BARRY
SWITZER

Bootlegger's Boy
WITH BUD SHRAKE

When Barry Switzer stepped down as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners on June 16, 1989, he was the fourth most successful coach in NCAA history and, some say, "next to God," the most revered figure in the state of Oklahoma.

For sixteen years, Barry Switzer was both reviled and praised by the media as the supposed "outlaw" of college football, characterized as "the greatest rogue, pirate, hustler, and con man" ever to command a football team.

He is inarguably one of the most successful recruiters, motivators, and strategists ever to deliver a halftime speech.  His tireless efforts brought a long succession of All-Americans, Outland and Heisman trophy winners, Orange Bowls, and conference championships during his tenure - not to mention numerous victories over Oklahoma's heated rivals, in Nebraska, Texas, and elsewhere.

Within the rigid racial boundaries of southern society in the 1940s and 1950s, Barry Switzer was brought up in an unconventional multiracial world of black market whiskey and sports.  Before Barry graduated from college, his mother died by her own hand.  Not many years later, his father also died in an eerie circumstance that tragically reflected the trauma and turmoil of Barry's childhood.

Eventually, Barry Switzer was brought down, not by his own practices, but by the excesses of some unruly players, the media hysteria that resulted, and the witch-hunt that ensued at Oklahoma University.  Barry has now turned his back on college coaching for good - there is nothing left to restrain his legendary candor.  Here are but a few of the bombshells:

• amazing revelations of the conditions of employment under which Barry labored during his career at Oklahoma;


• a foiled attempt to plant drugs on an Oklahoma player;


• an open letter to Brian Bosworth;


• the mysterious circumstances surrounding the false criminal charges that forced Barry's resignation;


• the whole story of the Marcus Dupree affair, including the role played in it by a major national sports publication;

a point-by-point expose of the NCAA's accusations against the Oklahoma football program;

• and much, much more.

This book is Barry's chance to speak the true about his own techniques for recruiting players, the strategy and mindset that made his teams great, and some of the unrealistic and insensitive NCAA regulations that many coaches around the country feel they must circumvent if they are to be fair to the players in their "football families."  And he tells us what he feels about the directions the NCAA is now heading in a number of controversial areas and the impact it is having on disadvantage blacks.

As Barry is quick to point out, this isn't a "Bo, or Joe, or Lou book."  His story isn't plain vanilla.

Bud Shrake is a journalist and screenwriter who is the coauthor with Willie Nelson of a previous biography.  He lives in Austin, Texas.

"This is an important book because it shows a side of big-time football that, to be frank with you, I naively didn't really believe existed."
- From the Foreword by JOE PATERNO

"Bootlegger's Boy is a dazzling run for a touchdown if ever I've seen one.  Funny, tragic, informative, revealing...  Barry Switzer and Bud Shrake knock you out of your jock with the truth about big-time football - and America."
- DAN JENKINS

I Believe
Grant Teaff

"I believe."  That phrase captures not only the words, but the spirit and soul of the man who led Baylor University to its first Southwest Conference football championship in fifty years.

Grant Teaff is a man who radiates warm human qualities - on and off the field.  He is a football coach who maintains a loving concern for people, a quiet confidence in others as well as himself, and the desire to do his best at anything he undertakes.

I Believe is the story of Baylor's efforts to gain the SWC championship - and yet it is more than that.  It is the story of the man behind the team, the man from Snyder, Texas, who began his collegiate coaching career at McMurry College.  It is the story of a man dedicated to his team, his family, and above all, to his God.  The impact of Grant Teaff's career - and his life - reaches far beyond the scoreboard as he influences and molds the lives of young men.

Sam Blair, sports editor and daily columnist for the Dallas Morning News has won awards for his football, golf, and baseball writing.  His articles have appeared in Sporting News, Pro Quarterback, Golf Digest.  His work has been selected for the anthology Best Short Stories which is published nationally each year.

He is a ten-time winner in the annual Golf Writers of America competition, having been honored in the three divisions: news writing, column writing, and magazine writing.  This is his third book.

Sooner Century
100 GLORIOUS YEARS OF OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL

In 1895, the University of Oklahoma started building one of the greatest traditions in college football history.  This history is now celebrated in the book, SOONER CENTURY: 100 Glorious Years of Oklahoma Football.

Authored by Oklahoma native and OU graduate, J. Brent Clark, SOONER CENTURY is the complete look back at the great Sooner football tradition.  You'll relive every thrilling moment, from the first games played in Norman, to the program's rise to national prominence, to the present.

SOONER CENTURY was commissioned by the OU Foundation and underwritten by The Daily Oklahoman and the OU Touchdown Club.  With the forward written by OU President David Boren and Athletic Director Donnie Duncan, SOONER CENTURY is definitely the official history of OU football.

This unique 9" x 12" commemorative gives you hundreds of historic photographs, many in color, to compliment the rich stories of OU football's greatest moments.  These memories are preserved in a hand-tooled hard-bound cover richly embossed with the Sooners' 100th anniversary logo and wrapped in a colorful dustjacket, for proud display in any home or office.  This once-in-a-lifetime collectable is a must for every football fan.  If you are a Sooner fan, this book will be one of your most treasured keepsakes.

About the Author

J. Brent Clark is a native Oklahoman.  He was born and reared in Holdenville and was educated at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1971.  Subsequently, he attended Merton College, Oxford University, England.  Returning to Oklahoma, he obtained his law degree from OU in 1975.  He has been a practicing attorney for twenty years with an emphasis on public finance law.  However, he has always been an interested observer of the Oklahoma Sooners.  His first book, 3rd Down and Forever: Joe Don Looney & the Rise & Fall of an American Hero, was a critically acclaimed sports biography of an  enigmatic Sooner personality.  The book won the 1994 Oklahoma Book Award for nonfiction.  Clark continues to write articles on the psychology of sport and practice law while working on his next book.  He maintains homes in Norman and Kansas City where he lives with his wife and two sons.

In What It Means to Be a Sooner, many of Oklahoma's greatest players and coaches recall with enthusiasm, honesty, and emotion the years they spent at the University of Oklahoma, a time in which they contributed to one of college football's most glorious traditions.

"What does it mean to be a Sooner?

"When I look at that Switzer Center on OU's campus, I realize it represents thousands of other people.  We all did it here in Norman.  We all accomplished the success that we all enjoyed.  It wasn't just me.  They put my name up there on that building because somebody's name had to be on it, but it represents everybody.

"I think that we have some of the greatest fans in the world.  Now I sit up there and watch  the games and I am one of them.  They support Oklahoma, win, lose, or draw.

"Sooners are proud people.

"Like the song says, 'I am Sooner born and Sooner bred, and when I die, I'll be a Sooner dead.'"