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Eddie Sutton

ocugolf

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Homercles

Homercles 10206

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So... fall of 1998 and I’m a freshman starting out at Oklahoma State.  I chose to go there over Texas and OU, chiefly because Texas never answered the phone and OU only talked shit about OSU during my visit...so I assumed OSU must be good as the Sooners hated them.  I was an Air Force brat who knew nothing of sports, having had to buy a book on football during my senior year in high school because I was in the Burkburnett marching band and knew nothing of the sport after living in Turkey the past 3 years.  
 

I bought a sports package my freshman year as I just assumed that’s what you did.  In those days you had an A/B setup where the OU game was the A package, and the rest of the good games were on the B package.  I knew nothing of bedlam so I selected the B set, which meant I was there for the season opener.  Against TCU.  Coached by Billy Tubbs, the ex-Sooner.  
 

I walked into that place looking up at the rafters and thinking I’d seen better during my HS’s short run in the state basketball tourney.  Taking my seat in the third row of the student section, behind a goal post, thinking more about my first few months in college than I did basketball. Go team!  I hope we win!

Billy Tubbs comes out of the visitors locker room and I hear the loudest booing in my life.  I ask the dude next to me why we are so pissed and he says ‘ex OU coach’.  Oh shit I guess we do hate ou.  Wait is this serious around here?
 

Sutton comes out and my feat start buzzing.  I suddenly realize people are cheering so loudly the bleacher floor is vibrating.  I watched him half the game, scowling at everyone with that patented pacing I remember so well during our glory years...suit unbuttoned, hunched over, lower jaw sticking out, permanent frown, eyes lazing holes into the court that would later bear his name.  Do I need to take this seriously?

I remember it being a close game.  I remember thinking ‘This Desmond Mason guy is good at this here Basketball game’.  I remember leaving with my ears ringing and I remember thinking ‘either all of college basketball is this intense or I’ve stumbled onto something great, and need to read up on it so I can be a part of this’.  
 

The thing I remember most is Sutton pacing that court, not seeming to say sentences just barking words at players and assistants.  That was my first and favorite Gallagher Iba Arena memory, but it wasn’t about the court so much as that mythical dude in the gray suit barking orders.  My second favorite memory was walking that very floor four years later to earn my diploma, coming full circle from a wide eyed freshman to a degree-earning senior...all in the same building.  
 

Eddie was a huge part of why I love osu so much.  And despite his DUI, problems at Kentucky and overall demons..he personally was a part of my birth as a lifelong OSU fan and am glad to see him get recognition for being a tough, defensive, stern coach that impacted people beyond that maple court in Stillwater.  

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Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13617

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Enjoyed reading that, Homercles. Thanks for sharing.

Desmond Mason was indeed very, very good at the basketball. Ferocious dunker.

Back when I was a fledgling sports reporter, I always enjoyed my visits to Stillwater, from the cheese fries and drafts at Eskimo Joe's to the gently rolling countryside (which always struck me as surprisingly green). Was fortunate to be able to cover a couple of small school state championship games at the heretofore Lewis Field. I walked around in awe with memories of Barry and Thurman breaking ankles just a few years prior.

Anyway, drifting well OT. Old-school Texas fans will probably always hate Sutton for his pig years, but damn, y'all really had some talent come through back in the day.

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Horn80

Horn80 6129

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In 1976, Eddie Sutton made a brief appearance at basketball game to recruit a player from my HS.  The player ended up signing with Arky so it must have worked.  Eddie sat down a couple of rows in front of me in the stands at a poorly attended game.   He had maybe one or two Arky players with him with large Afros and remember got a good chuckle because Eddie made his hair into Afro look too.

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mulletpelini

mulletpelini 5211

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21 hours ago, Homercles said:

I walked into that place looking up at the rafters and thinking I’d seen better during my HS’s short run in the state basketball tourney.  Taking my seat in the third row of the student section, behind a goal post, thinking more about my first few months in college than I did basketball. Go team!  I hope we win!

I and most of the people here probably wish I could write as well as you.  I didn't understand the bolded part though, my mind is thinking football instead of basketball so maybe I'm not thinking correctly.

Edited by mulletpelini
cool story though bro
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Homercles

Homercles 10206

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3 hours ago, mulletpelini said:

I and most of the people here probably wish I could write as well as you.  I didn't understand the bolded part though, my mind is thinking football instead of basketball so maybe I'm not thinking correctly.

Thanks dude, I read ton of stuff with colorful vocabulary like James Herriot as a kid so I enjoy writing.  
 

Yeah I meant the south hoop/goal, was sitting behind it on the bleachers that were the student section.  
 

That place was electric, and I tried to convey what it was like to wander in there with no clue about any of it...it really was a moment I’ll never forget.  Sad that the expansion was our LHN...when that happened it all fell from the heights.  

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Homercles

Homercles 10206

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6 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

@Homercles if you were at burkburnett in 1997, sorry for what my grapevine mustangs did to you in football. We had a real good team that season.  I did not travel up there for that game. 

Dude we were horrible. I think we won 3 games both years I was there.  Absolutely loved the band leader Jerry Floyd, but everything else about Burk was crap...I’m never going back to that shit town.  

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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On 4/3/2020 at 10:41 PM, Braff Zacklin said:

Old-school Texas fans will probably always hate Sutton for his pig years

can't hold a candle to Nolan Richardson in terms of hate generated, and that is saying something. It's not like it was birthday cake ice cream competing against Sutton. Richardson was just a sick human being. 

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'stache

'stache 21818

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I was there 2000-2004, so football started improving, but basketball was still king, always sold out, and loud as hell. We all loved Eddie. My favorite story about his isn't my own, but my friend tells it well and it is absolutely true. He was my friend and roommate at the time (eventually my best man) and we were in the basketball band. He was always yelling at the refs and just rabid as hell. At least once the refs told the band director to calm him down or the team would get a technical foul, probably against Kansas since the referring was always atrociously biased towards them when they were in town.

In our junior year he was in a horrific car accident. His treatment included jaw surgery and replacement teeth and he was hospitalized for several weeks. Using the band connection, someone in the administration got  Eddie to give him a call in the hospital and sent him a signed photograph. My friend tells the story so well about his phone call. He said he was on some painkillers and lucid but a bit loopy and wasn't really thinking about context of what he was saying. At some point he asked Coach why Fred (Jonzen) was such a pussy in the paint, using those words exactly. It's something we used to complain about all the time. My friend says he realized pretty quick what he had just said to Coach and freaked out. He said Eddie laughed and responded "Yeah I keep tellin' ol' Fred he needs to be tougher, I'll let him know you agree." That is exactly what I would expect from Eddie.

Anyway, I get his demons with alcohol being problematic, but the Kentucky thing is complete bullshit for why it took so long. There is a lot of proven blatant cheaters in the HOF. I just hate that he is in such poor health now that he may not even be able to comprehend what's happening. It should have happened much earlier when he could appreciate it. I just hope he can make it to the ceremony, but it seems unlikely that they'll even have one at this point, or if they do, he may not be able to travel that far in his condition and with his health problems, and with the virus likely still a problem. I saw him about a year ago at a local event, and I can't believe he's still alive today. I actually got choked up and teary eyed seeing him like that, he doesn't have much longer. 

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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1 hour ago, 'stache said:

In our junior year he was in a horrific car accident. His treatment included jaw surgery and replacement teeth and he was hospitalized for several weeks. Using the band connection, someone in the administration got  Eddie to give him a call in the hospital and sent him a signed photograph

he was just trying to score some Percocet off your buddy

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realgreggym

realgreggym 835

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3 hours ago, 'stache said:

I was there 2000-2004, so football started improving, but basketball was still king, always sold out, and loud as hell. We all loved Eddie. My favorite story about his isn't my own, but my frien d tells it well and it is absolutely true. He was my friend and roommate at the time (eventually my best man) and we were in the basketball band. He was always yelling at the refs and just rabid as hell. At least once the refs told the band director to calm him down or the team would get a technical foul, probably against Kansas since the referring was always atrociously biased towards them when they were in town.

In our junior year he was in a horrific car accident. His treatment included jaw surgery and replacement teeth and he was hospitalized for several weeks. Using the band connection, someone in the administration got  Eddie to give him a call in the hospital and sent him a signed photograph. My friend tells the story so well about his phone call. He said he was on some painkillers and lucid but a bit loopy and wasn't really thinking about context of what he was saying. At some point he asked Coach why Fred (Jonzen) was such a pussy in the paint, using those words exactly. It's something we used to complain about all the time. My friend says he realized pretty quick what he had just said to Coach and freaked out. He said Eddie laughed and responded "Yeah I keep tellin' ol' Fred he needs to be tougher, I'll let him know you agree." That is exactly what I would expect from Eddie.

Anyway, I get his demons with alcohol being problematic, but the Kentucky thing is complete bullshit for why it took so long. There is a lot of proven blatant cheaters in the HOF. I just hate that he is in such poor health now that he may not even be able to comprehend what's happening. It should have happened much earlier when he could appreciate it. I just hope he can make it to the ceremony, but it seems unlikely that they'll even have one at this point, or if they do, he may not be able to travel that far in his condition and with his health problems, and with the virus likely still a problem. I saw him about a year ago at a local event, and I can't believe he's still alive today. I actually got choked up and teary eyed seeing him like that, he doesn't have much longer. 

Sorry, but he was a piece of crap as a coach with some of the crap he pulled. This is called karma. I don't wish him ill but screw the guy.

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Sandman

Sandman 3403

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On 4/4/2020 at 11:06 AM, HtownHorn said:

Wasn't he as much an alcoholic as his son Sean was?

Eddie's problem was the sauce, Sean's was the Oxy.

CSB/ My buddy was working at the post office in the sorting facility when the FBI and post office cops came in. They intercepted a package of pills that was heading to Sean, he was done after that. Not sure why he thought mail-order pills was a good idea but I guess addiction does that to a person.

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Godzillatron

Godzillatron 292

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My last year at State was Eddie’s first year back. After suffering through the mediocrity of Leonard Hamilton’s teams it was night and day. Especially for a sports fan base starved for wins ever since Hart Lee Dykes rolled over on the football team and nearly made OSU the second death penalty case. He took us to the Sweet Sixteen that first year - amazing run. Started the best run in OSU history since Henry Iba was on the sidelines.

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realgreggym

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3 hours ago, Godzillatron said:

My last year at State was Eddie’s first year back. After suffering through the mediocrity of Leonard Hamilton’s teams it was night and day. Especially for a sports fan base starved for wins ever since Hart Lee Dykes rolled over on the football team and nearly made OSU the second death penalty case. He took us to the Sweet Sixteen that first year - amazing run. Started the best run in OSU history since Henry Iba was on the sidelines.

I could be mistaken but wasn't Iba Eddie's coach in the past or am I thinking of another coach.

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4275

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On 4/4/2020 at 11:06 AM, HtownHorn said:

Wasn't he as much an alcoholic as his son Sean was?

Oh yeah. That's all my mom used to say about him every time she saw him on TV. She knew him from my dad's time at Texas, and all the way through his time at OSU she'd say, "Man he is an alcoholic" every time she saw him on television.

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