From Ballerinas to Football Players

The ballerina seems so diminu- junior ballet performance ma- tive and elegant, so deceptively jor from Tulsa, and Davin Jo- fragile being lifted by her pow- seph, a Hallandale, Florida, erfully built, athletic partner. senior majoring in sociology In his Sooner football uniform, and opposing-team annihila- he is a solid, commanding, tion. At 6-foot-3, 306 pounds, even forbidding presence. An Joseph was more accustomed odd couple indeed—but gaz- ro manhandling would-be ing out from the colorful stu- tacklers than supporting a pe- denr recruiting poster, they tite, 5-foot-2 ballerina, who make their point: the Univer- might weigh 115 pounds soak- sity of Oklahoma has it all. ing wet—but he was definitely The original version of this the man for the job. classic posrer was issued in A leading candidate for 1985, a national champion- post-season honors and a solid ship year. The football player student on schedule to gradu- was rwo-time consensus All- ate, Joseph was a two-year American Tony Casillas, win- starrer at righr guard, before ner of the Lombardi Trophy, switching to left tackle dur- UPI national lineman-of-the- ing spring 2005. Last season, year, Big Eight defensive player while lining up beside cur- of the year, who added two rent NFL linemen Jammal rings to his jew- Brown and Vince Carter, who elry collecrion as a member of garnered the media attention, the . The sec- Joseph was acknowledged by ond overall draft choice in coaches and teammates as the 1986, he played 13 seasons in leader of the offensive line rhe NFL. He is now president and its best player. of T.C. Oil and Gas Com- Gammell is held in similar pany and lives in Flower All-American Tony Casillas lifts ballerina Debra Dermyer in esteem within the School of Mound, Texas. In August this classic OU student recruitment poster from 1985. Dance, where director Mary 2005, he was inducred into Margaret Holt cannot say the Hall of Fame. enough about her talent, motivation and academic achieve- The ballerina, Debra Dermyer, rhough less well-known, had ments. Gammell has had principal roles in many of the OU's a compelling story ofher own, coming to Norman from a staunch ballet productions, including the pas de deux in last fall's Don Cornhusker family because only at OU could she study both Quixote and three of the ballets in the 2005 summer season. ballet and chemical engineering. She eventually switched to She was part of the Oklahoma Festival Ballet tour to accounting, worked for Amoco in Tulsa, then earned a civil Claremont-Ferrand, France, in June 2004. engineering degree from the University of Nebraska. After The intention was to duplicate exactly the style chosen by several years with Black & Veatch engineering, she is now Debra 1985 photographer Gil Jain—the two figures against a black Dermyer-Lamb, mother of two daughters, living in Lees Sum- backdrop—but Joseph's big, toorhy smile and the pair's instant mit, Missouri. rapport changed the focus. Off came the football helmet that Very few of those 1985 posters survive, framed in campus earlier had masked Casillas' expression, and instead of Rupel offices, jealously guarded by their owners. OU First Lady Molly Jones Theatre's darkened stage, photographer Shevaun Will- Shi Boren spotted one and spearheaded an effort ro create a new iams set up shop in the dazzling new Reynolds Center perfor- version. The 2005 edition has new models and a new back- mance hall (see story on Page 4). After all, a bold claim like "We ground but with the same message, albeit with a syntax upgrade: Have It All!" really should be made in the classiest setting "We've Got It All!" in 1985, but "We Have It All!" today. available, one that combines the glories of the past with the Recruited for the poster remake were Melissa Gammell, a promise of the future. —CJB pg SOONER MAGAZINE