Boomer and Sooner are two matching white ponies who pull the Sooner Schooner, a Conestoga wagon across the field when the University of Oklahoma football team scores. The Sooner Schooner is the true mascot of the team, bringing to mind the pioneers who settled Indian Territory during the 1889 Land Run and were the original "Sooners". The Sooner Schooner represents the University of Oklahoma as a mascot for the university and its sports teams, the Oklahoma Sooners.
The Sooner Schooner and ponies were introduced in 1964 and became the official mascot in 1980. The Sooner Schooner is cared for, maintained, and driven by both the Oklahoma RUF/NEKS, OU's all-male spirit squad, and the RUF/NEK Lil' Sis, OU's all-female spirit squad. Mick Cottom, a freshman Ruf/Nek member from Liberty Mounds, Oklahoma, has the distinction of being the first person to pilot the Schooner across Owen Field in 1964. Darby Dean became the first woman to drive the Sooner Schooner during the Bedlam football game on November 21, 2020. [1] The Sooner Schooner and ponies were kept at the Bartlett Ranch in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, till 2011 when the university took over the care for the Schooner and ponies. Charley F. (Buzz) Bartlett and his brother, Dr. M. S. Bartlett, organized the Doc and Buzz foundation in 1964 for the purpose of presenting scholarships to deserving students, but the foundation also supports the OU mascot.
There have been five sets of ponies.
Non-animal mascots were needed to represent the University of Oklahoma at certain athletic contests, charity events and children's hospitals. [3] The Boomer and Sooner costumed mascots represent the University of Oklahoma in these situations. They represent the two crème white ponies that pull the Sooner Schooner, [4] a Conestoga wagon across Owen Field in a victory ride after every OU score. Boomer is the blue-eyed horse and Sooner is the brown-eyed Horse. Traditionally, Boomer wears crimson jerseys and Sooner wears white jerseys that match the team that they are supporting. The mascots replaced the Top Daug mascot at Oklahoma Sooners basketball games. Boomer has competed in Universal Cheer Association National Competition for 4 years, placing 2nd in 2012.
A boomer, or baby boomer, is a child born between 1946 and 1964.
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the state of Oklahoma. In Fall 2023, the university had 32,676 students enrolled, most at its main campus in Norman. Employing nearly 4,000 faculty members, the university offers 174 baccalaureate programs, 199 master's programs, 101 doctoral programs, and 88 certificate programs.
Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands illegally in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, were to be opened to American settlement in 1889. President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed the Unassigned Lands open to settlement on April 22, 1889. As people lined up around the borders of the Oklahoma District, they waited for the official opening. It was not until noon that it officially was opened to settlement. The name derived from the "sooner clause" of Proclamation 288 — Opening to Settlement Certain Lands in the Indian Territory, which stated that anyone who entered and occupied the land prior to the opening time would be denied the right to claim land.
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I in the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
The Conestoga wagon, also simply known as the Conestoga, is an obsolete transport vehicle that was used exclusively in North America, primarily the United States, mainly from the early 18th to mid-19th centuries. It is a heavy and large horse-drawn vehicle which, while largely elusive in origin, originated most likely from German immigrants of Pennsylvanian Dutch culture in the Province of Pennsylvania in the early 18th century. The name "Conestoga Wagon" probably derived from the Conestoga River Valley settlement area in the province and saw usage as early as 1717, although it is not known whether the first wagons referred as such had similar builds as later Conestoga wagons.
The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the Unassigned Lands of former Indian Territory, which had earlier been assigned to the Creek and Seminole peoples. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of the Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties of the present-day US state of Oklahoma.
"Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from "Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University. A year later, an additional section was appended, borrowed from the University of North Carolina's "I'm a Tar Heel Born".
Buzz is the current official mascot of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Buzz is usually represented as a stylized yellowjacket with yellow-and-black fur, white wings, a yellow head, and antennae. Buzz is almost never drawn with six legs, but rather with arms, legs, hands and feet, like a human. Invented in 1972 and restyled in 1979, Buzz reflects the tradition of referring to Georgia Tech students as "Yellow Jackets." Buzz is also one of Georgia Tech's emblems and trademarks, one that they defended in a 1998 legal conflict with the Salt Lake Buzz.
The Sooner Schooner is an official mascot of the sports teams of the University of Oklahoma Sooners. Pulled by two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner, it is a scaled-down replica of the Studebaker Conestoga wagon used by settlers of the Oklahoma Territory around the time of the Land Run of 1889 and is considered the first mobile home. Its name comes from the common term for such wagons and the name for settlers who sneaked into the Territory before it was officially opened for settlement ("Sooners").
Sherri Kay Coale is a retired college basketball coach. She was the head coach of the University of Oklahoma Sooners women's basketball team for 25 years, from 1996 to 2021. Coale was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Campus Corner is a college-oriented commercial district in Norman, Oklahoma located directly north of the University of Oklahoma campus. The area is bounded by White Street, University Boulevard, Boyd Street, and Asp Avenue. The district is home to four blocks of unique retail shopping and mixed-use development, including restaurants, bars, clothing stores, OU memorabilia, personal care, and other businesses and professional organizations. Established in 1917, the area around Boyd Street and Asp Avenue has long been a focal for OU pep rallies and other displays of school spirit.
The RUF/NEKS are the nation's oldest all-male spirit squad of its kind for the University of Oklahoma and the 2nd oldest in the world.
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Big 12 Conference. The program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful in history, having won 944 games and possessing a .725 winning percentage, both sixth all-time. Oklahoma has appeared in the AP poll 897 times, including 101 No. 1 rankings, both third all-time. The program claims seven national championships, 50 conference championships, 167 first-team All-Americans, and seven Heisman Trophy winners. The school has had 29 former players and coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and holds the record for the longest winning streak in Division I history with 47 straight victories. Oklahoma is also the only program with which four coaches have won more than 100 games each.
The 1974 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1974 NCAA Division I football season. This was the first of three national championship squads for head coach Barry Switzer. Only one opponent played the Sooners within 14 points and four failed to score a touchdown. At the same time, OU led the nation in scoring offense with an average of 43 points per game to finish the season as the only undefeated team in the country at 11–0.
Peruna is the official mascot and fight song of the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Mustangs, named after Peruna, a popular patent medicine. The name "Peruna" is given to each successive live mascot. The mascot debuted in 1932, and since then a black Shetland pony, Peruna, has been present at every SMU home football game except for one. The costumed mascot is also referred to as "Peruna." Peruna was selected the #10 Best College Mascot by America's Best and Top Ten in 2009.
Hook 'Em, the official costumed mascot of The University of Texas at Austin's athletic teams, is a prominent figure at various sports events. Hook 'Em is regularly seen on the sidelines of Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium during football games, and at the Moody Center for basketball games, engaging fans and contributing to a lively atmosphere. Beyond these sporting events, Hook 'Em's presence can be requested through the Texas Athletics website, allowing the mascot to engage with the broader university community and its supporters.
The 1955 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1955 college football season. The team's head football coach was Bus Mertes, in his first year at the helm of the Wildcats. The Wildcats played their home games in Memorial Stadium. 1955 saw the Wildcats finish with a record of 4–6, and a 3–3 record in Big Seven Conference play. The Wildcats scored 165 points while giving up 191. They finished tied for third in the Big Seven. Ten Days before the Kansas game on November 5, K-State's mascot Touchdown IV was stolen by Kansas students. At the end of the first quarter the mascot was returned but the theft had already been avenged as K-State led the Jayhawks, 26–0, at that point and went on to defeat Kansas, 46–0.
The Missouri–Oklahoma football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Missouri Tigers football team of the University of Missouri and Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma. The Tiger–Sooner Peace Pipe was the trophy awarded to the winner of the game.
"Boomers" is the name used for a group of settlers in the Southern United States in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
Charles William Wantland was an American athlete and coach. Wantland served as a sports coach and athletic director, and dean at Central State Teachers College in Edmond, Oklahoma.