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oklahornatoday corn $3.95 o 74470 66717 9 - - ur Price N o f Vow,. :* .*' ON TH1 E M a ' T H E Y E A R I N R E V I E W LOUISA MCCUNE atori n Chi4 An Director: STEVEN WALKER, WALKER CREATIVE. INC.; Smior Editor: STEFFIE CORCORAN; Associate l3wcA IMEE WNNEBERGER; E$irorialAssistan~P:RISCILLA MOHNKERN, ANDREA LOPEZ WALKER; Edi~rrrtllnrmtS:HELDON BEACH; GencralManager:MELANIE MAYBERRY; Advming Dirceroc WALT DISNEY; Account E*cmtiw~:R OGER JOHNSON, KIM RYAN; Production Managrc COLLEEN MCINTYRE; Accounrant: LISA BRECKENRIDGE; O&c Manager BECKY ISAAC; Oj?reAssutanl: MELANIE HOLT JOAN HENDERSON Publisher Oklahoma Tourism and Rrrrcahn Drpamncnr JANEJ AYROE Excmtive Dirrcror Tmrrirmand Remation Commision LT. GOV. MARY FALLIN, Charr ROBYN BATSON, STAN CLARK, JOE HARWOOD. BOYD LEE, JOEM ARTIN, JANIS RICKS, HAL SMITH, ROBERT WATSON FRANK KEATING, Governor Contributing editor Gene Wojciechowski, Robert Henry served in author of "Back on Top" the state legislature from (page 8), is considered 1976 to 1986 and was one of the best college later elected Oklahoma's football sportswriters in attorney general from the country. Winner of 1987 to 1991. A close four Associated Press friend of former Speaker Sports Editors National of the House Carl Albert, Writing awards and the Henry-now a federal author of six books, he is judge on the Tenth a senior writer for ESPN: Circuit Court of Ap- The Magazineand a peals-wrote this issue's frequent contributor to farewell to the "Little ESPN's Sportscenter. Giant from Little Dixie7' Wojciechowski, a (page 18).Albert died in twenty-year veteran of February 2000. sports reporting, lives outside Chicago. Oklahoma Today (ISSN 0030-1892) is published seven times a year: in January, February, March, May, July, September, and November by the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, 15 N. Robinson, Suite 100, P.O. Box 53384, Oklahoma City, OK 73102i73152, (4051 521-2496 or 1800) 777-1793. Subscription prices: $16.95 per year in U.S.; $26.95 outside U.S. U.S. copyright @ 2001 by Oklahoma Today. Reproduct~onin whole or in part without permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oklahoma Today Circulation, P.O. Box 53384, Oklahoma City, OK 73152. Visit Oklahoma Today on the Internet at oklahomatoday.com. THE YEAR IN REVIEW ' WE'REBUILDING THE Phillips is known mound the globe as a dw eb positioning our an innovator md twhnalogy leader. other bwinegs lines fm prof'bble @ Wekre building an those &rmgths to through competitivejoint ventures. provide d u e asld oppatunity to our With a solid' financial fowdation sha3~ehoMen~, om.efsePm pl- an8 md a strategic vision for crur fbtm9 the oommunities in which we opram, we3e .rskislg advantage of sigdfitm~t We're focusing onthe ezplmti~nan d opportunities to profitably grow the new prodwtiasl af oJ1 a d gas throvgb Phillips.That's why web called strategic acqwisitians in Alwka and TWR PER1FUIMMM E.-C CONTENTS FROM TI-$EDITOR F soon; Magic OKLAHOM THE YEAR The behind-the-scenes story of the Sooners' return to victory. By Gene Wbjciechowski glOs VAY A eulogy for Speaker dthe~ousCe arl Albert. By Robert Henry ScientistJordan Tang discovers a missing link in Akbeimer? research. By Adam Bucklq Cohen 2eLlTlcs /-- PRESIDE Governor Frank Keating was the buzz in 2000. By Adam Bucklq Cohen 28 THE YEAR 1 P 0 OGRAPHS From Megan Mullaly? Emmy to winter on ice, it was a spectacular 2000. Ten ~klahomahw ho made a dtfirence. 80 . .-- Bob Simmons retires under pressure. By Adam Buck4 Cohen Cover, HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE The Oklahoma Sooners enter Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida, on January 3,200 1, at the Orange Bowl. Almost 77,000 Oklahoma and Florida State fans attended the game. The Sooners took the national championship, 13-2, in a game defined almost entirely by defense. Photograph by Phillip Laizure THE YEAR IN REVIEW 1 5 A CULTURAL CROWN JEWEL three decades, a magnificent NATIONAL UNVEILS ITS NEW IDENTITY. collection was built. Great The climb to status as a world- traditions were established. High I' class museum began the day we COWBOY standards were set and met. opened doorsin 1955.Seventeen Along the way,The Cowboy Hall Western states had agreed this of Fame outgrew its name. The & WESTERN HERITAGE change reflects the transformation this institution has undergone M U S E U M In this moment we make htstory - ~ayrnuseum.org 1700 N.E. 63rd Oklahoma City. OK 731 11 405.478.2250 .- T-rL- I From the Editor S O O N E R MAGIC ON THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON OF NOVEMBER II, TWO SEARS DELIVERY men brought my parents their first new TV in more than twenty years. A thirty- two-inch Sony Wega, to be deposited upstairs in their newly outfitted sitting room. The television arrived minutes before the start of the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas A&M matchup, the ninth game played in an eight consecutive game winning streak. The game, as many will recall, was a nail biter, the kind that releases a primal su- perstition in both loyalists and fair-weather watchers alike. For instance, where did I watch the last game the Sooners won? On a rinky-dink, sixteen-year-old fifteen- inch relic in my parents' kitchen. Where did I watch this OU-Aggies game? Despite the picture-perfect tube upstairs, I stood in my parents' kitchen, anxiously polishing Oklahoma Today contrib- silver. And it worked. They won. uting editor Tom Luker In the rush of victory, how quickly we forget. The whole season was like watch- photographed Coach Bob ing an old Hitchcock flick: stomach-turning but brilliant. Sure, we all got telephone Stoops and his six team calls, e-mails, even Christmas cards from friends near and far, everybody chiming, captains on December 2 I, "How 'bout them Sooners?" The team put Oklahoma back on the map, and we 2000, in just a minute and a half. Luker's son, Drew, gladly responded with confidence and pride, but always, always a hint of reserva- 14 (wearing the hat), tion remained. For all of Bob Stoops' no-nonsense charm and evident skill, he was played assistant to his still something of a Norman neophyte. We were just glad to have won last Saturday's father while on location. game. Little did we know then what we know now. Also a football player, he Believe it or not, we planned to put the Sooners on the cover of this Year in Re- plays quarterback for the view 2000 issue, weeks before the events of January 3,2001. We weren't sure they Coweta Tigers and this could take Florida State, but hey, a perfect regular season and a Big 12champion- year had an undefeated season. Editor Louisa ship demanded that kind of recognition. Fortunately for us, I had the name of a McCune, standing, and talented sportswriter referred to me by a colleague at ESPN. The Magazine scrawled associate editor Aimee somewhere on a legal pad on my desk. Winneberger, kneeling, As nine wins turned into ten, I called writer Gene Wojciechowski and offered collaborated with Luker. him the assignment. I FedExed him an Oklahoma Today T-shirt and some back Photograph by Joan issues, and the next day he e-mailed me his thoughts on Stoops. He compared Henderson Stoops' optimism to that of Voltaire's Candide and said that if he had been a pro- - - spective Stoops recruit, he would have signed a letter of intent immediately. By the way, thanks for the T-shirt. "Wojo," as we call him around the office, understood the passion of college football, and he understood Stoops. "You can count on one hand-if that-the number of people who picked Oklahoma to win a national championship at season's beginning," he says. "Maybe two drunks in Vegas and possibly Bob, Carol, MacKenzie, Isaac, and Drake Stoops." On writing the Oklahoman of the Year profile, he says, "OU has a class coach, class staff, and class program. I was honored to have a front-row seat to it all." In the words of the coach himself: Certainly. mccune@OK LAHO MA Tod ay.com FROM THE EDITOR I