Tributes: Bob Martin was the voice of the 89ers and Chickasha High School
A salute to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience.
*Bob Martin worked as a broadcaster. He was the radio play-by-play man for the Oklahoma City 89ers baseball team in 1971, when games were broadcast on WKY-AM 930. Martin then spent several years as the public address announcer for Chickasha High School football and basketball games. He was a Chickasha resident at the time of death at age 74.
BACK IN THE DAY
The Northwest Classen High football team is 3-1, the Oklahoma City school's best start to a season since September 1971. Let's take a look at what the sports scene offered 41 Septembers ago:
*Retired New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle told The Dallas Morning News he would be interested, if asked, in managing the first-year Texas Rangers. The team would relocate to Arlington from Washington, beginning with the 1972 season. Mantle did not get the job.
*Rookie quarterback Archie Manning ran for a game-winning touchdown on the last play of the game as the New Orleans Saints trimmed the Los Angeles Rams 24-20 at Tulane Stadium. Peyton Manning (1976) and Eli Manning (1981) were not born yet.
*WKY-AM 930 broadcast OU football games. The Sooners played at Pittsburgh this week 41 years ago. Pregame coverage started with the Chuck Fairbanks Show. OU beat the Panthers, 55-29.
*Craig Morton replaced injured Roger Staubach at quarterback, leading Dallas to a 49-37 victory over Buffalo. The Cowboys' defense limited O.J. Simpson to 25 yards on 14 carries.
*The Northwest Knights of '71 were No. 12 in the Class 4A rankings.
*Edward Summers lettered in basketball, baseball and tennis at Muskogee High School. Also played sand lot baseball — and like many Oklahomans back in the day, listened to radio broadcasts of the St. Louis Cardinals. Earned government and law degrees at OU and later worked court martial cases while serving in the Air Force. The retired Oklahoma Supreme Court judge was an Oklahoma City resident at the time of death at age 79.
*Bill Lillard spent 17 years as University of Central Oklahoma president. He often sat among students at sporting events, football at Wantland Stadium and basketball at Broncho Field House. Lillard played a major role in the athletic department moving from the NAIA to NCAA Division II. While he and wife Mary Helen — who died in August 2011 — were devoted Broncho fans, they also traveled to Miami several times to watch the OU Sooners play in the Orange Bowl. Bill Lillard died at age 87.
*Ike Little of Oklahoma City raised and showed hunting dogs. The World War II veteran died at age 94.
*The former VaLondia Hines was a drum majorette at Madill High School. She and high school sweetheart, Dub Hawkins, would marry and become devoted OU football fans. The Hawkins' attended Sooner home games and OU-Texas games at the Cotton Bowl for 60 years. Mrs. Hines died at age 89 in Durant.
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