That’s how you honor a legend.
The Oklahoma Sooners lost one of their most hardcore supporters when country legend Toby Keith passed away on February 5th. Though Toby never went to college, instead going to work in the oil fields after graduating high school, he was a lifelong supporter of his home state team Oklahoma, and was often seen at Sooner football games in the fall and baseball games in the spring.
After Toby passed away, the University of Oklahoma released a statement honoring the life of one of their biggest fans:
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And since then, the Sooners has been praised for their tributes to the Big Dog Daddy, including leaving Toby’s seat open at their first basketball game after his death, serving drinks in red Solo cups during their rivalry basketball game with Oklahoma State, and awarding Toby an honorary degree at their graduation ceremony in the spring.
Ahead of the 2024 football season, the university announced that the Sooners would honor Toby at every game this year by playing one of his songs between the third and fourth quarter of every home game.
The Sooners moved to the SEC this year, and for their first game in their new conference, the Oklahoma Sooner marching band had yet another epic tribute for Toby Keith in store for the crowd at Memorial Stadium.
During halftime of the game against the Tennessee Volunteers this past Saturday, The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band played a medley of Toby’s hits, including “Beer For My Horses,” “Red Solo Cup” and “How Do You Like Me Know?!” And the halftime show was accompanied by a drone show above the stadium, lighting up the sky with a guitar, a red Solo cup and more as fans in the stadium sang along.
Unfortunately for Sooners fans it wasn’t quite enough to get the team past the red-hot Vols, who beat Oklahoma 25-15 on the road.
But it’s going to be hard to beat that halftime show.
