This is the seventh article in a continuing series in which Broken Arrow Athletic Hall of Fame sportswriters Wayne Bishop and Doug Quinn look back on their time covering Broken Arrow Tiger athletics. This week, Wayne shares memories of girls softball, city sports complexes and a baseball championship.
My first year at the Scout newspaper I covered a national softball tournament for 12-and-under girls at the old Central Park complex...and I was hooked! Kelli Braitsch was unreal, and her team won it. Years later, Kelli was a star for the Lady Tigers and Coach Jim Hillman.
Kid programs were...and are...so important to Broken Arrow High School. And facilities. Years later, the high school has its own modern field and the city has a state-of-the-art 8-field complex. And they're still dominating.
That same year—1989—the Lady Tigers won state, beating Bartlesville, 4-1, also at Central Park. Starring on that team were Cathy Mozingo, Michelle Graham, Julie Finley, Stacey Pinkerton to name a few, recalls Hillman, who was their coach. And so I started to learn about BAHS girls sports.
We had recently won a basketball state title under Jerry Waymire, and had long been the kingpin in state soccer when they began in OSSAA. That was an early love of mine after Jane Dunlap took me under her wing at a regional tourney for 12-and-under, I think. Hers was one of the top teams, too.
When Nicole Wagner led her young team to a title in softball, they had to play in Tulsa. Enter Russell Peterson and Tom Lott and others like them. Peterson was the guy city leaders always went to when they needed to raise money and pass bonds. Lott...he was special. I first met him when the youth football (BAYFA) was a warehouse full of equipment such as pads and uniforms and his office. We desperately needed facilities for football, but city leaders decided we needed a softball complex first.
Some heads of youth sports groups might have been jealous, but Tom knew we all had to work together. He agreed to support softball so they could support football in the future. Then he went to work for a youth sports office, inviting other groups to join him. Basketball was the only one who took him up on it. Tom got the money for the building, which is still at 1005 S. Main, and includes a space for a sports gear company. The next bond issue included money for the football complex at Neinhuis Park.
Most don't know how much Tom Lott did for the city...now you do. The city prioritized needs; so did Lott. When I first came here in 1966, we played baseball west of what was then the high school—and then North Intermediate. Now look at Indian Springs Sports Complex, where my grandsons played ball – some on the Wayne Bennett field for t-ball. Wayne and I worked together at the Ledger. There are two community centers with basketball courts.
City leaders, along with those from the schools, would meet at a retreat every year, most of the time at Shrangi-La resort, and set goals on what people wanted. That's how we kept ahead of the pace on sports facilities. Later, school leaders and citizens—myself included—met to plan a new football stadium. So, what you sit in today is the result of many hours in the school library...including my demands for an elevator to the press box! Then Ken Ellett took over.
Ken had done a remarkable job as athletic director after being lured here from Wisconsin. He and I sat down for lunch one day and designed the plan for the BA Athletic Hall of Fame and a committee, including Max Smith and Doug Quinn of the Ledger, to select members each year...with citizen input. Ken was finally inducted this year. He is responsible for hiring most of the great coaches we have had through the last several years.
One of favorite memories is the first state title in baseball. We all remember when Archie Bradley pitched us to the state crown in Tulsa, but how many recall the one in 1991? What a trip! We were the best team in the state, and proved with a run through the state tourney in OKC area...but not without a bump in the road. Let Craig Wagoner, one of the stars of that team, explain.
“It was ‘91. As for the pitcher that recorded, I believe to be one too many outs, can’t remember. Want to say Rick Dawes but I’m in no way sure on that....”
Jeremy Fairchild, another star athlete of that era, corrected, “Colby Cook”
“Jeremy is right and I don’t think it was total number of pitches and maybe not even innings or out overall, it may have been appearances without rest.”
“Correct, appearances without rest...”
“Worst part was being on the mound with Dunn and remembering the question of his eligibility to the umps to confirmed it....overnight an overzealous TULSA writer caught the issue (that made no difference as we destroyed the team we played… “
“Agree, tried to steal it and still got ran,” added Fairchild.
The two are referring to a time when the Tigers won a game with Putnam City West, only to find out they were forced to forfeit the win for violation of pitching. So PCW was the only unbeaten. Ellett, my son Kevin and I went down the next day for what we thought would be the title game and found we had lost. But BA won the next game as Jake Remmington and Justin Dill—both freshmen-- joined Dawes, Wagner McCoy and other standouts like Andy Bruner in winning state for Coach Steve Dunn.
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