Bootlegger’s Boy still having fun at 70
Barry Switzer is a septuagenarian. Oh, where has the time gone? Berry Tramel of The Daily Oklahoman writes about Switzer reaching the milestone and the rich life the iconic coach has lived.
In case you didn’t know, Switzer is now the equivalent of royalty in Oklahoma. His win-loss record with the Sooners was 157-29-4. Not too shabby.
Of course, before Switzer became famous, he grew up in Crossett and attended the University of Arkansas, where he was a center and linebacker during his collegiate days and an assistant under Frank Broyles in his postgraduate life. Here is an excerpt from the Tramel’s column:
Bud Wilkinson won as big as Switzer and wasn’t as beloved. Bob Stoops is winning as big as Switzer and isn’t as beloved. This goes beyond football.
This goes back to Frank Switzer, the bootlegger from southern Arkansas, the man described by his son as “a man’s man. Old-school guy.”
Old-school but progressive. A southern bootlegger with a liberal bent.
“Great compassion for the black community,” Switzer said. “He took care of them,” and 20, 30, 40 years later, his son felt and feels the same way about all different kinds of people.
Which is why Barry Switzer, who drives big cars and lives in a big house and still flies in a big plane to a big city to work at a big network, still relates to the little guy.
“It’s the common touch,” Switzer said. “I can walk the streets of Idabel or Bowlegs, I can sit down with the truck driver or the farmer, and I can relate to them. They can relate to me.
“I’ve always been able to do that. Make people around me comfortable. I’m approachable. Helped me in recruiting. Helped me tremendously.”
But he says it wasn’t always so. Says back in Crossett, Ark., in the early 1950s, he was an introvert.
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