Fans line up to meet 5 QBS who led Sooners to national titles
Berry Tramel
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25
Published: June 8, 2009
From left, Steve Davis, Jimmy Harris and Claude Arnold were three of the former OU quarterbacks at Sunday’s book signing. Photo provided by Greg Jackson
NORMAN — The joke is old. Goes back 30 something years. But it never gets old to Jimmy Harris.
Harris loves to sit next to Steve Davis and hear him ask, what game do you remember most? "That’s a setup for Harris,” Davis said Sunday, just after he was asked, once again, about the game he can’t forget. 1975 Kansas. "I lost a game, and he’s never let me forget it.” Harris never did lose, not as a Sooner quarterback. But Sunday, despite the ribbing at the Sooner Schooner store, the chief theme was not defeat. It was ultimate victory. All five starting quarterbacks of OU’s seven national championship teams — Claude Arnold, Harris, Davis, Jamelle Holieway and Josh Heupel — signed memorabilia for hundreds of fans of all generations. Sadly, scheduling prevented all five from being together for the first time ever. Harris left after almost three hours of signing to fly home to Shreveport, La. Heupel appeared about 30 minutes later, after completion of his football camp on campus. But the day was special to the hundreds who stood in line for more than an hour each to meet their heroes. Heck, the day was special to the hundreds of thousands who care about the Sooners. This day was a monument to OU football history. Arnold, who served in World War II before coming to OU and quarterbacking the 1950 Sooners to the championship, and Harris, 25-0 as a starter and the 1955 and 1956 champion QB, represented the Bud Wilkinson era. Davis, 32-1-1 as a starter and the 1974 and 1975 champ quarterback, and Holieway, the freshman phenom of 1985, represented the Barry Switzer era. Plus Heupel, general of Bob Stoops’ 2000 renaissance team and now his quarterback coach. Fans came from as far away as Blackwell and Elk City. Crazy Calvin Jones heard Saturday night of the event and decided to drive down Sunday from Valentine, Neb. Fans brought helmets and posters and footballs. They brought pennants and banners and books, including The Die-Hard Fan’s Guide to Sooner Football by Jim Fletcher, who put together the signing. Davis signed the 1975 Sports Illustrated football preview magazine, whose cover he adorned. Arnold signed a 1950 OU game program. Davis signed a photo of he and Switzer on the sidelines, with the moppy-haired Davis looking remarkably like Sam Bradford, a quarterback who with a little luck could this year join this exclusive club. Harris said he agreed to the session to spend time with Arnold. Davis generally avoids autograph events but agreed to this signing to be with Harris, with whom he is forever linked by remarkably similar and successful resumes, and Arnold, who at 84 is quickly becoming the elder statesman of Oklahoma football. "I’ve always thought so much of both of them,” Davis said. "It’s a small fraternity. "I don’t know why we don’t honor national champion linebackers and national kickers.” But we don’t. Quarterbacks become the faces of teams, even though among the five champion QBs, only Heupel so much as made All-American. "One thing I’ve realized is how rare these national championships are,” Davis said. "You realize how many great quarterbacks and how many great teams Oklahoma has had, but you’re breathing rare air when you win the national championship.” Holieway in particular seemed impressed at the company he kept Sunday. He studied a picture of Harris, playing as a sophomore without a face mask, and asked how many times Harris or teammates suffered a broken nose. "They’re better than I’ll ever be,” Holieway declared. When Harris needled Davis about that lone defeat, Holieway joined in. "I’ve always put you at the top,” Holieway told Davis. "I guess I should review my Oklahoma history a little bit.” Everyone crammed into the little Sooner Schooner shop Sunday got to review a little OU football history, on one very special day. Berry Tramel: 405-760-8080; Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. Editor's note: The column had the incorrect date for when Claude Arnold was in the championship game. The game was in 1950, not 1960.
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team that put Oklahoma University and the State on the National map. Great QB's, dedicated
to a goal of bettering the University of Oklahoma's athletic programs, football in general, to
higher levels. Hats off to these men, especially to Mr. Arnold, when Notre Dame, Army, and
Big 10 were the corner stones of college football, the coaching of Bud and the Quarterbacking of Mr. Arnold sent a signal to the college football world that OU was here to play! OU was undefeated four years in a row, but only won two National Titles? 47 straight
is a good book to be read, read it. There are three National records the University of Oklahoma Team has set that will never be touched, besides 47 straight.
I was a freshman at OU that fall, and although I remember well the loss, I never held it against Steve Davis.