From the archives: Prep fields of glory
From the archives: Prep fields of glory

Published: July 6, 2007

The stadium crunch which during the 1950s and '60s had Oklahoma City football teams consulting schedules weekly to see if they played on Thursday, Friday or Saturday is largely a thing of the past.

One more stadium, Northeast's, which opened in 1964 and three less teams have eased the congestion so much that the venerable arenas of Taft and Capitol Hill (now C.B. Speegle Stadium) have only seven double-duty weekends this season between them. Taft will be used on only two Thursdays, Speegle on five. Neither has a Saturday booking.

Russell Fisher, who supervised the Taft Stadium press box for a quarter of a century, recalls the busier days.

"We had 33 football games at Taft one year," he said. "We had over 30 several times."

Back then, six schools called Taft their home — Central, Classen, Harding, John Marshall, Northeast and Northwest. The former three are no longer high schools, while Northeast performs in the city-owned stadium just east of the school. That leaves only John Marshall and Northwest as Taft tenants.

Speegle Stadium is home to Capitol Hill, Southeast and U.S. Grant, with 15 games scheduled there this fall. Southeast is ticketed to close after this term to reduce Speegle's teams to a pair also.

Taft Stadium opened its gates for the first time in grand style by hosting "the game" (as far as city fans were concerned) the Central Cardinals vs. the Classen Comets. Prior to that, both schools played their home games at OCU's Goldbug Field.

The date for Taft's opening was Oct. 19, 1934, and 15,000 fans from a city population of 185,000 were on hand to see Central nip Classen, 8-7, by virtue of a safety on the opening series of the game.

The Oklahoman's report noted: "15,000 shrieking followers of the Cards and Comets filled every seat and corner of the east and west concrete stands, the temporary bleachers and took up most of the standing room . . . and before many of them were seated Classen back Ben White fumbled the passback behind his own goal line and was downed by a swarm of red shirts."

Central's Hugh McCullough scored the first touchdown ever at Taft on a third-period, 20-yard run. Buddy Manlove got the Classen TD in the fourth period.

Of the games played at Taft, three stand out vividly in the recollections of longtime viewer Fisher.

Not necessarily in preference order, he lists the 1968 Tulsa Washington-Midwest City state championship match, the 1959 Northwest-Norman state title showdown and a rather meaningless 1960 meeting between Harding and Central.

Midwest City led Washington 14-3 entering the final nine minutes only to see the Hornets whip across 27 points and win 30-14.

Quarterback Bo Tiger did much of the damage with two touchdown passes to John Winesberry and a go-ahead scoring run.

Northwest edged Norman 16-14 in a heralded quarterback duel between Mike Miller and Jay Wilkinson on the single-most controversial play in Oklahoma playoff history. Northwest's Walt Lawson, alerted by Miller, picked up a misfired lateral and ran 66 yards to the decisive touchdown while most players were strolling back to the line of scrimmage, thinking the play was over.

Central never defeated Harding in 12 football meetings, but the Cards would have won the 1960 game if not for a weird happening.

Trailing 8-6 with three minutes left, Arthur Guess took a pass from Ed Dickson and had clear sailing 50 yards to an apparent touchdown. "But Guess spiked the ball before he crossed the goal," Fisher said. It rolled through the end zone and was ruled a touchback by the officials.

Any list of Taft Stadium classics would also have to contain these games:

• 1944: Classen 6, Central 6: An all-time Taft record crowd of 18,376 jammed the stadium for a battle everyone "knew" would produce the first official state playoff champion. Classen had a 2-1 penetration edge in the Oct. 20 game to eventually win the right to represent the district in the playoffs and, two months later, defeated Tulsa Central 26-6 in the state title game.

• 1960: Midwest City 7, Putnam City 7: Moved from Putnam City Stadium in order to handle the crowd of 14,000, it also was a game which was expected to send the winner on to a state title. And so it did, the Bombers rallying in the fourth quarter for a tie and a 2-1 penetration edge and going on to defeat Lawton 19-0 in the state finals.

• 1977: Putnam City 21, Putnam West 14 (overtime): Underdog West tied the undefeated Pirates with 30 seconds left in regulation on a 12-yard pass and a 2-point conversion pass, both from Scott Tinsley to Chris McLaughlin. The Pirates' quarterback star, Kelly Phelps, was KO'd by injury 20 seconds later. But in overtime, reserve PC quarterback Fred Donley hit pint-sized receiver Tracey Hinkle with an 8-yard TD pass on third down and West's first overtime play was its last with Terry Johnson intercepting a Tinsley pass.

In all, Taft Stadium has played host to 17 state championship football games, 25 All-State games, six bowl games and two OU-OSU clashes. It also was "home" to several professional organizations — the Slickers and Stampede soccer teams, the Plainsmen and Wranglers football teams and the Dolls women's football team. However, by far the most successful professional sport headquartering at Taft Stadium was auto racing midgets and then stocks which operated nearly every summer from 1946 through 1964.

The bowl games?

Papoose Bowl: 1946 Cameron 26, Coffeyville 13; 1947 Northeastern A&M 32, Wentworth Military 14.

All Sports Bowl: 1961 Panhandle 28, Langston 14;. 1962 U. of Omaha 34, East Central 21; 1963 Northeastern State 59, Slippry Rock 12; 1964 Sul Ross 21, East Central 13.

The Sooners and Cowboys played a number of games at Taft during the war years of 1942, 1943 and 1944.

In '43, OU won the interstate collision 22-13 with Bob Brumley accounting for 16 of the points on two touchdowns, a field goal and a conversion. But two weeks later, Tulsa and Clyde LeForce bombed the Sooners at Taft, 20-6.

In '44, OSU (then A&M) wrapped up its first bowl berth ever by slugging OU 28-6 on Nov. 25. Actually, the Cotton Bowl bid against TCU had been accepted just before kickoff time, but few knew.

Touchdowns by Bob Fenimore, Cecil Hankins, Jim Spavital and pass-interceptor John Gattis kept the day a happy one.

The 1944 Sooners returned to Taft one week later and nailed down the Big Six championship with a 31-12 victory over Nebraska.

The first auto race at Taft was Monday night, July 29, 1946, when the father-son team of O.D. and Ray Lavely brought their promotional talents up from Texas. Cotton Musick of Wichita led all the way to win the opening 20-lap feature on the clay, quarter-mile track. The clay had been laid on top of an existing cinder running track.

Ollie Goodridge was starter for the opening race card, while Leo Higbie and Gordon Dupree served as head timer and scorer.

Such nationally prominent drivers as Lloyd Ruby, Jimmie Reece and Bud Camden made numerous appearances at Taft. In later years, the track featured such drivers as Bob Eichor, its only three-time season champion, Carl Ferguson, C.J. Ruckman and LeRoy DeShields.

"For its day, it was the best small track in the country," says Bud Carson, who directs present-day racing at the state fairgrounds.

Capitol Hill Stadium pre-dates Taft Stadium by two seasons. Its inaugural was staged Sept. 16, 1932, with the Capitol Hill Redskins posting a 7-0 victory over the Central State Frosh. Red Bradshaw intercepted a second-quarter pass on the CS 5, and Crusty Barton plunged for the touchdown and kicked the extra point.

The first All-State football game was played at Capitol Hill Stadium. That 1938 event showcased Muskogee's Jack Jacobs, who scored one touchdown, passed for the other two and averaged 60 yards with three punts (50, 60 and 70) as the North breezed 20-0 before 7,000 fans.

The single most memorable game in the stadium's history was the Nov. 3, 1955, collison between the Redskins and the Douglass Trojans, which broke the color barrier in Oklahoma high school football. It also saw the shattering of the remarkable 46-game winning streak of the Trojans when Bobby Jobe scored from a foot out with 27 seconds left to snap a 6-6 tie.

Dick Soergel ran and passed for 167 of Capitol Hill's 206 yards in the 13-6 victory, and Douglass fullback Prentice Gautt rushed for 147 yards in 20 carries.

Capitol Hill Stadium has hosted 11 state championship games with Jenks' 16-15 triumph over Ada in 1979 and Thomas' 21-19 decision over Morris in 1956 providing the top thrills.

Douglass Stadium made its football debut Oct. 19, 1956. Before that, it had served as the grandstand for the State Fair of Oklahoma before the fair moved west in a territorial swap with the Oklahoma City school system. In fact, that stadium replaced Taft as host to the Lavelys' midget car programs in the summers of 1948 and 1949.

The Douglass Trojans buried Central, 57-0, in the stadium's inaugural football game with Joe Louis Bruner scoring three times during a 45-0 first half. "The play" came after intermission when Fonzell Wilson retreated from his 25 to 5 yards deep in his end zone and then sped 105 yards to a touchdown.

Probably the single most important game ever played in the Douglass Stadium came 13 days later that opening year. The Trojans outgained Capitol Hill, 263 yards to 141, in a rematch of the 1955 classic, yet barely survived 6-0 thanks to a 70-yard run by Bruner to the Hill three. Capitol Hill was on the Trojan 8 when time expired, and with the victory, Douglass won a berth in the state playoffs. In the title game, Douglass downed El Reno 14-7 at Taft Stadium to cap its first season as a member of the state association with a state championship.

The initial game at Northeast Stadium was played Sept. 11, 1964. It was not a night Northeast fondly remembers, as defending state champion John Marshall held the Norse to three first downs and 32 net yards while storming to a 32-0 victory before a sellout crowd. Pat Kernan rolled up 136 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears.

Northeast Stadium's top productions were state track meets hosted in 1966, '67, '68 and '69. Track Meet of Champions also were held there several times with the oldest mark on the state books being the 65-1 shot put by Mike Ryles of Ada at Northeast in 1965.