The High School Game of the Century – Podcast
Capitol Hill quarterback and future three-sport Oklahoma State star Dick Soergel (left). Douglass quarterback Russell Perry (right) demonstrates his vaunted jump pass form.
It was a game like none other in Oklahoma, perhaps American, high school football history. The “colored” team from the wrong side of the tracks versus the “cracker” team from the wrong side of the river. One team’s school was named for famed African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The other team’s players had attended grade schools and junior highs named for Confederate legends like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
iHeartRadio star Gwin Faulconer-Lippert and John take you back to the unforgettable fall evening when an unsanctioned teenagers’ football game broke down the state’s athletic color barrier and many other kinds of walls, and the beginnings of legacies were forged for some of the greatest Oklahomans of the next generation. It’s the eighteenth episode of our weekly OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program and podcast. Go HERE to listen to them all! Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History.
Read John's prior post on this historic game HERE.
OKC Capitol Hill defender and future OSU star Jim Dobson drags down OKC Douglass’s Joe Bruner after a short gain.
“Two of Oklahoma’s mightiest football titans, Capitol Hill and Douglass, carry their proud records and traditions into an historic football engagement here Thursday night….It will be the first major game ever played in the state between white and Negro teams.”
Be sure to check out all of our other episodes of the weekly OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program and podcast. Go HERE to keep up with them all. Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History.
Many thanks to Atwoods Ranch and Home, a farm and ranch supply company based in Enid, Oklahoma, for their support of the Red River Institute of History and OKLAHOMA GOLD! Please support them as you are able! Wherever you are, you can order online from thousands of quality products on their terrific website HERE. Atwoods also has 66 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition to farm and ranch supplies, Atwoods stores sell clothing, lawn and garden items, tools, hardware, automotive supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, firearms, and seasonal items.
