University of Oklahoma - Sooner Yearbook (Norman, OK)

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The football stadium is the scene for impressive gradual Radio students work hard to learn the arts anil techniques of producing programs. V At the activity kstival each organization encourages students to join their cluh.

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fiioii ' li 111 lni the t;llc■llt III nc,iil Um ' MU Iwii liinlb.ill pi.a CIS, appr(). im.iti-I . This iloi-s not piiU-iiil to he .t pn-uM- i-stiniatc, since there exists a shiliii;: si ' ah ' ami li iple-threat halthaiks I ' limiiiaiiil hi;;lu-i prices than, lor exainple. ileleii- i e ;iuaiil . Ill the lilt cais ).l . Ii.hl hiTii luiuliniiiM;; In-liire 1 came liere M-ekin the lii:ht, our Alma .Mater liail awanleil somethni}; like J,V-)(i ile- jjrees. I coiiM liieak this ilow 11 inlii all the aiimis t pes aiul kiiiils 111 sheepskin, if stroll};!) nr.ued, hut I ilnn ' t throw tllat suit 111 iiitiiinia- tioii aiiMinil m a loose lash- ion. Nor will 1 attempt to fjive statistics on decree auanls yiinc 1041, as that ma still he top prioiitx stufi and 1 have no ish to be in- vestigated b the FHI. Siit- h ce it to say that b this school ear ot 10 0- SI an- other large batch of nnitton parchments have been dis- trihiited ,ind carried out into the world, bringing the com- plete fifty-nine year total to somewhere between ,Sfl and 40 thousand degrees. This doesn ' t mean there aie as mail) graduates as degrees, since some people are hoggish about it and collect three or four, but it adds u|i to a lot ot graduates nexertheless. So far as m research assistants ha e been able to deter- mine, nobody has bothered to figure up the number of O.U. About the author . . . William R. (liillj Sinti, « hn aullKired the strir on %liieh the Huim- ol the 1951 SoosKR Yearbook is based, is one of tht most sueccss- ful Kradiiates of the Walter Campbell-Foster Harris professional writing courses at the ( ' niversity of Okla- homa. In the past two years Seott has sold a serial and a do en short stories to ( .otlirr ' s, and has contributed to the Sutttrdiiy Kvniing Post, This ll ' tik, Mrl, inn ' s, Irgitsy, and others. His stories are currently appearing in two anthologies. Bill Scott ' s work is not new to ().! ' . students, lie drew the cartoons in the 1 94, ! and 19+9 SdiiNERS and has done cartooning and writun stories for other school publications. .Muiuniises ulio like ni se!l neglected to obtain degrees, but b methods w hich arc .secret and exclusive I have a.scertaincii to my () n satisfaction that betw ecu one and ten out of every ten students who enroll at O.l . drop out before ac iiiiriiig the necessary credits. These people, degree or no degree, be- iiime ahimni, u hicli is li;it 1 am driving at. The point is, out of all the thousands of alumni who have departed the campus, the yearbook editor could find only one who was willing to type up this thesis for practi- cally no remuneration. He accomplished it in part by an ingenious ruse known locally as springing for the refresh- ments , lie hasn ' t actually bought me the blue plate spe- cial et, but he inliuds to. Also, I am to get a free copy of this loorstop, and when you break it down that fig- ures out at about my usual fee. E.x ' cept, of course, a sec- ond hand yearbook has no hock value. As he pointed out, fashion- ing the body of the text for this issue of the annual is a signal honor. It ' s real auspi- cious and all that. Hut at the same time it bungs w itli it a certain melancholia, it ' s like liointing out to a gu that he has aged beyond ripeness and become a crustx, garrulous codger who fits the role of Old Grad . Write us up a thing, he said, from the angle of an Old (|uiik eignrelle is ah :i s a welrome break during thnsi- long hours put in .it llu- lilirMr . Sooner spirit is cNeinpIitied b . enrias at a pep r;,ll . Here students participate in that most unpleasant campus activity — pa iMg lees.

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(iiaci Kiniint; hack to iciriMtc liis outli and linilin; all llu- I liaM;;t tinu- has w roiiiilu. He is consiinu-d with M i tal;jia, Ml-, lie IccU real brought down. (lu know? I koou. L ' l.l ' s l(jok at It loda the ,i I si ' c it. the t()da ot now when I disi ii CI I iu t ami now hci v in the (|in kcniiiL: ti-ni| o ol nioilcin [ iii riMt lili-. ' Take the otlu-r attcinoon, w lirii 1 arose ■akin troiii iin f tii rissi- after onl clcxcii hours ol iiiHMsx sliiinhcr, and c.mcd ni slo i anil tarclul wax to till ' campus corner tor an iini cji atinji dish of medicinal tea. Ir was an axeraye alreinocjii in the health lesort 1 tieqnent and the crowd was heterojieneons. .A bearded prof spraxv led in a booth starin ; (luizzicallx aromul the room, his beaxer niuhilarin} with ill- concealcd amuseiiieiit. I ' xen scorn, perhaps. He was prob- ablx thinkiiif; about the scene in tour difterenr lani;u.i es, and his presence there toned the |ilace np. xoii know. W ' h.it he XX ;is doin , he xx as contributing: an almost luminous aura ol intellectnalism. Around a I mxeisitx ou t to haxc an .iiii.i of intellectualism sometimes. ( )n ,1 neaibx table sIikjiI, m a ni.innei ot speaking, three ( i reeks xx ho xx ere chantiilf; esoteric tribal threnodies. .Some counselors I roni the ( uadraiisle xx ere upio.iriouslx exchan;;- in ; occupational anecdotes around a table littered xx ith emptx containers. ' l he facultx member laughed diabcdicallx throiiLih a hole in his shrubbeix, and suddenix 1 re.ili ed 1 xxasn ' t noxxheie. It xx as then 1 j rexx axx are ot hoxx ' brought doxx II I reallx xxas. .Nrar the hot-air rej isfer a trio ol midille-aneil joimnsters, inciiKhiiK old Dave, criHichcd os ' cr mullcil coffee laced with lladacol, munihlin«. 1 assumed they were dcnoiiiicinj{ the nian.ig -ment tor piittinj; in the new booths that obscured the vi(-w ot yestertimes. The booths w(-re ajiainst the plate j;lass windows, and the jilass it.seh had been painted neck-high on a medium-tall woman, and this par- ticular covey of declininK lechers were not interested in studying faces. I felt much the same wax, and decided to join them. It was a pretty long walk for a man of m years — about fifteen feet, but I made it and lowered myself into a ch.iir, onl to discover that, since their salacious pastime had been curtailed, the old-timers were fall- in;; back on that monotonous rcc- re,-ition of the aged, reminiscing. According to one Clyde Brion Daxis XX ho recentlx authored a book dealing with the sub- ject, nostalgia is, ipiote the rose-scented goose grease on the toboggan slide to scnilitx , unquote. These gu)s were bob- sledding. Things ain ' t like thex used to be, an oldster of lierhaps txx ent -nine said glumly. .Shucks, croaked old Dave, an incorrigible epigrammat- ist, thex nexer xxas. So all right. 1 xxas a l ' ' i-eshman xx hen .Mule Train Heath was elexen xears old. Okax, I ' m an O.l ' . .Alumnus, an Old (ii.id txpe. I ' xe seen O.V. develop from a first-ratc unixer- sitx XX ith a third-rate football team to a first-rate school with a grid-iron machine rated number one in the nation. Pass the rose-scented goose grea.se, and sing a sleighing song. ys cokes lur tneiuls al Ion time. Kiidell I.aiulers ami Stuart Mmu; exert their crcitivc t.ilriil tin ar(l sculptiirinj;.