Old Titan Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Sad news: Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World is reporting that legendary former ORU basketball coach Ken Trickey has passed away. Trickey had recently celebrated his 80th birthday, and was battling throat cancer. Tramel will be writing a story soon, and as a long-time friend of Trickey's, he is just the man to do it. For all his foibles, Trickey was a groundbreaker in a lot of ways, and many credit him for launching big-time basketball in the state back in the 70's. He was a true original, a maverick who's sort is seldom seen in today's buttoned-down college basketball scene. RIP, Coach - and thanks for the memories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 prayers to the Trickey family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oruvoice Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I'm glad that the bridges were mended and Trickey was around to be inducted into the ORU Hall of Fame, before he passed. He put ORU on the map. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It's been a sad couple of years for those of us who have relished the history of ORU basketball. We've seen it's founder, Oral Roberts, depart this earth. Bob Brooks, who was AD for many years is gone. Now Ken Trickey, who was at the helm in both lean years and years of plenty, is gone. The primary movers and shakers from the foundations of the program are now all gone. I remember a few years back, during Oral's last visit to Tulsa while he was still living, he and Ken Trickey sat together at Mabee Center, on the front row, while watching a basketball game and I'm sure sharing memories of the old days. I thought at the time it was the passing of an era - now their both gone. OT, I know that Ken Trickey was a close friend of your family's, and I'm sure that this is a particularly poignant time for you as well. I've told the story on here more than once, but I'll share it again - many years ago I used to enjoy listening to someone - I think it was Berry Trammel, but I'm not sure any more - on 1430 host a show on the history of sports around Tulsa. One time he did an interview of Ken Trickey that ran over the course of two shows, talking about the early days at ORU. It was fascinating. I've always wished that I could find a way to get a copy of that. It truly was a TREASURE for anyone loving ORU basketball. I'd still love to hear it again. Prayers from the ORU family to the Trickey Family. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I'm glad that the bridges were mended and Trickey was around to be inducted into the ORU Hall of Fame, before he passed. He put ORU on the map. Amen, brother. Great point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Thanks, Tim for the kind words. Coach Trickey was like an uncle to me, ever since he convinced my dad in 1969 to follow him out here from Murfreesboro, TN "to live with the cowboys and Indians in Oklahoma", as he always liked to say. I'll try to add more later, when time and reflection allow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Titan Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Former ORU coach Ken Trickey dies BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer Tuesday, December 04, 2012 12/4/2012 12:45:55 PM Former Oral Roberts University coach Ken Trickey, one of the most influential and colorful characters in this state’s basketball history, died Tuesday morning. He was 79. Trickey served two tours of duty at ORU, including a five-year stint in the 1970s in which his run-and-shoot teams went 118-23 and scored 100 or more points 55 times. The glory years period was climaxed by a 1973-74 season in which ORU finished one win away from a Final Four. The Titans (that was ORU’s nickname in a pre-Golden Eagles era) lost in overtime to Kansas in an NCAA regional championship game at the Mabee Center. During a 2008 interview, Trickey said he had the time of his life at ORU. “It was just unbelievable,†he said. Current ORU basketball coach Scott Sutton was informed of Trickey’s death and called it a sad day for the university and its athletic department. “It’s amazing what he accomplished in such a short time to go from... 10 years from the time the university was founded (in 1963) to playing for the Final Four and playing at your home arena,†Sutton said. “Without him, there wouldn’t be a Mabee Center probably. I always tell people -- and people have said this -- that (All-American player) Richard Fuqua built the arena. But Ken Trickey recruited Richard. Without Ken, ORU athletics certainly would have taken a lot longer to get on the map.†Trickey created waves that went beyond 81st and Lewis. Other basketball programs in a football-crazy state were essentially guilted into keeping pace with the new kids on the block who gained national publicity. (Sport magazine, a one-time competitor to Sports Illustrated, wrote an article titled “Praise the Lord and pass the ball to Fuqua.â€) If not for Trickey’s success, would Tulsa have hired Nolan Richardson? Would Oklahoma have hired Billy Tubbs? Former Tulsa World sports editor Bill Connors once wrote that ORU’s surge inspired Tulsa, Arkansas, OU and OSU to commit to better things. “I’m not sure Ken Trickey was ever given the credit for the impact he had on basketball in the state of Oklahoma,†former ORU and Tulsa coach Ken Hayes said Tuesday. “We all grew up in the Henry Iba era and, if you coached basketball in Oklahoma, you did everything Mr. Iba’s way and why not? Mr. Iba was, is and always will be the godfather of basketball in the state of Oklahoma. He put together two national championships back-to-back and, besides being a great coach, he was a great human being and everybody that ever met him will always hold him in awe. But when Ken Trickey came in... and said we’ve got to put up 100 shots a game, he introduced an exciting brand of basketball.†Former Oklahoma State coach and Iba disciple Eddie Sutton said Trickey was “unorthodox†in the way his teams played. “But he was very successful,†Sutton said. “He did things a lot of other coaches probably weren’t teaching at the time and now there are coaches who are teaching basically the same way he did things.†Trickey grew up in Cairo, Ill., and knew he wanted to be a coach because the coach in his hometown “was the best-looking guy I had ever seen. He was like a father to me. I had been able to have chosen my father, I would have picked him.†Trickey became a multi-sport athlete at Middle Tennessee State and finished his basketball career as the program’s all-time leading scorer. He became a coach in Cairo and MTSU during a period when both schools integrated athletics. Trickey wasn’t trying to break color barriers. He just wanted to play the best players. ORU founder Oral Roberts wanted to use athletics to spread his ministry and hired Trickey. Roberts and Trickey (who wasn’t in awe of the evangelist) became friends and the coach got everything he asked for, including the use of an airplane to go recruiting anywhere and everywhere during a time when there was no such thing as a “dead†period. “It was big-time,†Trickey said in 2008. Knowing that he was on Iba turf, Trickey made a splash at his introductory press conference by saying he wanted to score 100 points a game. He once told a national writer that he didn’t mind giving up 120 points as long as his team scored 140. Subsequent words and actions earned Trickey a maverick label. Trickey scoffed at coaches who fancied themselves as great tacticians or strategists. “They like to think they are Patton,†he said. He admitted he would rather play games four or five times a week than practice. He gave media carte blanche access, letting reporters come into the locker room at halftime. Eccentric? “He was a breath of fresh air,†Hayes said, adding that he and Trickey were friends when they were crosstown rivals. Trickey’s maverick behavior continued at the peak of his success. Near the end of his Elite Eight season, he announced he was stepping down and, in 2008, he said he did it because some people on campus were getting too meddlesome (they wanted him to coach a different way) and “uppity.†The announcement came before he was pulled over for suspicion of DWI. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of careless driving and said he could have stayed at ORU, if he chose to do so. Trickey became the head coach at Iowa State and immediately realized he didn’t fit. He lasted two seasons. He also coached at Oklahoma City University and the junior college level before returning to ORU for a second tour of duty from 1987-93, when he shepherded a temporary drop from the NCAA to the NAIA. Trickey also coached at Muskogee High School and was an observer of officials for the Big 12 until a car accident led to impaired vision. After his career ended, he remained pleasantly contrary, saying if he was coaching today, he might scrap his preferred style of play and recruit suburban kids to run a Princeton offense. He was different until the end. “I never understood why everybody wanted to be like everybody else,†Trickey said. Trickey was like nobody else. In this March 14, 1974 file photo, Oral Roberts (left) with Ken Trickey during the NCAA tournament at Oral Roberts University. Tulsa World File Copyright © 2012, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I don't remember where I heard him tell this story - it must have been the interview that I mentioned above, because I really didn't hear him speak any other time that I can remember - Trickey claimed that in the midst of declining university revenues in the 80s Oral was ready to drop athletics completely (may have just been basketball, but I think it was all sports). Trickey told Oral that he thought that if they dropped down to NAIA that he could run the athletic program in a manner that would be affordable to the university, and did so, overseeing the department during those lean NAIA years. Had he not convinced Oral to make the move to NAIA rather than drop the program completely, we might not have the program that we have today. I think I've got that right - any thoughts or corrections on that, OT? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOLO_Gold Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It may be a pipe dream, but how cool would it be to cast a statue of Oral and Coach Trickey and place it in front of the Mabee Center? This photo brought that to life for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUalum Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 great idea SOLO_Gold. ORU definately needs more athletic traditions on campus. i've thought they should put blue filters on the flood lights that light up the prayer tower after victories ala Baylor with the tower that they light up green. they could also do the Ole Miss/Archie Manning thing and set the on campus speed limit to 15 to honor Anthony Roberts and Kevi Luper. i'm just not sure there are enough alumni, students, or administrators that care enough about athletics to establish some tradition, but an OR and Trickey statue would be very fitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Ken Trickey web site, includes obituary, as well as links to 2008 World article by Jimmy Trammel and an SI article in 1980. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUJason Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I'm pretty sure the radio program that chronicled Ken Trickey was "Voices of Sports Legends" with Barry Lewis (Tulsa World sports writer). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I'm pretty sure the radio program that chronicled Ken Trickey was "Voices of Sports Legends" with Barry Lewis (Tulsa World sports writer). Thanks, Jason. That was it. I'd sure love to hear that again. Maybe they will break that tape out of mothballs. Joleen Minyard posted a photo on Facebook of Trickey and Oral at Mabee Center a while back, being greeted by Eddie Sutton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 TheEagleman was at the game where that photo above was taken and I was sitting just on the other side of the photographer that day......this is a very sad day....ORU owes a lot to Ken Trickey....a fine coach and always a nice guy to TheEagleman when he was a reporter for the Oracle....the statue idea of Oral and Trickey together is a great idea....those are the two guys who built ORU basketball.....those years from about 1970-74 were magical....I was there in 72-73 and 73-74.....frankly, ORU could have won the NCAA title in 73-74...it was there for the taking...the Kansas game still haunts TheEagleman to this day.....give me the sweats just to think about those last two minutes of regulation....two nights before when we beat Louisville at Mabee Center in the NCAA 2nd round was one of the most exciting games in ORU roundball history....and arguably one of our biggest wins....but I will always remember Coach Trickey....great guy and a great coach...RIP.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SOLO_Gold Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I'm sure it would be an incredible price tag, but does anyone have any idea the cost range for something like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmh8286 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I'm sure it would be an incredible price tag, but does anyone have any idea the cost range for something like that? Of what, Gold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I'm sure it would be an incredible price tag, but does anyone have any idea the cost range for something like that? I am finding quotes between $20,000 and $50,000 for a life size sculpture of one person, so probably double that. My suggestion would be to see how much can be raised for it and scale the sculpture accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texasgrip Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 ...but how cool would it be to cast a statue of Oral and Coach Trickey and place it in front of the Mabee Center? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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