Where Were You on Jan. 27?

Hoops
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I was at my house in Houston with my family. We had this little apartment thing off the back of our house (like a mother-in-law suite), and I remember my dad and I went out there to watch the ESPN coverage. I’m not sure why we went out there. Maybe our house was being worked on, I’m not sure. But I remember sitting in this little apartment living room with him late at night wondering what in the world was going on.

In the pre-social, and sort of pre-internet era, there was a lot more of a, “Tell me what’s happening, ESPN!” attitude than there is now. Yesterday for the Kobe stuff I was just refreshing Twitter for two straight hours waiting on Woj. Same players (sort of), but definitely different methods of finding out the information.

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I was waiting tables at El Chico in Stillwater when I found out the news. It was confusing and agonizing trying to finish my shift there until I could get home and find out more. All I had heard was that there was a plane crash involving the team. It wasn’t until later that night when I found out how terrible it really was. Nate Fleming was a classmate of mine. It was all pretty surreal.

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Freshman year at OSU. Watched the game and was upset we lost. Started getting ready to go out to the ‘Weed when the news broke. No one was really sure what was going on because, like KP said, information was way less available then. There were some preliminary reports, but at that time it wasn’t uncommon for the breaking news to not be 100% accurate, so we were all holding out hope that maybe it was a mistake or wasn’t as bad as first reported. Went ahead and went out that night. Chad Brock was playing an indoor concert. He did a tribute to the team, offered prayers or something. Some folks in the crowd who hadn’t heard of the crash were laughing because they thought he was making a joke about the team losing. Once he clarified he was serious and people died the entire mood in the place changed.

I remember going through that entire week just with a cloud hanging over campus. The Missouri game was absolutely cathartic. I’ve been in GIA for some monster games. My senior year was the Final Four run, so there was good basketball being played with big games. The Missouri game was, without a doubt, the loudest I’d heard that arena. I don’t think it can be overstated how important that game was. Never forget those days. Always Remember the 10!

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January 27 is my wife’s birthday. We lived about 40 miles east of Tulsa at the time and I had taken her to town for lunch and then a little shopping at the mall, so I didn’t see the game. I snuck my “Walkman” along and kept tuning in to check on the score, however. After we lost I turned it off and didn’t know anything about the crash until we came home and turned on the 10:00 news. What a terrible shock.

5

I was living in Amarillo. A work buddy of mine is Bill Teegin’s Brother In Law. That connection made it all the more real for me.

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6

On campus.

Dealt with a social media troll (WELL BEFORE THAT WAS A THING) who was saying the absolute nastiest s*** about the plane crash. It was…interesting.

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I was in my dorm room in William south when it was there. I had just for bounced from a floor ping pong tournament and walked back in my room and it came on the tv. If any of you ever have a chance to go visit the sight outside Denver…I highly recommend it. The OSU family did an amazing job setting up a memorial near the spot where the plane went down. It’s awww dropping and everyone should check it out. There are signs on I-70 that direct you.

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I was in Parker hall in a friends room with our two girlfriends (now wives) watching the news. If I remember correctly, another Parker hall resident went to school with Nate and heard it was bad news before anything was officially announced. I second @joshua3’s recommendation to visit the sight outside Denver - not the easiest to find but worth it.

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I was at my sorority house. I had 2-3 sisters who were part of the Spurs. We were all pretty upset. I vividly remember the memorial service at GIA. Probably one of the most moving services I’ve ever been to. It felt very strange, because I didn’t personally know any of them but the loss was still so big.

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I was actually living with my grandmother for a couple of months since me and the wife had just graduated from OSU that previous December and did not have permanent jobs yet. We had watched the game and were playing a card game and just happened to have the TV onto one of the local channels and they broke in with the news. Spent the rest of the night watching that and internet (what there was of it then) for more information.

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11

I was spending the day with Mr. Orange Power. We sat on his front porch and listened to the basketball game on the radio. We decided to head out to a bar and shoot some pool. When we were leaving a bouncer said something about a crash. We thought he was being rude about the game. We got back to his house and the world stopped. We both collapsed physically and emotionally. I can still hear him screaming “Nooooooooo!!”

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12

I was at the game in Boulder with my son. We lived in the Denver area and drove past the airport where the plane took off about 15 minutes ahead of the flight. The weather was horrible for flying commercial, must less a small charter aircraft.

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13

Middle schooler sitting on my parents couch watching the local news coverage in somber disbelief for hours. Not knowing the who/what/how for seemingly forever. Was Eddie on that plane? What players were on the plane? How many planes did OSU travel with? So much unknown for so long.

Losing all of those guys was absolutely tragic, but as a middle schooler losing Bill Teegins hit me the hardest. This was a time when not all football and basketball games were on TV like today, so listening to games on the radio was a lot more common. His voice and calls were synonymous with OSU athletics. I used to shoot hoops in our driveway narrating as if Teegins was calling my game… “for 3… he got it!” “He shoots, he scores, heee’s fouled!”
It took me a long time to be able to listen to an OSU game without hearing Teegins’ voice.

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That Missouri game will be the most emotional game many of us will ever experience. If there is such a thing as an out of body experience, that was it. The players played their hardest and the fans spent every ounce of energy and emotion we had urging them on.

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15

Was the game on TV? I was trying to remember if I had watched it. But I remember when the news broke and watching Eddie give the press conference.

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The most important game played at Oklahoma State University was not played on a Saturday night. It wasn’t played for a conf championship, or even a trophy. It was played for 10 men. And their friends, their family, the student body, and our state. It was a game versus Missouri on Monday, Feb 5th 2001.

January 27th 2001 was the saddest day in my life. And in the lives of so many others. I woke up that morning a grad student at CU. I was so excited to see my beloved Cowboys on campus to play the Buffs. I sat proudly on the 3rd row in the student section, wearing orange, and being harassed mildly by other students and fans. CU wasn’t a hardcore hoops fan base and they let me off easy.

The game was a let down though. oSu trailed throughout. I’ll never forget oSu (pretty sure Andre Williams) had a put-back slam midway through the second half that led to a timeout. Nate Fleming jumped off the bench to cheer on his teammates as they huddled up on the sideline. I’ll never forget the enthusiasm and spring in Nate’s step as he came off his seat to encourage the team. It was exactly who Nate was. I don’t know why I even noticed, but it will never leave me.

The rest of the game, that day, and the days that followed are a blur. It was cold and snowing out as I was walking out of my apartment with my girlfriend. My phone rang. Caller ID said it was my dad. I am sure he wanted to talk about how bad the game went. I let it click over to the answering machine (2001!) and was standing at the door. That’s when he said “call me”. I knew something was wrong. He had called after he saw the news on TV in OKC. Nobody knew for sure who was on the plane, but it was not hard to guess when they said it was the prop plane. About an hour or two later ESPNews confirmed this was more than a nightmare. They were all gone.

Most fans didn’t have class with Dan, Nate, or Jared. Nate and I went to the same high school. His parents knew my parents. My sister played lots of tennis with Nate. I had never had a friend or even acquaintance pass away unexpectedly. But they were all gone.

January 27th is more than a day to remember the ten. For me it’s a time to also remember what we are blessed with. And to remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed.

So about that game…in front of a standing room only GIA, oSu beat Missouri 69-66. oSu needed a win that night more than any other night in its history. The crowd willed the team to a win. Eddie Sutton coached every last

play he could. Terrence Crawford had asteal and dunk that is still the loudest I have ever heard an oSu sporting event. The only thing that could have been better was a proper court storming for theplayers. Let today be another day we will remember.

God bless. And Go Pokes.

Kurt Templeton

oSu Class is 2000

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17

Who cut the onion in here…

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18

I was finishing my PhD at Texas A&M. I remember seeing the news and wondering “Who?” When I finally saw the list the next day, I went and found a friend from OSU who was at A&M who knew the Weiberg family. I had driven with Chad in drivers’ ed in high school. When I moved to Colorado many years later, one of my first visits was to the crash memorial. I need to go back.

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I’d love to still be listening to Bill Teegins call Oklahoma State Football and Basketball. Anyone know of a good place to hear old broadcasts of him?

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20

I was absolutely the same way. Was a junior in high school, but Bill was a huge part of my life. Listened to him for most of the games and watched him on Channel 9 every night. 96.1 took the Diamond Rio song “One More Day”, which had just come out and clipped in some of Bill’s calls and him signing off after calling a game. Still have that saved on an old computer (thank you Limewire) and anytime the regular version comes on that’s all I think of.

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