Oklahoma basketball pays tribute to late Toby Keith with acoustic guitar in court side seat

Tributes have been coming through fast and thick from those around Oklahoma athletics following the news that country music legend and Sooners super fan Toby Keith died of stomach cancer on Monday. The Sooners struck another touching note with a tribute to the late Keith ahead of a men’s basketball game vs. BYU on Tuesday.

At a court side seat that Keith would often occupy instead sat an acoustic guitar. An “OU” cap in crimson sat on the table in front of the guitar.

Though Keith himself might be gone, evidently the Sooners expect to capture that presence one more time at the Lloyd Noble Center.

💔 pic.twitter.com/dUK9HSIBk0

— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) February 7, 2024

Plenty of other tributes for Keith have poured in from various Sooners

An Oklahoma native, Keith was one of the proudest representatives of the state.

“The OU Athletics family is incredibly saddened by the passing of our dear friend Toby Keith,” the Sooner athletic department wrote in a statement. “It’s a profoundly sad reality to exist in a world where Toby doesn’t. He brought life and joy to every room he entered, and our hearts are dimmer today without him. An American icon and a stalwart Sooner. A superstar talent and a fierce friend of our program. We thank him for the unwavering support he always gave, his generosity as a human being and the countless smiles and memories he created here in Oklahoma and around the world.”

According to a statement posted on Keith’s website, he died peacefully on Monday night surrounded by family. He was 62.

Keith released 19 studio albums, two Christmas albums, and five compilation albums, totaling worldwide sales of over 40 million albums. He charted 61 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including 20 No. 1 hits.

When Keith wasn’t entertaining the masses, he loved to enjoy Oklahoma Sooners sports. Keith grew up in Oklahoma and played defensive end at Moore High School. He also later played with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers.

But he began to make it big in the early 1990s, when he dropped the album ‘Toby Keith and Boomtown,’ which featured the hit single ‘Should’ve Been a Cowboy.’ Keith would go on to release a handful of other albums, including the hit ‘How Do You Like Me Now?!’ in 1999.

Keith, who was a big Sooners fan, frequented games and other Oklahoma sporting events over the years. He was even a guest picker once on ESPN’s College GameDay prior to the 2018 Red River Rivalry game.