OKC born, OKC bred
QBs from metro have been a rarity for OU
QBs from metro have been a rarity for OU

By Scott Wright

Published: August 26, 2007

NORMAN — It would be nearly impossible to walk into any Oklahoma City elementary school and not find dozens of little boys whose dream is to be the starting quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Yet you can count on one hand the number of OKC boys who have actually made it — and you'd still have a thumb and finger to spare.

Now, freshman Sam Bradford, out of Putnam City North, will become the fourth player from the state's largest city to start at quarterback for OU.

It seems that being from Oklahoma City would add to the attention and pressure that come standard with such a high-profile job.

Attention, yes. Pressure? Only if you let it, says Kelly Phelps, a former Putnam City star and the only Oklahoma City player since 1959 to quarterback the Sooners.

"Any extra pressure was more myself adding it,” said Phelps, who started at OU in 1981-82. "It was different for me. I wasn't Thomas Lott. And in 1982, we had Marcus Dupree, our freshman phenom running back, who drew a lot of attention.”

When you're the quarterback at OU, maintaining the pressure becomes part of the job.

"Darrell Shepard had just as much pressure as I did,” said Phelps, who split time with Shepard in 1981. "The fact that more people knew who I was when I got there — that's probably true, but being the quarterback at OU, all the fans feel like they know you.”

Phelps held the job longer than any OKC quarterback — Bob Cornell and Dave Wallace are the others — and he is responsible for 10 of the 16 wins they produced.

Stretching the parameters to the suburbs and towns adjacent to Oklahoma City, the list of starting Sooner quarterbacks increases by only five: Norman natives Carl Dodd, Dean Blevins and Patrick Fletcher; Midwest City's Cale Gundy; and Tuttle's Jason White.

Gundy, now OU's running backs coach, says the pressure is minimized by previous experience and success in a competitive environment.

"I had the opportunity to play on a lot of teams, whether it be football or baseball, that had a lot of success,” said Gundy, who quarterbacked the Sooners from 1990-93. "I never felt the outside pressure.

"It was a game to me. I just wanted to go out and play. It didn't matter where we were or who knew me or any of that.”

That theory could help Bradford, who got the Panthers to the Class 6A semifinals as a junior and was second-team All-State as a senior.

He also stood out on the basketball court, where he was an All-State selection in his final two years of high school.

Phelps has kept an eye on the Sooner QB battle this month, more for personal reasons than anything. He has been longtime friends with Bradford's uncle, Kyle, and briefly played at Putnam City and OU with his father, Kent, who now lives in the same neighborhood as Phelps.

"I'm sure Sam grew up wanting to be the quarterback at Oklahoma,” Phelps said. "I don't think there's more pressure on him than anybody else.

"But for people around here, it's always better to watch Joe Carter hit a home run to win the World Series than a guy from somewhere else.”

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