Oklahoma/Ohio State Then And Now, Part 1.

In what undoubtedly is the ABC/ESPN/Disney feature game this Saturday night with non play by play man, Chris Fowler presiding (maybe because Patrick McEnroe, not a great tennis player was so annoying and brother John, who was a great tennis player, always was and will be the same, Fowler on tennis is tolerable–can’t he go back to the studio for football?!), Ohio State will travel to Norman, Oklahoma and face the Sooners (Oklahoma University).

Though the game has lost some of its luster with Oklahoma having lost its opener at Houston University, it does evoke memories of a “same calendar” game between the schools, one week shy of 39 years ago, on Saturday September 24, 1977.

Then the game was played at Ohio State, with legendary coaches Barry Switzer (our second mention of him this football season) and Woody Hayes, the epitome of borderline mental case, INTENSE football coach, whose coaching career ended a little over a year later, when he slugged opposing player Charlie Bauman of Clemson, after the player assured the over rated Hayes of another bowl game loss, with an interception in the 1978 Gator Bowl, roaming the sidelines for OU and Ohio State respectively.

There will be more on that 1977 game with me not “backpedaling” re Coach Hayes’ demeanor, but citing a big positive about the man. Also why the picture above is there.

For now,  the “V” on the uniform pictured above should be “v.” as the name is spelled von Schamann. We will get to Uwe von Schamann and more on that 1977 tilt in my next post.