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Professional Athletes
Bowling, Steve
Steve Bowling, Webster Class of 1970, is considered by many to be one best all-around athletes ever to come from the Westside.
The son of Allen and Norma Rudd Bowling, Webster Class of 1948, Steve was a 3-sport star for the Webster Warriors from 1968 – 1970.
He went on to star for the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane, being elected to the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
After college Steve played major league baseball for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays.
As a young child he was always involved in athletics.
His elementary school years were spent at Park School during which years Steve began to develop his athletic ability.
His early baseball years were spent playing for the Park Warriors in the PeeWee and Midget leagues.
While at Park School, his Physical Education teacher, Sam Hester, became Steve’s basketball and flag football coach.
Steve tells of their basketball practices in the basement gym where they used a space behind some hanging pipes and the ceiling as their basketball goal.
Coach Hester began Steve’s development as a multi-sport athlete. In fact, Coach Hester convinced Steve to participate in gymnastics to help his coordination.
Coach Hester always had Steve and his classmates playing some kind of sport – be it kick ball, speed ball or a variety of other games which helped develop speed, agility and quickness.
Steve’s family moved down on South Union due east of the Webster Auto Shop and the high school practice fields at the beginning the 7th grade.
It was during these years at Clinton that the local youth sports club, the Blue-T Panthers, became instrumental in his continued development as a top-notch athlete, especially football and basketball.
Only having 17 players forced them to practice half the line against the other half, then switching sides.
Still these young Panthers competed for Championships every year defeating their larger counterpart schools, from across the Arkansas River.
Basketball was even more successful. Under the excellent coaching of Tom Jurney and Greg Morgan, Steve and his teammates won over 45 games against 5 losses during the 7th and 8th grade years.
They won the City-Wide Championship over future Booker T Washington and college football stars Reuben Gant and John Winesberry.
Baseball found Steve playing for former Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher, Wayne Caves, representing the Red Fork Lions Club in the Tulsa Pony League later playing in the Tulsa Colt League for Oklahoma Natural Gas.
It was during these Junior High years that Steve’s competitive spirit and athletic ability began to be recognized in the city youth leagues.
Steve became a 9th grade starter on the varsity football team. His high school years were spent honing Steve’s athletic skills to be a Triple Arrow Award recipient for lettering in 3 sports his junior and senior years.
Steve’s senior year in high school was most memorable as he garnered All-State honors in football and baseball while being named Honorable Mention All-State in basketball.
His determination and grit were never more greatly demonstrated than by his returning from a broken ankle in two places to play in the State Basketball Tournament after only 2 weeks in a cast, scoring a career high 22 points in the state semi-final game.
The spring of 1970 set the tone for Steve’s baseball future. Playing for Coach Gene Hart, he hit home runs in 7 of the Warrior’s last 9 games leading Webster their 2nd consecutive State Baseball Championship.
Capping off his Webster athletic career, in addition to being named All-State, Steve was named the Oklahoma High School Baseball Player of the Year and was the recipient of the Jack Charvat Award presented to the City of Tulsa’s top player.
The summer of ’70, Steve was playing once again for the Malone Metals team coached by Warren Perry, Jim Hart and Steve Pate.
The team made it to the American Legion World Series in Klamath Falls, Oregon going undefeated through the District, State and Regional tournaments.
Steve was named the Most Valuable Player for the Regional Tournament in Memphis, Tenn.
At the World Series, Steve pitched the second game of the tournament striking out 8 of the first 9 batters, finishing with 16 strikeouts for the game.
Parents gathered around the radio broadcast at W.G. Bushyhead’s house.
Malone Metals finished third and Steve was named to the American Legion All-American Team at the conclusion of the tournament.
A highlight of Steve’s senior year came while playing in an exhibition game against the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricane who were headed to play in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
Against his future college teammates, Steve hit a home run while playing for the City High School All-Stars.
Steve attended the University of Tulsa on a football and baseball scholarship where his freshman year he also played basketball.
During his freshman baseball season in 1971, Tulsa won the Missouri Valley Championship in St. Louis.
In the championship game, Steve hit a game winning home run to send Coach Gene Shell’s Golden Hurricane into the District Playoffs and eventually to the College World Series. They finished third.
Steve was named to the All-Tournament Team after batting .478 with 2 home runs.
During his four years at Tulsa, Steve started two years for the Hurricane football team at tailback and quarterback while starting all four years for the hurricane baseball team at centerfield.
Although not returning to the World Series again, Steve and his teammates captured four straight Missouri Valley Conference titles.
His University of Tulsa baseball career culminated in Steve being named to Collegiate Baseball’s All-American Team.
Steve’s Tulsa career ended with his holding the single season and career home run records.
The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Steve the summer after his senior season at Tulsa. He signed and was sent to Newark, New York to play for the Newark Co-Pilots in the New York Pennsylvania League.
His first season as a professional was successful as he led the Co-Pilots in home runs and was the recipient of the league’s Player to Go the Farthest Award.
Steve spent the next two seasons in Triple A for the Brewers Sacramento Salons and Spokane Indians teams in the Pacific Coast League.
He was named Rookie of the Year in Sacramento and was named the Most Valuable Player for Spokane leading the Indians in home runs and RBI’s while playing for former Major League Player, Frank Howard.
At the conclusion of the season in Spokane, Steve’s second full season of professional baseball, the Brewers called him up to the “big leagues”.
In his Major League debut, Steve doubled in his first Major League at bat against the Cleveland Indians.
For the game, he was 3 for 3 with 2 runs scored and a RBI while recording an assist throwing a runner out at third base.
The next day, the Brewers went to New York where Steve would play in historic Yankee Stadium, “The House That Ruth Built.”
Playing the remainder of the season in Milwaukee, Steve’s most cherished memory was being able to play alongside baseball’s Home Run King, “Hammering Hank Aaron”during his final active season.
During the winter, Steve played for the Caracas Lions in the Venezuelan Winter League.
He played for former Cincinnati Reds manager, current Major League coach and former Tulsa Oilers catcher, Pat Corrales.
Continuing his consistent play, Steve led the Lions in home runs, runs scored and RBI’s finishing second to the Pittsburgh Pirates Dave Parker in the home run race and the league MVP voting.
It was during that winter season that the American League was expanding to Seattle, Washington and Toronto, Canada.
Toronto Blue Jays manager Roy Hartsfield, having seen Steve first-hand for the previous two seasons in the Pacific Coast League, used the Blue Jays sixth pick to select Steve in the expansion draft.
He was the starting right fielder for Toronto’s inaugural game.
Used primarily as a spot starter against left-handed pitching and a late-innings defensive specialist, Steve was named Toronto’s Most Valuable Player for the month of September.
During the Blue Jays first season, Steve’s exceptional defensive ability and strong right arm allowed him to record 3 assists in one game from his centerfield position, the first time it had been done in almost 50 years.
For the season, Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastremski with the Boston Red Sox led all American League outfielders in assists, only 2 more than Steve although Carl had over 100 more chances.
After playing winter ball in Caracas again, Steve came to Spring Training looking forward to competing for a starting outfield position.
Late in the spring the Blue Jays moved Steve to third base, one of his old high school positions, which meant he would start the season at Triple A Syracuse.
After the opening game, he was notified he had been traded to the Chicago White Sox who sent him to Knoxville of the Southern League to play for current Major League manager, Tony Larussa.
Promoted to Triple A Des Moines of the American Association, Steve played sparingly the latter half of the season after suffering a separated shoulder on his throwing arm.
After rehabbing in Tulsa that winter, Steve went to Spring Training prepared to challenge the road back to the big leagues.
Too many players and not enough spots caused Steve to obtain his release from the White Sox.
Contacting Cincinnati head scout Chief Bender, he worked out a deal to play for the Reds Triple A affiliate, Indianapolis where he would play for former Tulsa Oiler manager, Roy Majtika.
Steve began the season for Indianapolis by hitting a pinch-hit bottom of the ninth home run to send the game to extras innings, which the team eventually won in 17 innings.
Although hitting well, Steve’s shoulder injury from the previous year prevented him from throwing effectively from the outfield.
This relegated him to a designated hitting role and some first base. While in Indianapolis, he decided to retire from the game he had always dreamed of playing.
Baseball and being involved with sports didn’t end in Indianapolis.
Remembering what his Webster High School basketball coach, Bill Allen, once told him; “just remember, when your playing days are over – give back to the games God has blessed you with the talents to play,” which Steve did.
Married to the former Alice Baker, Webster 1972, Steve was intimately involved in coaching youth sports for over 15 years with sons, Steven, Ben and Jared.
He and Alice live in Jenks where they are actively involved in their church and spend their time watching Ben and Jared play College Football after watching them help Jenks capture 5 consecutive State Football Championships
In his “spare” time Steve umpires Tulsa City youth baseball in the spring. In the fall, he officiates High School football when he and Alice are not traveling to watch their sons play.
He was the speaker at the Webster Letterman’s Banquet in April 2002.
Calmus Dynasty
Pauline Calmus still gets weekly fan mail for her boys. Often its baseball pictures that the sender wants autographed.
Richard and Myrle Calmus were Webster graduates – Myrle in 1959 and Richard in 1962. In high school they played baseball and basketball.
Both boys won Boy of the Month at Webster and Richard was the recipient of the Billy Don Walker award. They played basketball for Bill Allen. The Calmus family for years went to the Allen’s for the weekly get-togethers. Paula at two years old was the team mascot. Myrle was All-American at Northeastern State.
They were signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers went Richard graduated from high school.
At 19, Richard was on the Dodger team that won the national championship. Both were pitchers.
When Paula was seven, she and Pauline took the train west to California and the Dodger game. Richard won number 34; Myrle won 17.
A few years later, Richard was sold to the Cubs. In the off season, he was working out at Webster, when a representative of Oral Roberts University approached him, offering to pay for bachelor’s and master’s degrees and pay for an apartment for him.
Pauline said Richard thought about it several days and then, broke his baseball contract, to attend ORU.
When he completed he was an art teacher and coach at ORU, then finished his career at Jenks High School.
Myrle got an arm injury and after the Dodgers went into teaching. He taught at old Central High-- his subjects were history and physical education.
Myrle and wife Linda are the parents of Rocky Calmus, the University of Oklahoma quarterback. Rocky’s brother, Lance, is on the Cleveland Indians.
Pauline and husband also, Myrle, also had a daughter, Paula, who lives in Houston with her family. She works in the area of kidney dialysis.
The other grandchildren are Mandy and Richie.
Pauline said her husband had played basketball as a teenager. He was a foreman for CRC Pipeline Equipment, but died 20 years ago.
Richard and Myrle Calmus started with the Park Sooners. Richard and Carl Morton were strong pitching team.
Myrle is remember for hitting a ball over a 20-foot fence at the old Driller Stadium when he was on the 13-14-year old OK Kids League.
Mike Brown, former prep writer for the Tulsa World, said Calmus and Morton launched a “golden age” in pitching for Tulsa.
Another newspaper writer said, “With Los Angeles gilt-edged pitching staff operating so effectively, a youngster who hadn’t reached his 20th birthday and with one season’s experience in the lowest pro competition, had rare opportunities to work.
“However, Calmus made the most of his chances and is regarded as a bright prospect. The Dodgers signed Calmus, brothers, Dick and Myrle, at the same time after Dick’s graduation from high school in Tulsa.” In two scholastic seasons, Dick had had an 18-1 record.
Richard and Morton were on the Little League team that won the Little League World Series in Seattle. Carl pitched the next to the last game; Richard won the last. Dennis Hall was catcher.
Calmus, Richard
(The following Information was taken from a copy of the Jenks Journal dated March 5, 1987)
Richard Calmus, Jenks High School baseball coach, hurled his first pitch in organized baseball at the age of eight and hasn't missed a season since.
Calmus was born in Los Angeles, but his family moved to Tulsa when he was two and he considers it his hometown.
But destiny would lead him back to Los Angeles one day to wear the Dodger blue.
Calmus's older brother Merle, also played baseball and, under the tutelage of Webster High School coach Gene Shell, they were both selected to the All-State team.
In 1962, Richard Calamus's senior year at Webster he was voted Oklahoma Player of the Year in both baseball and basketball, a feat he admits would be much more difficult today.
The Dodgers drafted Calmus straight out of high school and he played his first professional baseball in Iowa, for the Keokuk Dodgers. As fate would have it, his brother, Myrle, played on the same team that year.
After three months in Iowa, Rich Calmus was moved up to the big club in Los Angeles as a relief pitcher.
Although the prospect of pitching in the major leagues a year after graduation would probably unnerve even the most confident high school athlete, Calmus says he was too young to know any better.
“You don't realize where you are when you are that young," says Calmus, who came to realize how tough it could be to get where he was and stay there.
But the transition from minor to major league baseball was not that difficult for Calmus. He says that pitching in the majors was actually easier since there was so much talent around him.
"When you are around good players, you pick up good habits," he says.
Calmus's locker, in fact, was located next to one occupied by the legendary Sandy Koufax.
The highlight of Calmus's career came in 1963, he says, the year the Dodgers defeated their arch-rival, the New York Yankees, in four straight games.
Calmus recalls many times when the throng of reporters around Koufax blocked the path to his locker.
"I guess you peak out at 19," he says with good humor.
Calmus stayed with the Dodgers into 1996, when, in an almost comical situation, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs.
The trade was announced the same week the Cubs were in town to play Los Angeles and Calmus recalls what a peculiar experience it was to pack up his gear, walk across the field and play his former teammates.
After three years in the Cubs' system, Calmus was traded to the then new Kansas City Royals. He was loaned back to the Dodgers for a time in 1969, and by then Steve Garvey was coming up with the organization.
Calmus wasn’t happy with his trade to Kansas City and, in 1969, says he "had to make a decision" to "go a different direction."
Calmus retired from major league baseball at the ripe old age of 26. He says he has never regretted his decision.
"I would do.the same thing today," says Calmus, who played with and against some of the most revered players of all time.
Among those was Stan 'the man' Musial - whom Calmus struck out once- and all-time home run leader Henry "Hank" Aaron, who never struck out against Calmus - nor reached him for a hit.
Calmus's baseball career had taken him to Mexico, Canada, Hawaii and both coasts.
After retiring, he worked for a time as an assistant coach at Oral Roberts University before attending Northeastern State University to complete his masters degree in education.
Calmus has been coaching in Jenks for six years and says the thing he likes most is getting "a chance to try and develop kids and help them get scholarships."
He says that aspect of his job is much more meaningful than winning a State Championship. "That makes it fun," he says.
The greatest frustration in coaching high school baseball, Calmus says, is working around the weather. The problem is compounded somewhat by Jenks' lack of an indoor practice facility.
Jenks is in a very tough league, according to Calmus. He says "there are a very few laggers," and adds that "if you can beat .500 you are doing good."
He thinks his team is fairly strong at just about every position this year and hopes for a successful season. The Trojans were to have opened Wednesday against Memorial.
"I don't beat them to be great, " he says, "they have to want it.”
The easy-going Calmus has been around enough great players to realize an athlete has to have a strong desire to make it in the major leagues. That is especially true since so many others are waiting in the wings.
"Kids aren't hungry like the ones in the Dominican Republic," Calmus says of a country that has produced more than its share of major league players.
Baseball, he says, is taken more seriously by Dominicans since it is often their only way out of poverty.
Desire is the core of Calmus's advice to youngsters who want to play professional baseball.
Start at age eight, he says, and play every season - including summers, Just like he did. And who knows who will turn up in the locker next door.
Calmus; Myrle, Richard, and Rocky
by Monte Hancock
Myrle and Richard were the sons of Myrle and Pauline Calmus of Red Fork and both graduated from Daniel Webster High School, Myrle in 1959 and Richard in 1962.
Both were selected to the All-State baseball team in their senior years and Richard was All-State in basketball also and was voted Oklahoma Player of the Year in both baseball and basketball by the Daily Oklahoman.
Both Myrle and Richard signed professional baseball contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a package deal upon Richard's graduation from high school.
They were both assigned to the Keokuk, Iowa Dodgers where they played their first professional baseball games.
After three months in Iowa, Richard was called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers as a relief pitcher and the highlight of his career came in 1963 when the Dodgers defeated their archrival New York Yankees in four straight games to win the 1963 World Series.
Some of his teammates in that series were Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Padres, Maury Wells, and Frank Howard. His locker was next to Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax.
Richard stayed with the Dodgers into 1966 when he was traded to the Chicago Cubs. After three years in the Cubs system, he was traded to the then new Kansas City Royals.
He was unhappy with the trade to Kansas City and decided to retire from professional baseball at the ripe old age of 26 years old.
His career had taken him to Mexico, Canada, Hawaii and both coasts.
He had played with and against some of the most revered baseball players of all time. Among those were Stan "The Man" Musial, whom Calmus struck out once, and the alltime leading home run leader Henry "Hank" Aaron who he never struck out but never gave up a hit to him either.
Richard became an assistant baseball coach at Oral Roberts University and later became the head baseball coach at Jenks High School.
Myrle, also a pitcher, played with Keokuk, Iowa; Salem, Oregon; and the Albuquerque Dukes of the Texas League.
His professional career ended with an arm injury and he returned to Tulsa and entered the teaching and coaching profession where he taught history and physical education and was the head basketball coach at the old Central High School when it closed downtown.
He became the first head coach at the new Central High School on West Edison Street. He retired from the Tulsa Public Schools in 1997 after 28 years of service.
Rocky Calmus, son of Myrle and Linda Calmus, was a high school All-American in football at Jenks High School and the Player of the Year in the State of Oklahoma.
He went on to the University of Oklahoma where he was a two-time Consensus All-American, All Big-12 Conference first team, and runnerup for the Dick Butkus Award his Junior year (given to the nation's outstanding linebacker) and was named the Dick Butkus Award winner his senior year.
He was drafted and signed by the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League.
Dawson, Sue Ann
Sue Ann Dawson was born in March 1947 and lived in Berryhill.
Sue Ann Dawson grew up in Berryhill. She was an outstanding basketball player according to classmate Jack Lollis.
Jack remembers that Sue Ann left Berryhill to play basketball for the All American Redheads.
In 1965, she graduated from Webster High School, and that May she joined the All-American Red Heads basketball team a woman’s team that mimicked the style of the very popular Globetrotters Exhibition Team.
She toured with the Coach Moore’s Red Heads from September 1965 to March 1966.
All Red Heads members had to dye their hair red.
The girls were paid a salary, but proceeds from their games were split between their schools and other pre-determined organizations.
Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, they played half of their games west of the Mississippi River and the half east.
Her team played two to three games a week, travelling virtually non-stop in a converted, stretch limousine. They toured all over the United States, according to information provided by Cecil Gomez.
They wore a red-striped satin uniform.
Red Heads would do a half-time show, featuring “special baseball tricks and antics,” according to the Red Heads web site. It is estimated they won 70 percent of their games and they signed autographs.
Other teams were the Texas Cow Girls and the Ozark Hillbillies, the latter being the Red Heads farm team, according to the Internet site.
She was married in October 1967 to Thomas Gomez and they had two sons, Robert and Richard. She also had two granddaughters.
Struck by cancer, she died in February 1987.
Sue Ann’s brother Danny Dawson lives in Beggs, Oklahoma.
Fine, Jimmy
Fine part of strong baseball environment
1/14/02 AFB Jimmy Fine
Jimmy Fine found baseball in second grade while in elementary school at Park. He played Little League and was on the 1959 Babe Ruth League Team that went to Stockton, Calif. to the World Series and won.
The team included Carl Morton, Rich Calmus, Tommy Maxwell, and Dennis Hall. Carl, Rich and Jimmy got to meet Steve McQueen while in Calif. The coach was Ralph Huntsman.
Fine said recently that was the best team he was ever on.
In 1961, Fine hit a home over the lights at the Knothole Stadium at the old Texas League Park. In high school, he played mostly third base.
He graduated from Webster in 1962 and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies Farm Team. He played mostly short stop and third base in the minors.
“I had a good arm, but I didn’t hit so well,” Fine said.
His son, Tommy Fine played 5-6 years with the New York Mets. He also attended the University of South Carolina and still lives in that state.
Koontz, F. B.
He was born July 14, 1889 in New Martinsville, W. Va. and when he died Oct. 29, 1953, the story was on the front page of the Tulsa World.
The lead called Fred B. Koontz, a pioneer oilman and vice-chairman of the Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. board.
It said, “Mr. Koontz was credited with expansion of the firm from a 3,500 barrel skimming plant to one of the largest refineries in the world.”
The story talked about his rise in the oil world, but it referred to him owning “Paulfred,” one of the finest horse farms in the area near Berryhill School.
“As vice-president in charge of manufacturing during World War II, he set Mid-Continent up with one of the best defense systems of any of the nation’s industries.
“He often said his plant was so tight “you can’t even get in here by parachute.” He urged others to set up 100 percent defenses.
He suggested games, except baseball and football, should be cancelled, but those two sports should be kept ‘because they toughen us up.’”
A friend asked him if raising and breeding horses should continue during the war.
He countered that they were necessary. “I told the army to come get my stallions and mares if the country needs them. Give them to the cavalry.”
As a boy, he attended Bethel and Staunton military academies.
Koontz started in oil as a chemist with the Waters-Pierce Oil Co., subsidiary of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey. That was in Tampico, Mexico in 1908. In California, he was a chemist for Union Oil Co., Shell Petroleum Corp., and Standard Oil Co. between 1911 and 1917.
He came to work at the former Cosden Refinery in 1917.
In 1922, he became refinery superintendent and in 1928 was named vie-president in charge of manufacturing.
In 1946, Koontz became president of the firm. In 1949, he became vice-chairman of the board.
He was a big Tulsa University backer and had been a member of the Tulsa Quarterback Club for 20 years.
For a time, he directed the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association. He was a member of the American Petroleum Institute Chamber of Commerce and Trinity Episcopal Church.
He joined the Elks Lodge, the Tulsa Club, and was a 32nd degree Mason. He was listed in “Who’s Who in America.”
His widow was Marjorie of the home of the 1700 block of S. Norfolk, and a son, Frederick Bowers Koontz, Jr. who died Feb. 17, 1976. The daughter was Mrs. Max Teale and the elder Koontz had six grandchildren.
Fred B. Koontz was hospitalized Sept. 28, 1953 with a heart ailment and died a month later in a Tulsa hospital with a heart attack, the Tulsa World article said.
He was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery. Mid-Continent offices closed for the funeral and a section of Trinity Episcopal was sectioned off for employees.
Layton, Tom
From Berryhill, Oklahoma
1978 Toronto Bluejays
Morris, Dennit
The oldest of three brothers, Dennit Morris was born April 15, 1936. He attended Park Elementary, Clinton Junior High and was a 1954 graduate of Webster High School.
He and brothers Victor and Dewayne lived with their parents off of S. 33rd W. Avenue. One brother became a teacher and the other was a police officer.
In high school, Dennit was an All-State player in football two years and was named high school All-American in football.
He went to University of Oklahoma on football and baseball scholarships. He played catcher and outfielder in baseball and they won the conference.
He was on two national championship teams as a fullback. His coach was Bud Wilkinson. He was part of the 48-game winning streak at OU.
Dennit worked for Phillips Petroleum in Tulsa.
Dennit played five years in professional football – two years with San Francisco 49ers and three years with the Houston Oilers.
They also won the AFL championship. He was 6-foot, 1 inch and 225 pounds at 25 years old. He was named to several All-AFL teams. He was known as a reliable linebacker, a sure tackler.
Bud Adams was the owner of the Oilers and Phillips Petroleum. He hired Dennit to help in training and opening new Phillips stations in Houston.
Dennit was a police officer for 20 years with Tulsa Police Department and served almost three years with Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
He married and had two sons and a daughter, still westsiders.
Dennit retired at 49.
People all over the United States send him pictures to autograph and return. People writing books call him.
Asked if one event or achievement stood out, he said it would take 30-40 minutes. There were too many to isolate one.
Morton, Carl
Born Jan. 18, 1944, Carl Morton was adopted by a couple who taught school. He had no siblings, and his parents who lived on W. 41st Street have died.
Residents have reported their shock when Carl Morton died too young of a heart attack in his parents’ driveway.
Richard Calmus and Morton were on the Park Little League team that won the Little League World Series in Seattle. Carl pitched the next to the last game; Richard won the last. Dennis Hall was catcher.
Mike Brown, former prep writer for the Tulsa World, said in high school Richard Calmus and Carl Morton launched a “golden age” in pitching for Tulsa.
Originally signed by the Braves, Morton spent two years playing for West Palm Beach in the Florida State League and Kingston, Carolina.
Although an outfielder, he tried pitching at Kingston in 1967. He won ten games. In 1968, he pitched 13 wins. He led the Texas League with 722 pct. that year.
The Expos drafted him in October 1968, but he lost three games and was farmed to Vancouver, finishing 8-6. On April 11, 1969 he pitched so well that the Cubs were scoreless for nine innings.
A highlight of 1970, was an 11-inning 1-0 game with the Cardinals Sept. 27. He was 7-0 against the three West Coast teams. In 1970, Carl was named Rookie of the Year for the National League.
In the majors, he pitched 528 innings in 87 games, winning 28 and losing 32, for .467. He had 264 strikeouts, 208 walks and a 4.14 ERA.
Morton liked golf, bowling and fishing,
Efforts to reach his son, Brett failed. A Brett Morton in Plano has an unlisted number, and although he is reported to be a high school baseball coach, Plano Public Schools doesn’t show him on staff.
Rogers, Jimmy
James Randall Rogers was born Jan. 3, 1967 and graduated from Webster High School in 1985. Ten years later, on July 30, 1995, the 28-year-old played for one season with the Toronto Blue Jays and ended his big league career in 1995.
As a pitcher he won 2, lost 4, for .333. He struck out 13, walked 18. He played 23.2 innings. He was a right hander who batted right. His jersey was No. 47.
Wilcox, Don and Virginia
Don and Virginia Wilcox were outstanding rodeo trick-riders who traveled throughout the United States, entertaining people in small towns and large metropolitan areas.
Don was one of the first people inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
Don and Virginia Wilcox met while attending Clinton High School. She was his high school sweetheart. They married when Virginia graduated in 1933.
They bought a home in Berryhill and lived there all their lives, even though their rodeo act took them far from home.
Don Wilcox was born in Arkansas City, Kansas in 1913 and moved to Tulsa when he was too young to remember.
At age 5, he saw a man doing handstands on horseback and he knew he wanted to do that when he grew up.
At age 15, Don went on tour with the Boy Scouts’ Mounted Troop of America through the states in the Southwest.
In the 193O’s, they practiced roping with the Winfrey brothers being the ropees in Berryhill. Wilcox signed a professional contract with producer Homer Todd in 1932.
He was known as the Oklahoma Whirlwind, and his natural talent and drive to improve took him to work with Gene Autry, Everett Colburn, Jim Askew and Tommy Steiners.
In 1936, Don performed at the Texas Centennial. He taught Virginia in 1937 and they found they could make it financially if they worked together.
When daughter, Donna, was born, Virginia performed mostly in the summers. Donna performed, too, up until college. They entertained the crowds as chutes were loaded and between events.
A modest horse trailer and an un-air conditioned car, hauled the little family in the summers.
Don wowed the crowds in Denver, Houston, Boston and New York. At Denver the first time, he broke some ribs, but had to keep performing.
Virginia rode with him at Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Baton Rouge, El Paso and Ft. Worth.
A rodeo would last three days or as many weeks.
From 1936-47, Don performed in New York City’s Madison Square Garden, top of the line rodeos.
There were few men trick riding, and even fewer women at the time.
A quiet man, not flashy like some of the others, he would see another rider do a trick, and Don would master it. Also he created his own tricks. He would practice hour after hour.
His wife said he would ride a horse upside down better than walking on the ground.
“It was so natural for him. I had to struggle to do anything,” said Virginia in a 1996 Tulsa World article.
Viriginia quit in 1956 and Don quit the rodeo circuit in 1960, after 40 years riding.
They raised champion quarter horses. In a 1994, article by Nicole Marshall of the Tulsa World, Clem McSpadden said Don was a horseman first and foremost, not just an athlete who could do tricks on a horse.
He was inducted in the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in October 1994.
Virginia accepted the medallion for him. McSpadden said it was long overdue.
Don died of cancer in 1984. Virginia has died now, too.
York, Bob
Bob York, the son of Luther and Lillian York, graduated from Berryhill High School in 1953.
Just out of high school and age 18, he made his professional baseball debut as a pitcher for Sherman-Denison of the Sooner State League.
Then he went to Florida with the farm team of the Milwaukee Braves. He did quite well and won several awards.
He had to give up pitching when he had problems with his arm.
Amateur Athletes
Allen, Bill
Bill Allen for whom the Webster Field House is named was at Webster’s 2001 basketball opener Nov. 20, 2001. At 75, he still loves the sport, and he and wife Nancy, get a regular diet of it.
For 25 years, he was the Warrior head coach starting in 1951-52 and for 24 years was athletic director. He was an Assistant Principal nine years.
The Webster field house was named for Allen in ceremonies on Father’s Day, 1976. KTUL’s Jerry Webber emceed. Father’s Day was significant for Bill and Nancy, Webster basketball players and coaches are extended family to them.
“Webster kids don’t forget you,” Nancy said. They have tried to keep up with the players from his teams.
He retired from Tulsa Public Schools in 1985.
He told Ted Owens that he would go to Oral Roberts University one year, and then in 1987, Bill began working with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where he helped with a coach’s ministry. “He would get in the car and go to different schools,” Nancy recalls, even to places such as Olive that she had never heard of.
The Allens have been in their house near 21st and Fulton 44 years. Many times, they would have the team over to the house for a meal.
Bill didn’t want to coach his own children, three boys and a girl. Bruce and David were All-Staters at Hale High School--David in basketball and Bruce as a distance runner. Edie, the girl played basketball two years at Oklahoma State University. She is now a 22-year coach with Union Public Schools.
William is a doctor in Oregon, and Bruce manages a cleaning firm in Norman. David has been a special education teacher and elementary physical education teacher in Jenks.
Bill has developed a sideline, going to high school and college basketball practices and writing a handwritten critique of the strengths and weaknesses. He’s critiqued at NEO, and at Toledo where Larry Gibson was coaching.
After retirement, Bill was a paid lay coach for Robert Sprague at Hale, making something like 25 cents an hour.
At Webster, the Warriors helped him win 364 games and a state championship in 1966. The Warriors beat the 3,000 student Norman High School that year in Oklahoma City.
Some 100 fans from Webster were overwhelmed by sections of black and orange Norman fans doing coordinated cheers across the gym, but the player won the AA championship.
Steve Caves had an emergency appendectomy and missed the game, but Danny Simpson, Dan Hensley, Sam Owens, Mo Radford, Tom Johnson, Larry Lane, John Autry, Jack Tudor, Don Cooper, Kelly Legnon, and Chalmus Turner were there. Team Managers Mike Brown and Richard Franklin, Coach Jack Rice, and Allen pulled it off.
As a boy, Bill attended Riverview, Horace Mann, And Central. He was the first sophomore starter in basketball at Central, which had so many strong players.
His sophomore year they beat Rogers twice, before Rogers won state that year.
Graduating in 1943, he went into the U.S. Navy’s V-12 officer training and was stationed at Milligan College in Johnson City, Tenn.
They had a basketball team with Allen and two or three other Oklahomans and a couple from Illinois. The multi-state crew won its first 15 games in 1944 and upset Duke and North Carolina.
They were ranked No. 1 nationally for a week. They qualified for the NCAA tournament, but were not allowed to leave the base that long.
Allen transferred to North Carolina where the team went 19-6 and won the Southern Conference title. The next year, he transferred to the University of Colorado. There during summer school he met Nancy who was from Denver.
When he got out of the service, he worked for the R.G. Berry Oil Company, but began volunteering for the Tulsa Boys Home team because he missed sports.
He went back to school and got a teaching degree, working one year at his alma mater, Central. When Paul Merchant left Webster, Allen got hired. “I was very fortunate to get that job,” he said. He was also blessed with a good team that year. Although Webster was kind of an underdog, they went 16-6 and beat Sapulpa.
The next year, T.H. Broad made him Athletic Director.
Through a friendship, Broad helped to integrate Webster a year ahead of the rest of the district. High school students from South Haven were being bused to B.T. Washington. Once that was changed, Bill and Nancy helped transport some of the South Haven kids home from games.
Allen remembers when the athletic directors met, Webster was running so smoothly, he had nothing to report. “They are just good working class people,” he said of the Westside.
“I like the school and the civility of the kids,” he said.
He learned about working with assistant coaches, and is grateful for them, Rice, J.V. Haney, Gene Shell, Robert Sprague, Alan Axley.
He and Curtis Turner ran a summer program before Reed Recreation Center was built. Allen supervised the swimming and conducted basketball. He made a little extra money doing that and being a sports official.
Allen was 1966 Daily Oklahoman Coach of the Year, and the Tulsa World and Tulsa Tribune picked him in 1969. He helped form the Oklahoma Basketball Coaches Association and was its first president.
Apker, Virginia
Race Car Driver
Virginia Apker grew up attending the midget auto races at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. Her mother was an avid fan. So she had always been more or less a motorsports enthusiast.
After marrying Rex, they had friends who were in the local sports car club.
When they purchased an Italian Fiat, they invited us to participate in their club activities. After selling that vehicle, they purchased a MG sedan and she was asked to drive it in competition at an autocross.
That is an obstacle course set up on parking lots. The object is to miss every pylon lining the course and finish with a time better than your competition. She placed third the first time out and said, “I was hooked on driving fast.”
“I went on to win the Oklahoma SCCA ladies class. After doing so well in the autocrosses, I was offered the opportunity to actually drive a race car on a road course,” she said. The place was Warbonnet Raceway in Mannford.
She actually raced for only two years, but she said it was a very exciting time in her life.
“I found that not only was I a pretty good driver, but I really liked the competition. At that time, there were only four women who raced in Oklahoma, so I was somewhat of a trailblazer I guess,” she said.
“I drove again in the 70’s at Hallett, but as the costs of racing started climbing I could never really justify my passion for speed.”
Her husband Rex and children Mike and Karen have always been her greatest supporters. They loved the sport as much as she did. Both the kids have driven in competition--Mike raced a Corvette and a restored Dan Gurney Eagle Formula 5000 car and Karen drove in autocrosses as soon as she got her driver’s license. Rex has always been the wrench that made us all go fast.
If asked if she would drive today if given the opportunity, the answer would be “You bet I would.”
“Rex and I continue to support races around the Midwest Division of the Sports Car Club of America, by working in the timing and scoring part of the sport. It has been a very rewarding hobby that gave us the privilege of meeting some wonderful people. We are glad we had the ride.”
Arrowood, Larry
Larry Arrowood graduated from Berryhill High School in 1964 and was a four-year letterman in baseball and a three-year letterman in basketball.
Larry entered military service in 1968 and was stationed at Fort Rucker, Ala. where he played fast-pitch softball of the post team.
Also in 1968, he was named to the fourth Army All-Star Team.
He graduated from Tulsa University in 1972.
Larry became head baseball coach at Union High School in 1975 and stayed 21 years before retiring from coaching in 1995.
During his tenure at Union, he had a record of 516 wins and only 189 losses. Under his coaching he accomplished:
- 46 tournament and/or conference championships
- 3 state championships
- 1 state runner up
- 12 regional championships
- 11 conference championships
- 16 All-State players
- 15 Sunbelt Classic All-Stars
- 13 players signed professional contracts
More than 100 Union graduates furthered their education by playing baseball at the collegiate level.
Arrowood won several Coach of the Year awards including:
- 1979 Oklahoma Coaches’ Association District Seven Coach of the Year
- 1979 Tulsa Metro Baseball Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year
- 1989 ATEC Sporting Goods Oklahoma High School Coach of the Year
- 1990 United States Baseball Federation State Amateur Baseball Coach of the Year
- 1990 American Baseball Coaches’ Association District Seven Coach of the Year
- 1979, 1989, 1990 Tulsa Tribune Coach of the Year
- 1989, 1990 Tulsa World Coach of the Year
- 1990 Daily Oklahoman Coach of the Year
Larry Arrowood became a charter member of the Union High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
“He is a true representative of what westsider baseball is all about,” said Monte Hancock who researched Arrowood’s achievements.
Arrowood is still affiliated with Union High School athletics and still lives in the Berryhill community.
Axley, Alan
Alan Axley was a 1962 graduate of Webster High School. At 6-feet 5-inches he played basketball--both guard and forward. Axley won All-State honors along Rich Calmus in 1962.
After graduation, he attended the University of Oklahoma where he played basketball and got a master’s at Northeastern State.
He returned to Webster as an assistant coach with Bill Allen and coached some 10 years.
After assisting four years, he was head coach at Bishop Kelley and then at Mason. He guided Mason to the state Tournament in its second year.
“I also coached AAU and we played all over the country,” he said.
He was Oklahoma Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1975.
Billings, Jerry Joe
Jerry Joe Billings won a state fourth in wrestling in 1952 and won first at state, as did Bill Carter, in 1953.
He was the quarter back of the football team and captain of the track team.
At Oklahoma State University where he started in 1953, Billings was part of the national championships in !954, 1955, and 1957.
He began coaching at Sapulpa High School where he had 16 state champions. He coached at LaMar Junior College and they too, won the national junior college wrestling tournament.
In five years coaching at Webster, he had two who were wrestlers of the year in the Tulsa World, Ray Morrison and Dicky Turnbull.
In 1965, he was selected to take an American wrestling team to Japan, many were Oklahomans, he said. Asked how they did, he said, “We won all of them.” Sponsored by Japanese television, NHK, they were always on television.
Jimmy Sloan of the westside was on that team.
He thanked his coaches in June 16, 1988 Tulsa County News supplement for the 50th anniversary of Webster High School.
“I was influenced by Curtis Turner who coached wrestling and Gene Brown who was the football and track coach at Webster,” he said.
“Those two men instilled in me the desire to want to be a teacher. They always liked kids and people.”
He didn’t stand out only in sports, however, Billings was president of the sophomore class, the first youth court judge, and Boys State Lieutenant Governor.
In 1965 he returned to Webster as a teacher and coach, and in 1983 he became principal of Webster.
He was principal when the district talked of closing the school to deal with dwindling enrollment.
Webster didn’t meet the high school minimum enrollment the administrators set. The final plan moved the ninth grade to all the high schools and made the junior highs, three-year middle schools.
He was only the fifth person to lead the school. He followed D.M. Roberts, T.H. Broad, Carl Ransbarger and Ed Coffey.
He stressed the two-way support at the school. Billings said in 1988, that teachers generally have the support of parents.
“Students here don’t resist instruction and generally are on time for classes. All that us due to the reinforcement at home,” he said.
But, the faculty and staff need to be able to listen to the student, hear the hurt, and be firm and consistent in dealing with situations.
“I was really fortunate as a student,” Billings said in the supplement, “I was helped when I needed it.”
He talked about the stability and about challenge for those who were looking for pre-college classes--Physics, Chemistry II, calculus, trigonometry, and advanced foreign languages.
On the other hand, the Cooperative Education classes were strongest in the state.
He was concerned the colleges continue to turn out future teachers.
He coached at Sapulpa 12 years and had a period at Hale High School in Tulsa.
Billings was inducted to the Webster Hall of Fame in 1990. Recently, he has moved from the westside and is building a house in the Skiatook area.
He is raising Beagles now.
Fine, Jimmy
Fine part of strong baseball environment
Jimmy Fine found baseball in second grade while in elementary school at Park. He played Little League and was on the 1959 Babe Ruth League Team that went to Stockton, Calif. to the World Series and won.
The team included Carl Morton, Rich Calmus, Tommy Maxwell, and Dennis Hall. Carl, Rich and Jimmy got to meet Steve McQueen while in Calif. The coach was Ralph Huntsman.
Fine said recently that was the best team he was ever on.
In 1961, Fine hit a homerun over the lights at the Knothole Stadium at the old Texas League Park. In high school, he played mostly third base.
He graduated from Webster in 1962 and signed with the Philadelphia Phillies Farm Team. He played mostly short stop and third base in the minors.
“I had a good arm, but I didn’t hit so well,” Fine said.
His son, Tommy Fine played 5-6 years with the New York Mets. He also attended the University of South Carolina and still lives in that state.
Gray, Kenneth
Kenneth Gray’s sports at Webster High School from 1962-64, were football, baseball and basketball.
He received a partial scholarship and went to Northeastern A & M in Miami, starting in football. But, after an injury, he played baseball.
He transferred to Northeastern State where he also played baseball.
At Webster, Gray was a second baseman, but played third and second at times during college.
As a youngster, Gray attended Alice Robertson Elementary and Clinton Junior High. He participated in Blue-T starting in the seventh grade.
At Webster, his coaches were Harold Bisell in football, Gene Schell in baseball and Bill Allen in basketball.
His older half brother also played football. Ken had a scrapbook, but has since lost it. He doesn’t recall his stats off hand.
Kennemer, James
James Kennemer was born in Yale, Okla. on July 13, 1931 and came to Tulsa in 1936 when his father came to pastor the Westisde Assembly of God Church.
James graduated from Daniel Webster High School in 1949 and his wife Mickie Ennis Kennemer graduated in 1950.
Webster didn’t field a baseball team during those years and young men who wanted to play baseball had to wait so they could play sandlot baseball in the summer leagues.
So James went out for wrestling and the Warriors were coached by one of the finest wrestling coaches the state has ever produced, Curtis Turner.
Since Kennemer’s father didn’t approve of playing ball on Sundays, James had to sneak out his ball uniform to be able to play.
This started a career of playing ball that surpassed most young westside men who had a desire to play the game.
After high school, unless you were able to turn professional, there was nowhere else to pursue the game of baseball. So many players turned to fast-pitch softball and James started playing softball for local church teams.
He played for Phoenix Avenue Baptist and then for Trinity Baptist in Red Fork who at that time dominated the top church leagues.
For a while he would play baseball on weekends in a semi-pro league and then play fast-pitch softball on weekdays.
James was a catcher and played in the Tulsa Softball Association in the City League, which was the top league in town.
The City League was an open division, which meant you didn’t have to play for the company that sponsored you.
Most games in the top league were played at Newblock Park on Charles Page Boulevard, although many exhibition games were played out-of-town or out-of-state.
Kennemer said he and well-known westsider Billy Don Walker rode to games in an old Chevy grocery store from Walker’s Grocery.
The Tulsa Softball Association was affiliated with the International Sofball Congress (ISC) and the winner of the annual state championship got an automatic bid to the ISC World Tournament that was played in different states and Canada.
Kennemer played for several top teams in the state including Q’s Mobil Service, Manning-Maxwell-Moore, Newman’s Inc., D&L Ford, Sertoma Club and the Tulsa Teamsters Union.
He started his career in the early 1950’s and played until the early ‘70’s.
Kennemer caught for some of the best pitchers around including All-Americans Arno Lamb, Jack Neely and Howard Heuston.
Heuston went on to become the Athletic Director for Phillips 66 and still lives in Bartlesville, Okla.
Kennemer played in several International Softball Congress World Tournaments from 1955-65 and in 1963 won the World Batting Title and made the World All-Star Team five times. This automatically made him a five-time All-American.
He was inducted into the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame in Kimberly, Wis. in August 1994. The ceremony was held in Canada, but James was unable to attend.
He was honored locally at Forche Field (formerly Newblock Park). The field was named after Paul Forche, the late fast-pitch softball commissioner.
Carl Wilson who succeeded Paul Forche, championed the adding of Kennemer in the Hall of Fame. Kennemer joined the two former Teamster teammates, Dude and Dutch Ausmus, who were inducted into the same Hall of Fame during the 1980’s.
When the International Softball Congress celebrated its 50th anniversary a few years later, James and wife, Mickie attended the celebration.
James Kennemer was an unselfish person and well liked by all who played with him and against him.
The Tulsa Softball Association awarded him with the Sportsmanship Award, their highest award given annually to the player who best represents local softballers, both on and off the field.
Howard Childers, who lives in Berryhill, called Kennemer, the “best fast-pitch catcher in Tulsa.”
“He is an outstanding athlete and an outstanding gentleman.” Childers, the manager of most of Kennemer’s teams said, “We’ve known him and his family 50 years and he’s a prince of a guy.”
Kilgore, Rodney
Rodney Kilgore is still remembered at Webster for his sports performance, but he was also fourth in his class in 1972 academically.
He was Warrior Chief at homecoming and was All-State and high school All-American, both in football.
In wrestling, he was a three-time state champion, ranked fourth in the nation.
Kilgore was named the outstanding wrestler for the State of Oklahoma also.
He was named high school All-American in wrestling, but at his home school, he was chosen for the Billy Don Walker award.
Upon graduation, he signed baseball and wrestling scholarships with the University of Oklahoma and was OU’s first wrestler to win 100 matches.
Kilgore was two-time Big Eight Wrestling Champion and twice the NCAA Wrestling Champion.
He was ranked the eighth best wrestler in Sooner history.
Recently, he was the speaker at the 2001 Webster Letterman’s Banquet.
Martin, Onions
Onions Martin wrestled, played football, ran track at Webster. He was the first four-year letterman. His favorite coaches were Marshall Milton and George Broad, brother of Principal T.H. Broad.
He loved sports. “Sports kept the biggest part of us in school,” he said.
At least three photographs show Onions as a young man. Photos of the 1943 Webster football team are around, including one on display at Ollie’s Station Restaurant.
In a Southwest Tulsa Historical Society video by Roy and Sherrie Heim of Velma Huntsman, she shows some photographs. One of these shows Onions and Ralph Huntsman at a restaurant.
He is in a shot with Wilford Houser and Papa Joe and Mildred David, owners of 23rd Street Service Station located at 23rd and Lawton in 1940.
David was Martin’s brother-in-law. That picture is in the Community Bank collection of historical photos.
He was a member of the undefeated 1943 football team, and graduated in the Class of 1945. Martin thinks that may be the only State Champion football team ever.
Martin said he was born and raised in West Tulsa by the refineries. Asked if everybody knew each other and took care of each other, he said, “They fought together and everything else.”
Martin worked for Texaco for 34 years.
In 1952-53, Martin, Jimmy “Cootie” Arnold, Wendell Cluck, Jack Walker, Bill Jarrett, and Jack Pertle, members of the 1943 football team, started Blue-T to improve the Webster sports programs.
They had football, basketball and wrestling. The first president was Lee Kennon.
The men spent “years” coaching. Martin said back then, Blue-T didn’t cost the kids anything. He said after Blue-T started, Webster didn’t have a losing season for 10 years.
Martin was widely respected and admired wrestling official for high school and college matches for years.
Martin attended Clinton Junior High and Webster. After he had a family, his two girls and a boy attended the same schools.
Merchant, Paul
At one time, Paul Merchant was one of the two best point guards in the nation, according to Bill Allen, a former Webster coach and athletic director who succeeded Paul Morris. Merchant was the assistant coach at the time.
In Merchant’s senior year, 1942, Webster had one of its best season’s ever. He was an All-American.
He was head coach at Webster one year. He played in the AAU and has been inducted in the Webster Hall of Fame.
He was head coach at Webster one year. He played in the AAU and has been inducted in the Webster Hall of Fame.
Milton, Marshall
When Daniel Webster High School opened in 1938, Marshall Milton came in as Athletic Director.
It was a big step from him to work in a “new modern school that was properly equipped to do his job,” Tulsa County News reported September 28, 1961. Lewis Hays, Jr, wrote the article.
Milton knew the state of other schools. He started as his alma mater, Elk City, Kansas. In four years, he had two undefeated football teams.
In 1930, Milton became football and basketball coach at Sand Springs.
He won one football and two basketball championships in the Verdigris Valley conference.
Then he tried his hand at Sapulpa a year.
In 1933, he took over coaching at Clinton High School. “Coach Milton recalls those years at Clinton, his toughest, but most memorable,” Hays wrote.
The players used castoff equipment and had little external support, but they played hard. For tournaments, the Clinton faculty gave donations, and Milton made up the rest from his pocket, so the boys would “have a chance.”
In his second season at Webster, Milton’s team had a 7-3 season.
Though retired in 1960. Hays wrote, “The evidence of accomplishments as a man and a coach are all around us for to see in the form of countless men whom he taught the qualities that make a fine athlete and good citizen.”
As a young man he was in the backfield on the football team at his high school. He also played well at Kansas Wesleyan in Salina, Kansas.
For Marshall Milton night, the Pep Club and cheerleaders roped off an area in the football stadium for Milton and former players and friends to sit for the game.
The Parent-Teacher-Student Association and Letterman’s Club served refreshments.
His daughter still lives on the westside. She is Mrs. C.D. McElhaney.
Peninger, Grady
In high school, Grady Peninger was the state champion at 103 pounds in 1945. The same year he was a NAAU champion at 115 pounds. He went undefeated his senior year.
After his U.S. Navy enlistment, he was an NAAU champion at 115 pounds in 1947, a runner-up at that weight the next year, and was an third place alternate for the 1948 Olympic team.
Peninger was runner-up in the NCAA 121-pound class in 1949.
He was undefeated in dual meet competition at Oklahoma A&M 1946-50 and was a freshman coach there in 1950.
He began his coaching career at Ponca City Junior High and from 1952-60 was at Ponca City High School. There the overall record was 64-14-4 and the team won two state championships and earned three runner up awards.
From 1960-62, he was assistant wrestling coach at Michigan State University. He became head coach and became the first Big Ten coach to win seven straight Big Ten titles.
Then he won the 1967 NCAA team championship –another first.
He was named Rookie of the Year, in 1963, by the Amateur Wrestling News and in 1967, he was voted Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association.
He was voted Coach of the Year by the Association Student Organization of Michigan State University in 1966-67.
The awards kept coming. In 1968, that group voted him Man of the Year. Also in ’68, he was inducted in the Helms Hall of Fame for Achievement in Amateur Wrestling.
Peninger was president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association 1970-71.
In 1977, he coached the Chinese in Taiwan and from 1975-85 was a member of the NCAA Rules Committee.
He was the first Big Ten coach to have a three-time NCAA finalist in Pat Milkovich.
Mike Potts scored the fastest fall in 43 seconds in the Big Ten Championships in 1984.
Another Peninger student, Shawn Whitcomb, scored the fastest fall in Big Ten Championship history in 25 seconds in 1980.
Peninger was the first in history to not lose against the two big Oklahoma campuses – Michigan beat Oklahoma University and tied OSU.
He was “the only Oklahoman in history to leave the state and win an NCAA team title,” he wrote in a record of his career in the Webster 50th anniversary supplement.
Two of his former high school wrestlers won the 1960 Olympics. They were Shelby Wilson and Doug Blubaugh. In the 1968 Olympics, Don Behm, one of Peninger’s college wrestlers won the silver.
That year he was offered a head wrestling coach job at Oklahoma State University, but declined to stay at Michagan State. In all he had 43 Big Ten champions and 90 who placed.
In the NCAA, he had 11 champions and 46 place winners.
Tomlin, John
As a boy, John Tomblin played flag football and baseball at the Westside YMCA. That was the 1950s. The coaches were John’s father, Bill, and Frank Slatton. One of his friends was Don Undernehr, current Webster High School principal.
Undernehr remembers Tomblin as a tremendously promising athlete, who sustained a tragic injury while quarterbacking the Warriors against Memorial in the fall of 1963.
Tomblin died a couple weeks later. The teammates angished over the loss of their friend, but decided to finish the season.
Tomblin’s jersey and number are on display at Webster High.
The former Health Center branch on W. 51st Street was named for him. It closed some years back, and today the building is used for a sound studio
Turner, Curtis
Curtis Turner was the Tulsa Public Schools’ District 1 Board of Education member from 1972-76, but it was the roles he held earlier that were dearest to his heart.
He was born in Binger Feb. 15, 1907 and died March 31, 1988. He graduated from Drumright High School in 1927, Oklahoma University with two bachelor degrees in 1933 and University of Tulsa in 1947 with a master’s degree.
In 1968 he was inducted in the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame. In 1972, he retired with 39 years in education.
He introduced wrestling at Sulphur High School, 1933-35; Mannsville, 1935-36; and Bristow High School, 1936-42. He came to Webster High School in 1942, and stayed until 1955.
In a ten-year period Coach Turner’s teams at Webster ranked first in the state three times; second three times, and third in the state twice.
Bill Borders was the most outstanding wrestler of the State Tournament in 1948, and was first at Webster to win his weight for three consecutive years, 1946-48.
In 1952, the team placed second in state. Jerry Patrick earned a first place; Jim Weston, Bill Brown, Kenneth Berryman placed second and Jerry Billings placed fourth.
The next year with the state tournament held at Webster, Bill Carter and Billings placed first, Howard Powell and Weston placed third and Eddie Miller and Phillip Morris placed fourth
In 1954, Carter placed first and Ken Grissom placed fourth.
In 1955, Paul Aubrey was the most outstanding wrestler at the State Tournament and fourth place went to Bill Scott, Ernest Summerall and Grissom.
In 1950, Turner was secretary of the Oklahoma High School Wrestling Coaches Association and represented Oklahoma on an NCAA rules advisory committee.
He was an elementary school principal at McBirney, Eugene Field, Burroughts and Mark Twain between 1955-72.
He was president of the Tulsa Elementary principal’s Association in 1963-64.
Turner was president of Southwest Tulsans, Inc. and the Red Fork Men’s Club.
He was appointed by Mayor J.L. Maxwell to the Westside Citizens Council and by Mayor J.A. LaFortune to an Urban Planning advisory council.
Turner headed the 1975 YMCA membership campaign and was a life member of Phi Beta Kapa and Lion’s Club International.
He was a charter member of the Half Century Club and the 1972-73 District Governor District 3-M Lions International.
As a member of Epworth United Methodist, he was Church School Superintendent many years.
Walker, Billy Don
Billy Don Walker was a likeable guy who had a heck of a kick. He was the Webster quarterback and Warrior Chief for 1949-50.
His sports career included playing football for the 1950 University of Oklahoma national championship team and being dubbed in the newspapers “Webster’s gift to the University of Tulsa.”
He was invited to go pro, but declined to stay with his family and be a fireman.
He was a fireman five years and worked for a swimming pool company three years, when a cave-in on the job killed him. He died at 29 on Oct. 25, 1961.
An award was started in his name after his death and presented until 1976. With the help of Mark Benton, the award was reactivated in 2000 and is now presented to a well-rounded sports-playing boy and girl.
“Walker, regarded by Bud Wilkinson as one of the best punters he has coached, was a member of the North Squad in the 1950 Oklahoma High School All State Game,” wrote a newspaper sportswriter named Lew Johnson.
In his first TU season, he was called “Tulsa Webster’s gift to the University of Tulsa.”
He played briefly for Cameron, one year for OU, and two years for TU.
In February 2000, the 1952 Tulsa University Gator Bowl Football Team on which Walker played was inducted in their Hall of Fame.
It was the eighth team to be inducted in the special honor team category.
The team posted an 8-2-1 season and led the nation in rushing and total offense by averaging 321.5 rushing yards and 466.6 total yards per game.
The Hurricane had seven straight wins before meeting Florida in the Gator Bowl.
Season-wise, TU outscored the opposition 341-197, gaining a 6-0-1 home record and a second place 3-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Hurricane was ranked 12th nationally in the Associated Press poll at the end of the season.
One clipping in Walker family scrapbooks is headlined “Walker of TU Among Nation’s Punt Leaders.”
“Fullback Bill Walker, former Daniel Webster star, ranks 13th in the nation in punting in the latest figures of the National Collegiate Athletic bureau.
Walker has booted the ball 22 times for an average of 38.9 yards a kick,” it read.
Another article was headed “Tulsa Product Gives TU Kicking a Big Lift.”
“Walker showed up on the TU campus this fall after a season of play with the Cameron Aggies at Lawton and has demonstrated that he can still boot the pigskin a mile. Bill is a left-footed kicker and he can send the ball flying 50, 60 yards consistently.
“Kicks of 70 yards aren’t unusual for the former Daniel Webster star,” it said.
Another clipping told about an 87-yard kick at Sapulpa.
He also had a winning personality. “Everyone like my grandpa,” a granddaughter wrote in a school paper. “He was an all-around good guy.”
Younger, Ralph
Ralph. Younger was a golden gloves boxer who worked out with the best of his time. He traveled through the United States on the circuit.
Ralph Younger was a native westsider who graduated from Clinton High School in 1936.
He played football, able to kick 70 yards and also excelled at baseball, but he was especially proud of his boxing achievement.
He said Clinton wrestling coach Frank Briscoe was “the greatest in the world,” and had a hand in Younger competing under coach J.C. Gallagher at Oklahoma A& M, Stillwater.
In 1938, Younger traded wrestling for boxing which took him as far as Chicago and New York.
He had three knockouts and had distain for the quality of Chicago boxers. Oklahoma had a better crop.
In Chicago, he had a technical knock out against Richard Hagen. Hagen became a sparing partner for Joe Louis, a job Ralph turned down.
He joined the U.S. Navy and served at Pearl Harbor. Coincidentally, Ray Cochrane, welterweight champ, was the base chief. Cochrane ordered Younger to get back to boxing, but Younger felt he lost a physical edge during his time on the ship.
But, on the GI Bill, he returned to Stillwater and began wrestling again in 1946. Oklahoma State won the national championship for the 14th time in 16 years that year.
He wrestled with broken bones –ribs and hands. He beat Roy Hannah twice with a broken hand.
He was a retired Unit Rig salesman.
His scrapbook is full of clippings. At six feet tall, 175 pounds, he always made an imposing picture.
He brought his pictures to the Southwest Tulsa Historical Society meeting in the summer of 2000. He died Aug. 17, 2001 at 83.
Standout Teams
The westside was home to outstanding softball teams, football teams and others.
Sports Organizations
Blue-T and Warriors Athletic Clubs
For 50 years, dads and others have operated Blue-T, an elementary and middle school level sports program.
It has offered programs for girls and boys. At times, it has been free for the children.
It is even rumored to have inherited property adjacent to Reed Park.
Blue-T is an achievement, operated with volunteers for half a century. They send squads to cheer competitions and hold homecoming ceremonies and get teams in the playoffs.
When Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Sawyer made middle school athletics school sponsored, Blue-T found ways to serve westside children – including elementary teams and cheer squads.
In 1952-53, Onions Martin, Jimmy “Cootie” Arnold, Wendell Cluck, Jack Walker, Bill Jarrett, and Jack Pertle, members of the 1943 football team, started Blue-T to improve the Webster sports programs.
They had football, basketball and wrestling. The first president was Lee Kennon.
The men spent “years” coaching. Martin said back then, Blue-T didn’t cost the kids anything. He said after Blue-T started, Webster didn’t have a losing season for 10 years.
Walter Hushbeck coached and now his son, Charles coaches and is an official. John Weygandt, Randy McClellan, Lee Venetoff and Robert Black are among those who have done their share.
At the high school for a Blue-T event, Weygandt aided a boy who was hurt at Webster jumping in cable trenches.
In February 1998, Kevin Crow and Kevin Dolan bought a large ad in Southwest Tulsa News labeled “Blue-T Wrestling: The rumors of our death were greatly exaggerated.”
“The Blue-T Club, and especially the wrestling coaches, would like to publicly thank those who did not believe the rumors and wrestled with us this season. We know it would have been easy to have wrestled elsewhere. We appreciate you very much and are already looking forward to bigger and better things next season,” it read.
Pictures of the beginner and advanced teams were included. “No Blue-T funds were used,” it said.
Randy Fowble and now Mark Benton have led Blue-T recently.
In April, 1998, Vernon Ryan provided pictures of the beginners, beginners novice and junior high wrestling groups in the West Tulsa Warriors which ran in Southwest Tulsa News.
“The West Tulsa Warriors closed out a great wrestling season with their end of the year wrestling banquet. It was attended by over 85 people, made up of wrestlers, family and supporters of the Warriors,” the story said.
Ryan thanked the parents, coaches, sponsors and wrestlers, and facilities at Remington Elementary, Southwest Baptist Church and Reed Recreation Center.
His son, Mike Ryan, was wrestling coach at Webster at the time.
Ryan left Webster and nothing was run in the Southwest Tulsa News about the West Tulsa Warriors after that.
In 2000, a Blue-T basketball team coached by Black and his wife, Sheri, was attacked by a Hamilton Middle School crowd at an away game at Rogers High. Property damage and injuries resulted.
Blue-T officials protested to the Tulsa Junior Athletic Association.
How long the Warriors existed, why it was formed, why the death of Blue-T wrestling was rumored are unanswered questions.
YMCA, Young Mens Christian Athletes
The Tulsa area YMCA boys baseball teams dotted the landscapes of the city as winters broke and spring leaves started turning in the city.
Boys turning 8 years old reached the playing age and took to the field to learn the great American sport. The westside launched many teams during the 50’s through 70’s.
Many of the teams adopted the names of powerful animals for their own. So it was, that lions, tigers and bears spread out on the green grass fields with dirt-lined base paths and infields.