Oklahoma troopers play safety for coaches
BY MICHAEL KIMBALL
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Published: October 26, 2009
There was more than one deflected Hail Mary pass that missed its intended target and was incomplete in the 2006 Bedlam football game finish.
First there was
Oklahoma defender
Lendy Holmes tipping an
Oklahoma State University pass out of the end zone on the final play of a Sooner win that day. Then as the teams’ coaches pressed to midfield for the postgame handshake, state trooper
Brian Orr batted away an empty soda bottle flung in the direction of OU coach
Bob Stoops.
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"I’m there in an official capacity, but I’m still human and I’m still an OSU fan. I just have to remain very stoic."
John Vincent
Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper
OU, OSU contract with troopers for security
Though the Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers who protect the state’s college football coaches are armed and in uniform, they work as private security guards, officials said.
Full time commissioned law enforcement officers in the U.S. can wear their uniforms and carry a firearm in other states, allowing the troopers to follow the coaches to games around the country. The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University are the only colleges in the state that have set contracts with the patrol to provide security for their coaches, patrol spokesman Lt. George Brown said.
OU and OSU spokesmen said the schools’ respective athletics departments pay for the services, which include the troopers assigned to the coaches and other troopers who provide traffic control and other security on game days. University police officers also accompany the team on trips.
The troopers travel with the team on chartered buses and flights and stay in the team hotel.
MICHAEL KIMBALL, STAFF WRITER
"I saw it out of the corner of my eye, just reached up and got it,” Orr said last week. "It wouldn’t have hurt Bob if it hit him, but it’s one of the things you look for.”
Orr, 37, and fellow
Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper
John Vincent, 38, are assigned to protect the head football coaches at OU and OSU, respectively, on game days. The sight of a stern, stout and serious state police officer accompanying a high-profile football coach is as common in Oklahoma as it is in most other football-crazed states.
Referred to as "littermates” because they graduated from the same patrol academy class, the men could also audition for a law enforcement promotional photo.
Orr cuts an intimidating figure even when standing near 300-pound linemen, and although Vincent is not as big, his square jaw and wiry-strong frame suggest he’s not to be trifled with.
Vincent was first assigned to OSU’s football coach in 2004, a year before
Mike Gundy took the helm. The trooper played high school football in Wilburton for
Mack Butler, now OSU’s director of football operations, and approached him about the job when he joined the patrol after several years as an OSU police officer.
Orr, who has been assigned to Stoops since 2006, is also a former football player.
He blocked an extra-point attempt on his last play of the last game of his senior year at the
University of Central Oklahoma in 1994, preserving a tie.
The familiar camaraderie of the Sooner locker room is part of what Orr said he likes most about his job.
A drunken
Texas Tech University fan who lunged at Stoops on the field following a game in
Lubbock,
Texas, two years ago is the only incident of note during the tenures of Orr and Vincent, the troopers said.
Patrol
Maj. Russ Maples, who was assigned to OU’s coach from 1996-2000 and still helps with game-related security, said troopers help keep unwanted people away during all phases of game days and road trips, such as chasing away professional football agents and scouts on a trip to
California in 1997.
Vincent, a lifelong OSU fan, said he’s plenty busy during the game keeping an eye out for the team’s safety, but that doesn’t mean he’s not aware of the game’s score.
"I’m there in an official capacity, but I’m still human and I’m still an OSU fan,” Vincent said. "I just have to remain very stoic.”
And though the troopers get to watch games from the sidelines, it’s not the greatest view.
"I’ve missed touchdowns and some awesome runs and some amazing catches,” Vincent said. "There’s 7-foot tall men with shoulder pads standing in front of me.”
Orr also said he won’t deny a rooting interest when OU takes the field. But like Vincent, he grew up a Cowboy fan.
He even turned down the job to protect Stoops at first because he was uneasy about working for an archrival. He said he now views the coaches, staff and players as his extended family.
So who does he root for on Bedlam Saturdays?
"I’ll have to plead the fifth on that one,” Orr said.
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Yes, he did endanger others and he could have hurt someone. However, when he stops his motorcycle, gets off the bike lays down in front of the bike face down on the road and waits for cops to arrive he is submitting to law enforcement. The tactics that were used are in place to have a suspect that is not submitting to law enforcement to gain control.
I guess I do have some nerve expecting someone to be treated humanely even if they are a criminal. In a sense maybe the next time you are speeding someone should chase you down and knee you in the neck and punch you in the back. By your speeding you endangered innocent people and could have killed someone. So go ahead and roll down your window the next time you get stopped but just expect a fist to come flying through because it is standard procedure.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2769128889373563168#