Skelly Field history

[TUBballJunkie]

TW tweeted this great piece by Larry Lewis today...looks like it's actually from 2015.

I don't recall seeing then and enjoyed the lesson!

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsext...cle_ceff12ad-6ba0-5f8e-88de-90dd631a2d4a.html

 

[TU Sepp]

I thought Cowboy Bill Watts with Mid-South Championship Wrestling put on a few shows at Skelly!

 

[Larry Lewis]

That is interesting to hear that Cowboy Bill Watts appeared at Skelly. I didn't know that.

I remember his son quarterbacking at Skelly for Louisville during the 1991 season. If I remember correctly, he was a former Metro Christian player. He was getting his chance to start at Louisville that week against Schnellenberger's boys. It wasn't pretty for him. TU was having a great season, and Louisville wasn't

TU won the game 40-0 in front of 31,000 plus fans, which was one of five crowds that year at Skelly that had over 30,000 attend. It was nice to have seven home games in 1991.

 

[Bill Lowery]

That is interesting to hear that Cowboy Bill Watts appeared at Skelly. I didn't know that.

I remember his son quarterbacking at Skelly for Louisville during the 1991 season. If I remember correctly, he was a former Metro Christian player. He was getting his chance to start at Louisville that week against Schnellenberger's boys. It wasn't pretty for him. TU was having a great season, and Louisville wasn't

TU won the game 40-0 in front of 31,000 plus fans, which was one of five crowds that year at Skelly that had over 30,000 attend. It was nice to have seven home games in 1991.

We had a number of outstanding players on an outstanding team.

 

[astonmartin708]

God, I wish we could grab 30,000 per game again.

Does anyone know what TU's enrollment back in 91 was?

 

[TU_BLA]

God, I wish we could grab 30,000 per game again.

Does anyone know what TU's enrollment back in 91 was?

About the same as it is now, maybe just a smidge lower, but not a significant enough difference to impact things like that. '91 team also had home games against A&M and Miami (The U, not OH). I'm sure by the time the Louisville game rolled around people were pretty hyped by that team's previous wins.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

God, I wish we could grab 30,000 per game again.

Does anyone know what TU's enrollment back in 91 was?

Seems like it was 32 or 3300, but don't quote me on that.

 

[nevadanatural]

That was in the era of one or two games per week on TV if you didn't go to the game you didn't see the game.

 

[Larry Lewis]

A lot of games weren't on tv, that's for sure. Although I know the A&M, Miami, and OSU games were on. On the rest, if you wanted to see highlights, you really needed to watch the coach's show.

I wish the Southern Miss game had been on tv. I would have watched the last quarter of that a few times on tape. I wore out my A&M game on tape almost.

 

[TU1NNJ]

In 1991 living in NC I was able to watch the OSU, T A&M and UM games on TV. I remember calling KRMG and asking for the score during the USM and UL games. The guy that answered the phone felt sorry for me and let me listen to the games over the phone! Had a great time watching us beat SDSU in Anaheim.

 

[Larry Lewis]

The Freedom Bowl that year was a blast. I made the trip. Great game and a cap to the season. I remember standing outside, I think it was to wait for a bus to the game. Drew Pearson, who was the radio commentator on TU games that year, was there, and I remember hearing him saying that it doesn't get better for him when the Cowboys are playing in the playoffs and TU in a bowl game on the same week.

As a side trip, I got to tag along with my brother and World sports writer Clay Henry to Pauley Pavilion to see ORU lose by 50+ points to ORU. Clay was driving. The Titans weren't good, and the game obviously wasn't, but it was cool sitting on press row at Pauley after growing up and seeing the great UCLA teams on t.v.

 

[mcane]

I was at the Freedom Bowl. And then I stayed with friends in LA, went to the Rose Parade (first time) and the Rose Bowl where Washington beat Michigan to claim a share of the then mythical national title. It was a great weekend.

I recommend the Rose experience for anyone who enjoys parades - the flower floats are larger than you expect, the horses in the Reaganesque riding groups do their business during pauses (it's hilarious, everyone applauds, and there are clean-up personnel) -a mix of beautiful and disgusting smells. Then there is a 2-3 hour break to brunch, sober up, and then walk down the valley through a very expensive and guarded neighborhood to the Rose Bowl.