of the spring, he'd climbed to 2nd on the depth chart by mid spring. Then one late March afternoon, there were rumors about why number one wasn't at practice, Kerry Jackson. Y'all know the story. The line coach that I was assigned to, took the hit for the staff and surrendered his job. Billy Michael. I worked for him for three years, and really liked him. He'd recruited Jackson.

The NCAA threw the book at us, not because of what the assistant principal did at Ball, but because they thought we cheated a lot and couldn't catch us. So this was their chance. They took it. As a result, the class that I consider the best in OU history, had to play with no TV for two seasons. Joe Washington and Lee Roy Selmon were, I believe, the third and first players picked in the draft. Dewey was first in round 2. WHen I saw Leroy in his first practice with pads, I told my dad I thought he'd win the Outland Trophy twice. He would have, too, if he'd have been TV for 4 years. As it was, he only won it once.

That three year run from 1973-1975 had, in my opinion, the best 3 teams in OU history.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

It's hard to compare different eras. But I'd have to think that one of the teams during 47 straight would be in the top three, probably '56, though '55 had the great bowl win. In '56, we weren't allowed a bowl game on the no repeat rule.

In '73 Barry was so afraid of the athletes at USC, he kind of played not to lose. And it was out there, in a game time that went to midnight Norman time. We lost an edge in the second half. In '74, there was no bowl game. And there were a lot of seniors there that didn't return for '75. I think 74 was better. But no bowl win.

I don't think 2000 was the most talented team but what they accomplished was by far the best performance. FSU was down their best receiver. But the defensive performance that night was by far the best of any team. And their beating number 1 Nebraska in Norman, number 2 KSU up there and then again in the CCG, and being undefeated against that schedule was the best performance by any OU football team, ever. And slaughtering Texas was just the cream on the top of the NC cherry,

 

[CTOkie]

The 47 game winning streak was against teams that won only 38% of their games.
It was in a weak Big 8 Conference and against weak Texas teams and a 2-8 Notre Dame team in 1956.
But it’s still a winning streak that may never be surpassed.
As for USC, the 7-7 tie in 1973 feathered USC’s lone touchdown resulting from a fumbled punt return in OU territory.

 

[Plainosooner_rivals54053]

True about USC, but Barry was afraid to open up his offense, fearing USC would cause more turnovers. He played it close to the vest. The game wasn't on TV. It was the year after I graduated and I drove to Norman, just to have a clear radio broadcast of the game, so the only plays I ever saw were highlights. Darn few. The most electrifying was the punt return by Joe Silvershoes, who didn't gain much, but he went backwards close to 30 years and then got that back. It was an if only play. Damn near score on the play. My memory is fuzzy about some details, but I believe Fulcher missed not much more than a chip shot FG, in the days that was less reliable. I think we used DiRienzo for longer ones. Tony was OU's first "soccer kicker" for placements.

 

[CTOkie]

OU missed two field goals but the Sooners gained 330 yards and held USC to only 161 yards, so I’m not sure Switzer played conservatively.
But, maybe OU should have had the offense used that same year in the 52-13 win over Texas, so you may be right.
That game is available on YouTube.

 

[LAY THE WOODY]

Good stuff.