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Hall of Fame!


titansforever

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Sam McCants in the ORU HOF?....LOL.....TheEagleman had a lot of exposure to McCants back in the day....he was a very good PG (a transfer from FSU) but only played one year before he "disappeared" from campus....not sure whether he became academically ineligible or whether he was let go for "other reasons" but let's just say that "Sudden Sam" wasn't exactly the prototype of the ORU Whole Man.....hard to believe that he attended many classes and the lad was always popular with the ladies on and off campus....TheEagleman had really good inside sources back then telling me that Sammy and others on the team had an off campus crib back then where the good times were always flowing and the Honor Code wasn't in force....LOL....but that aside....McCants could really ball....he was not a great outside shooter but he could take the ball to the rack and was a fine passer distributing the ball to Anthony Roberts, Greg McDougald and Eddie Woods....he played on the team that lost in OT to Kansas in the Elite 8 at Mabee Center....that loss still sticks in my craw 43 years later....we should have gone to the Final Four and could have won the whole thing......but that's life.....glad to hear that Sam is going in the HOF and that he is still alive.....:?:

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From what I heard, they had a difficult time finding McCants to give him this honor....

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Eagleman,

i read an article about ORU alum and amateur historian David Barton claiming the there was a big drug culture in ORU athletics (especially basketball) back in the heyday of the early and mid-seventies.  he claims to have exposed the wrong doing to school officials, received death threats, and had to be escorted to and from class by security.

does any of this ring true to you?  in the past he has also claimed to been on the basketball team at ORU, so I don't know how reputable he is.  i'd be curious to know if you knew Barton and what you make of his claims.

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No surprise that they had trouble locating McCants....maybe a call to Leavenworth did the trick......lol....just kidding.....yeah, I remember Dave Barton...nice kid....straight arrow.....graduated with me in 1976...I remember him as being a guy with smarts and I had some classes with him but did not know him well...he was NOT on the basketball team....but he probably knew something and I would have to agree with some of what was said....I am not aware of death threats but certainly would not be surprised at drug use and wild parties involving players....I did have some info on that but as a reporter for the Oracle there was no way my editors where ever going to allow that stuff to be printed and Dean Hamilton had final say on every issue back then BEFORE it went to print.....and believe me, I was called into Dr. Hamiltons' office on more than one occasion to discuss things I wrote....besides, I had friends on the team and no way I was going to be a stoolie...I was only 19 at the time.....look, back when we were kids, many of us had our youthful indiscretions and TheEagleman didn't mean to cast any dispersions on McCants' character...I myself committed a few honor code violations here and there but who's counting...lol....let he who is without sin cast the first stone.....but for the year McCants attended ORU there were a long list of "unusual" goings on involving Sam...he and some others loved to party....let's just say that Coach Trickey apparently didn't ask many questions or have a curfew....I observed some things and only heard about others....knew some guys that attended "parties" involving the team and Anthony Roberts drove a nice brand new Cadillac or Lincoln...gold color as I recall...where did he get the $$$ for that?...lol....(local car dealer Tink Wilkerson was a huge ORU supporter back then and a close friend of OR....so I am sure the vehicle was "loaned" to Woosie).....ORU had some characters back in those glory days and a lot of rules were bent.......but we sure could play ball with the best in the country and ORU won a lot of games.....Sam was an integral part of the great 1973-74 team that beat Syracuse and Louisville in the NCAA Tournament and came up just short in OT vs. Kansas.....they were all wonderful games.....lots of good memories of that season....TheEagleman hopes that Sam is doing well and looking forward to seeing him walk onto the Mabee Center floor again....but yeah, with the conservative views of the current administration, TheEagleman is very surprised to see that Sam McCants is being accorded this honor....wonderful basketball player but he certainly never embraced the ORU Whole Man Concept .....:eagles:

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Some people might not be happy to hear what I have to say, but I don't think that Sam should be in the Hall of Fame.  I don't think he should even be eligible based on the fact that he only played one season at ORU.  

Does anyone know if there are any rules or minimum requirements for eligibility or nomination to the ORU Hall of Fame?  I looked around online but couldn't find anything.  In my opinion, there should be at least a two-year participation or letter-earning minimum requirement for anyone that's played a sport at ORU to even be eligible for consideration for the Hall of Fame.

And how does character play into an athlete's nomination or potential election into the HOF?  I believe it's very important because it's ORU that we're speaking of.  All representatives of ORU should be held to a higher standard.  We don't have an honor code for nothing, it's meant to be respected and honored.  I don't think it's anything to laugh at when we hear about transgressions that occurred either publicly or 'behind closed doors.'  Are there worse sins than others?  I don't want to get started on a theological discussion on the various grades of sin, if they even exist, but you can't tell me that getting caught drinking for example is worse than getting caught sleeping with someone who you're not married to.  The world we live in will typically/potentially judge those who have represented or currently represent ORU in a harsher light than others because of the higher standard that they know we're supposed to have had or have.  It's like the preachers and televangelists, and how people judge churches and 'church people' in this country and around the world because we're supposedly held to a higher standard.  And not to preach, but if we are living the life that God wants us to live, and we're following him, then it follows that we should have less to worry about when it comes to the temptations of this world.

It's obviously interesting, and maybe inherently more interesting in the the context of the ORU Hall of Fame, when the question of whether character should be considered when an athlete is voted for or against his or her election to a Hall of Fame.  We've heard how there are plenty of scoundrels in the Baseball HOF and in the Halls of Fame of the other professional sports.  What about Wilt Chamberlain for example?  His athletic accomplishments and records while in the NBA speak for themselves, but on a personal level, he was not known as being chaste, and yet that didn't prevent him from being elected to the Basketball HOF.  Again I think that when we look at the ORU Hall of Fame, character, and what we may know about it, in my opinion, should matter greatly in deciding if an athlete should be elected or not.  As human beings we're not perfect, and although we may be forgiven, what's done is done and there's no way to erase what's been done from the minds of those in this world, and that includes the world within the bubble that is the ORU community.

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thanks for the context Eagleman; so there was some truth to Barton's claims.......

credit to Mike Carter for honoring the players from back then that made ORU a national power.  perhaps it would have made more sense to just induct the entire elite 8 team as a group.  it is a bit odd to induct a guy that played one season and was apparently kicked off the team.  hopefully this will be a great honor for McCants and will mean a lot to him and his family.  my favorite HOF ceremony was watching Arnold Dugger.....he seemed absolutely thrilled

interesting discussion of McCants being drafted twice by the NBA and his odd college career......link

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Blue/Gold....unfortunately, I have to agree with you....McCants was a tremendously skilled ball handler, slasher and distributor...a real floor general whose skills ORU could surely use this season.....but off the court he was a total disaster...a true ORU nightmare..i remember him being on campus as a non playing student my freshman year...I guess he had to sit out a year after his transfer from FSU...he was quite a character to say the least.....now that was over 40 years ago and maybe the guy is an fine upstanding Pastor today...I have no idea....but character should surely be a big part of the HOF selection process....didn't anyone ask around?....Sam was a fun guy to be around...but he was a bad boy...and if I was partying with him then I would have gotten the boot but he never invited me...lol.....he did love the ladies...had that great smile that captivated the girls along with his basketball skills....he was a Florida kid who I am fairly certain got kicked out of Florida State...but don't quote me on that......and as I said, I never heard officially but I am sure he was let go from ORU for academic or rules violations....Arnold Dugger came in the year after with his Juco Coach Jerry Hale and he was a totally different dude.......Arnold was a class guy and a gentleman......I liked him very much.......great PG and a funny sense of humor....Arnold is a fine selection to the HOF....McCants is not.....:unsure:

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By the way...TheEagleman agrees that I would induct that entire 1973-74 team as a whole....not McCants as an individual.....but I also have to reiterate that many of the things I mentioned above were things that I heard about 2nd hand and was not witness to...my impression back in 1973-74 was that McCants was no choir boy....but again, I wasn't there all the time.....but he almost always had a hot babe on his arm when walking around campus....gotta admire that.....I guess it was that infectious smile......:|:P;-)

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Interesting debate here - some good points on both sides of the question re: HOF worthiness at a place like ORU.

Let me put it this way:  I was very surprised to learn that Sam McCants would be inducted into the Hall Of Fame at this time, by the current administration in both Athletics and on the hill.

"And that's all I've got to say about that..." (in Forrest Gump voice)

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On 1/6/2017 at 0:05 PM, ORUalum said:

amateur historian David Barton

I find this to be the most accurate descriptor of his work.

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On 1/8/2017 at 8:51 PM, ManiacAlum said:

I find this to be the most accurate descriptor of his work.

i was attempting to be as charitable as i could about his "scholarship"........haha.

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Didn't we have a thread a couple years ago somewhere specifically on David Barton?...(see free for all board in 2012)....I know he's a controversial character.....so any Sam McCants sightings on the ORU campus yet?....lock up your women and children!....LOL.....;-):P

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What's so bizarre about his comments is...did he think the mid-1970s was a time just so far back in recorded history that no one would check? He's told stories about himself playing basketball at ORU more than once. That's moving from pseudo-historian to just full on pathological liar.

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ORU had a couple of small white boy guards back in the early to mid-70's but none of them were named David Barton.....one of them was a kid from Queens, NY named Kevin Dublynn (1973-77) who was a friend of mine....he and I and a few other goofballs from Youngblood and Brotherhood used to go to the Tulsa Ice Oiler hockey games at the old Tulsa Civic Center....good times.....I guess that Tulsa Civic Center is gone now?....TU used to play home basketball games there....the first ever ORU vs. TU game was played there ....:P

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Kevin Dublynn was a trip - and Billy Van Horn!  He was the the other "little white guy" from that era; looked like Steve Buscemi - had the "crazy eyes" thing going on... :blink:

The Civic Center is now called the Cox Business Center, and it's still there (though it doesn't host many events of general interest anymore)  http://coxcentertulsa.com/

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Thanks for the info on the old Civc Center...it was really a dump even in the 70s....LOL....I remember Billy Van Horn....he was a goofy looking guy and he did go to a hockey game with us once or twice....and another was Jeff Holtgrewe....I remember a road opener in maybe 1974-75 where as a freshman Holtgrewe was pressed into action because we got into foul trouble and Dugger may have fouled out....Jeff hit a late FT in the final few seconds to give ORU a win at Texas A&M maybe 85-84 or something like that....Dublynn and Van Horn usually only got into games in garbage time but both were spunky little players.....Kevin was such a nice kid....my son is partially named after him because my ex wife and i...we liked the name and the kid....I kept in touch with Kevin for a few years after graduating (he was one year behind me) and travelled to Va. Tech in 1977 to see ORU beat the Hokies and meet up with Kevin for a few laughs. Coach Jerry Hale even comped me and my dad a couple of really good tickets behind the ORU bench that night...and TheEagleman was interviewed as the halftime guest by ORU radio broadcaster Jerry Vaughn that night.....;-)

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Anybody know if Sam McCants is actually showing up for his induction tomorrow?...Did some online checking last night on Sam McCants and found some interesting stuff....there is a mugshot from 2010 in Florida when Sam was arrested for drug violations and littering....he doesn't look real healthy in the photo but it definitely is Sudden Sam who is now 66.....for those of you who never got to see Sam play...he was pretty good....one of the most prolific Florida HS players in history and went to FSU for a year but that was when freshman were not eligible...not sure why he left but he transferred to ORU and sat out the 72-73 season.....he was a big time shooter in HS but never showed much of an outside shot with ORU probably because we had Anthony Roberts, Greg McDougald and Al Boswell...he drained a few from the outside but he was more of a slasher, take it to the hole kind of player in my recollection....wonderful ball handler and passer and floor general....he was one of the key cogs in that run to the Elite 8 in 1974....that was a magical year and Sam was a very talented 6-3 PG....too bad he had other issues which probably hindered him from a career in the NBA......TheEagleman will be interested to hear about his induction on Saturday afternoon....:oru-logo:

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