Muskogee’s Football Win A Reminder Of The Power Of ‘Where We Come From’

The annual Brothers Gathering in Oklahoma City was this past weekend, and it gave two of the three of us the chance to revisit our childhood.

We grew up in various places across eastern Oklahoma. Spent several years in Okmulgee, a few more than those in Muskogee and the final two before college in Henryetta.

One is the home of Troy Aikman and Jim Shoulders, and the other was made famous by Merle Haggard. Most recently, Okmulgee has taken some spotlight thanks to the tv show “Reservation Dogs.”

Hometowns one and all they are. The middle city played for a state football championship on Friday.

Muskogee won, 28-26, over Stillwater. The most recent Roughers game I had attended was Muskogee’s 40-36 state championship loss to Mike Gundy and Midwest City. Truly it was one of my first sports-related gut punches. The Bombers were up 33-14, and Muskogee made a miraculous comeback to lead 36-33 with only a couple minutes left.

Midwest City came back to win.

That was 38 years ago.

The Roughers avenged that loss the very next year, a 14-12 win over Booker T. Washington to claim the 1986 Class 5A state title.

I was in Henryetta by that time listening to the game on the radio. To this day, I romanticize listening to sports on the radio. Heck, I told a friend at an event tonight — a friend who works on the Sooners’ football radio team — that two of my earliest Oklahoma bowl game memories were games I listened to on the radio. They were both Orange Bowl wins over Florida State, back to back.

I’ll let you guess what years I’m referring to!

Aside from a memory created in my early 50s with my brother, Friday’s Class 6A-II championship game was an opportunity to reflect on the power of community. I said, “Look around. Most all these people on the Muskogee side grew up with experiences similar to ours.”

Attending Cherokee, Franklin, Grant Foreman, Irving, Pershing, Tony Goetz, West Junior High, Alice Robertson or MHS. I remember the expanse of that campus, getting lost in its labyrinth most of my sophomore year.

The stores, the library, the churches. The restaurants. Honor Heights Park. I used to spend summer after summer exploring every step of Honor Heights, from the church we attended at the base of it (Honor Heights Methodist Church) to the VA Hospital atop it.

Although strangers they were for the most part in Friday’s football crowd, I know there were old friends and acquaintances in my midst.

And deep down, even though I might not ever have met them, I felt simpatico with everybody on that side of Chad Richison Stadium, regardless the outcome of a sporting event on the field.

Very glad I took that afternoon to root on the Roughers to a title. This time in person.

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