Don Makes the Team

Oklahoma University basketball squad, 1937

Don is third from the left in the back row.

Don had to overcome obstacles in his athletic career all along the way. I mentioned before that he broke his arm in high school and didn’t make the football team until his senior year. It seems like about half the notes in his sophomore year book, even the ones from girls, are consoling him because of his failure to make the team. But he did make the team his senior year, and was so good they tried to flunk him so that he could play for another year.  

Don’s college career didn’t start out much better. He went out for basketball instead of football in college, which made sense because he was really tall. 6 feet 4 inches doesn’t seem that tall now, but at the time he was the tallest man to go out for the team. In spite of his height though, he got no encouragement from Coach Hugh McDermott, who told him that he had no potential, and that he might as well stay at home. By his sophomore year he had made the team.

 

The game of basketball was different then. There was no shot clock in those days, so there was more passing, and players waited to shoot until they thought they had a sure thing. No one dunked the ball, and there were no extra points for shooting longer shots. Don said that a player would have been taken out of the game for attempting what’s now a three pointer. Scores were lower then. A winning score was often less than 50 points. 

Even without dunking, height was still important in the early days of basketball. Not only did it matter in shooting and guarding, but there was a jump ball after each point. Since Don played center it was up to him to get the ball for his team on the "tip." Even though Don was the tallest man on OU’s team, most of the centers at other schools were taller than him. He often played against men who were six feet seven or eight. It was also up to Don to jump for rebounds. He said that it took several years after he stopped playing basketball for his feet to heal, because his opponents would step on his toes to keep him from jumping.  

Basketball doesn't have the reputation for being as rough a sport as football does, but it can be rough, and it was in Don's day as well. He told me about a "hot shot" freshman rookie who charged up toward the basket during one of his first practices. Don taught him a lesson by raising his arm to block him. The boy was knocked off his feet by the collision and lost a tooth as well. Don said that another time they were playing at OSU and one of his team mates was hit as he jumped up for a rebound. He was knocked into the bleachers by the blow and as his body fell between the seats his scrotum was torn on a nail. 

Don's sophomore year, his first year on the team, was a tough year for him. OU's team was improving. That year they beat their arch rival, Oklahoma A and M, now known as Oklahoma State University. Don said the rivalry between the two Oklahoma schools was so bitter that when OU played at A & M, lettermen would stand along the sidelines of the basketball court, and if one of the OU players stepped out of bounds he would have to start swinging his fists to fight his way back onto the court. Luckily the game against A & M was at OU his first year. 

After the A & M game, the Sooners' winning streak continued in two back to back games against Missouri. The games were on Friday and Saturday night. Don fell on his right arm during the second Missouri game, and it was hurting and swollen the next Tuesday when the team played the first game of a double header against Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas. Don didn't know it yet, but his arm had been broken by the fall. He played the first game anyway. The afternoon before the second game he wrote a letter home to his parents. It was Jan 16, 1935:  

Hotel Eldridge

Lawrence, Kansas                                                     Wednesday

Dear Folks

          Well we played K U last night and they beat us 50 to 23. That is the worst O U has been beaten in a long time. They sure have a good team but they are pretty old and a lot bigger than we are. My man weighs 205# and is about 23 years old. Our team didn’t play near as good as usual. Browning only made one bucket. We play them again tonight and we’ll be in Norman at 8:30 in the morning.

          I fell on my right arm pretty hard in the Missouri game and it is swelled at the elbow about twice its normal size and it sure is sore and stiff. I got to play all but the last two minutes of the game last night but my arm was so sore I couldn’t do much. I made 1 basket, 1 personal foul, and 1 free shot, and I got the tip half the time. I couldn’t straighten my arm clear out or I would have got it all the time. I don=t know whether I’ll get to play any tonight or not, Browning says I can’t, but I think McDermott will let me play some. (“Browning” was Bud Browning, who was a year older than Don and was the star of the team that year. He was also from Enid High, so he and Don were friends. Hugh McDermott, the coach, didn’t let Don play in the next game. He sent him to the doctor as soon as they got back to Norman, and the doctor told Don that he had a broken arm.)

          Browning and I got a telegram from Miller, McCoy, Miss Morrow, and Miss Nellie Moore congratulating us on our Missouri games. They are all high school teachers. I guess that=s all now. I’ll let you know if my elbow gets any worse.

Love Don 

The broken arm put an end to Don’s basketball season, and after the cast was removed he couldn’t straighten out his arm. My uncle Jay said that Don carried a bucket of sand around  that winter to force his arm to straighten out. By springtime he was feeling well enough go out for track, and his arm was strong enough that he placed third in the javelin throw at the Big Six track meet in May.