1 2 SOONER MAGAZINE n the morning of the 1942 Kansas-Oklahoma basket- ball game at Lawrence, Bruce Drake, youngish Sooner coach, 0was taking a walk about the Kansas campus to calm his nerves . Back in a Lawrence hotel, Drake had put his young squad to bed so they could store up energy for the contest . It was January, and as Drake, walk- ing briskly in the stinging cold, pass- ed Hoch Auditorium a strident "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" yell boomed out. Obviously, the frenzied cheering came from the Crimson and Blue stu- dent body in the midst of a rally for the Oklahoma game that night. With nothing better to do, the Sooner coach walked to the door and paused to lis- ten. To his surprise, he heard his own name mentioned . Curious, he en- tered, standing in the rear . Dr. For- rest C. "Phog" Allen, the eminent Kansas coach who had just been rated the No. 1 basketball mentor in the On the court or on the bench, he was a classy little nation by Helms Foundation, was on the rostrum . Allen was attacking guy - spirited, competitive, tireless - but perhaps Drake for his part in an eligibility his finest hour was his struggle with a 7-foot giant. ruckus involving Gerald "Flats" Tucker, Oklahoma's sophomore star, who as a freshman had transferred from Kansas State to Norman and had been forbidden to play for Okla- homa until the second semester . Ob- viously, the Kansas coach didn't BRUCE DRAKE know that Drake was within miles of the rally. Allen charged that Lawrence "Jap" and the Haskell, Sooner athletic director, was a paid baseball scout for the Boston Red Sox, which Haskell readily ad- mitted and everybody in Oklahoma Goal Tending knew . War He also maintained that Drake himself was subsidized when he played as a student at Norman- This was erroneous- Drake let the Kansas coach finish, then walked down the aisle to the stage, identified himself and asked for equal speaking time to rebut the charges . It was a nervy thing to do- The Oklahoma coach was physically outnumbered about 4,000 to 1 by an assemblage highly fevered by the ap- proaching game . Allen granted the permission . The Kansas student throng sport- ingly gave the Sooner coach a hand and listened closely as Drake vigor- ously stated Oklahoma's side of the By HAROLD KEITH 1984 WINTER 13 Tucker eligibility dispute. Drake was lack and Bill Haller for his position . around the Hillyard ace with the still talking when the classroom bells When Coach Hugh McDermott start- dribble - delighted the crowd . The rang, denoting the end of the free ed two of them ahead of Drake in an Sooners upset the Hillyards that period . Allen sent a note to Drake, in- early game, Bruce promptly walked night, 30-22 . It was in this game that forming him that time was up. to the dressing room, took off his uni- the first goal tending by a Sooner "This is the wrong time for time to form, donned his street clothing and player occurred . With a minute to be up," Drake responded . "I have a lot watched the game from the stands . play, Vic Holt, 6-6 Sooner center, more facts to present." He ably de- Impressed with the lad's assurance, leaped above the ring to palm a long tailed Oklahoma's side of the Tucker McDermott had a talk with him, ex- shot by George Starbuck, Hillyard argument, after which the Kansas plaining the high value all coaches guard. students applauded him warmly . placed upon experience. Continuing Drake played forward on Several of them shook his hand as he to burn up the floor in practice, McDemott's strong 1928 Oklahoma left the stage and walked to the door . sophomore Drake soon convinced team that finished 18-0 to win the This act was typical of Bruce "The Little Scotchman," as McDer- Missouri Valley conference cham- Drake. A spirited, competitive per- mott was called, that he was the pionship . In 1929 the old conference son, he relished all such challenges finest forward on the squad despite was broken up and became the Big and accepted them joyfully. That his varsity immaturity. Six. As a senior that season, Drake night, Kansas decisively won the He believed strongly in himself on was the guard and captain of game in which Tucker could not play . the court, too. The national AAU McDermott's team that again won the But in a later contest at Norman, champions, the famous Hillyards of conference championship, this time Drake's Sooners won, 63-51, with St. Joseph, Missouri, came to Norman with a 10-0 record . Tucker, the high scorer with 22 in December 1927 for a game with the With delicate artistry, Drake saved points, dominating the floor. The two Sooners in the old Armory . The game the latter mark in the final moment schools tied for the Big Six cham- was refereed by Ernie Quigley, well- of his final college game . Missouri led pionship at 8-2 each . known National League baseball by three. Spectacularly employing his umpire. Forest "Red" DeBernardi, the broken field dribble (he was the finest Hillyard captain, was then the great- dribbler I ever saw), he twice cut his est basketball player in the world. way the court's full length through As an athlete at Oklahoma, Drake Drake, brash Sooner sophomore, the entire Tiger team and threaded exuded pride and self-confidence . deliberately sought out DeBernardi the hoop . The Sooners won by one. When he broke in as a sophomore on the court, and their duel with each In 1927, weighing only 165 pounds, forward, coming from Oklahoma City trying to out-finesse the other - De- Drake went out for football at Okla- High School where his coach was Roy Bernardi defying Drake's best efforts homa and lettered two seasons at Bennett, he had to compete against to steal the ball from him and Drake quarterback although he had never three lettermen, Gene West, Les Nib- faking a pass and then flashing played the game in high school nor as Gerald Tucker, left, Bruce Drake's greatest player at Oklahoma, enlisted his former mentor as his assistant in coaching the U.S. basketball team to the gold medal in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. 1 4 SOONER MAGAZINE Mrs- Drake a letter concerning Bruce: "I believe the thing I remember most about Bruce - other than the times I used to borrow five cents from him to buy cokes when I was little and obnoxious (and you could still buy cokes for five cents at the old Field House) was the time we went fishing at Creede (Colorado). There were Bruce, John Grayson, Harold Keith and me . Why they invited me, I'll never understand . "One day when Harold and John were already on the river, Bruce whispered that he would take me quietly to Ruby Lake, and we would snare bigger fish - and more of them - than H. Keith or Grayson com- bined. I remember how tired I got walking up that mountain trail. Bruce, foreseeing that I was young an OU freshman . In track, he was a Drake, at right, continued to work for and therefore not up to walking all corking pole-vaulter, winning the the shorter player with his uniformly that way, rented a horse for me to Rice Relays and Kansas Relays small 1951-55 teams, developing the ride. What a great move! We finally championships. At Oklahoma City "Drake Shuffle." Here he giues some arrived at Ruby about noon . time-out pointers High School, he not only participated to his star of that "Well, he spent more time showing era, Lester Lane (#25) . in most of the major sports, but made me how to throw that fly on the water the cross country team and was un- than he did fishing himself, which beatable at handball . at the climax of all the rocketry, we was always like Bruce. He got a kick As a senior Drake won the Dad's would fire a "Talking Bomb ." Awed, out of helping other folks, something Day Award given to the University's the kids waited nervously . Ken Far- you don't find in many people any- outstanding man in scholarship and ris, then a student assistant in my of- more. The trout were so big and plen- activities, and also a Letzeiser Medal fice, was also there with his family . tiful up there that we threw big ones as an outstanding senior man. He was At the appointed time, we lighted back in the water knowing we would a member ofAlpha Tau Omega social an ordinary sky rocket . With a swish catch even bigger ones . fraternity. On April 19, 1930, the and a roar, it soared and detonated, "In the cabin, after we returned, year after he joined the OU physical bursting colorfully across the sky . Bruce kept a straight face and told education faculty, he was married to Breathlessly, the little Keiths, the lit- Grayson and Dad how we had caught Myrtle Tosh of Oklahoma City. He tle Drakes and the little Farrises lis- all those big cutthroats right there in succeeded McDermott as the Sooner tened. Then it came . From out of the the river, where they had been fish- basketball coach in 1939 . heavens a voice spoke in spectral ing all day (author's note : with undis- tones, "Hooray for the American tinguished results) . Every fish we Eagle!" flopped out there for them to see was The kids gasped in abashment.