Under coach Bud Wilkinson, the Oklahoma Sooners set the record for consecutive wins by a Division 1 NCAA football team. Wilkinson later became the first director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.
Jim Ross, WWE announcer, is a well-known graduate of the University of Oklahoma. Whenever he comes out from the entrance ramp, “Boomer Sooner” plays.
A “Sooner” is a person who settled homestead land in the western United States before it was officially made available, in order to have first choice of location.
The 1971 hit “Sooner or Later” was the last single by the Grass Roots to reach the Billboard Top Ten.
“Astroturfing” is the term for political or PR campaign efforts that are intended to appear as real, not artificial, “grass-roots” movements, but are actually created and funded by segments of The Establishment.
The actual practice of “Astroturfing”, creating a false grass-roots campaign, took place many, many centuries before the substance itself was created. At least in fiction. In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act II, Cassius writes several letters to Brutus, all written in different handwriting, to make him believe that many different Romans are entreating him to do something about Caesar.
The Astrodome was originally built with a grass field. However, natural light from the glass panels of the dome was too bright for fielders to follow the ball. The panels were painted with white paint to reduce the glare, but, as a result, the grass died, so the Astros played most of the first season on green-painted dirt. Astroturf was added for the home opener the second season, but not enough had been made to cover anything but the infield; the outfield was still painted dirt. The outfield was changed to Astroturf during the All-Star break of that year.
Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) in the sf cult classic Silent Running doesn’t figure out why the grass, trees and bushes in the Valley Forge’s biodome are dying until it’s almost too late.
Robert Lowell’s poem “For the Union Dead” was dedicated to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and his all-black 54th Massachusetts Infantry. Their story was also told in the motion picture*** Glory.***
When Robert Lowell taught at Boston University, his students included Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, both of whom would eventually gain renown for their poetry.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s older brother was named Robert. (Pronounced “ro-BEAR”, in the French style). He was very much a Luddite by 24th century status, believing that “life is already too damn convenient.” He didn’t even have a replicator in his house. A mutual acquaintance of them said that Robert’s always looking to the past, and Jean-Luc, to the future.
Violinst Jean-Luc Ponty moved to the United States at the urging of Frank Zappa, whose music he had recorded on the ***King Kong ***album.
Frank Zappa still has an enormous following in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe. In July 1994 the International Astronomical Union named a Czech-discovered asteroid, Zappafrank.
John McAllister holds the recognized world record for high score in the video game Asteroids, with over 41 million points.
John the Evangelist is traditionally identified as the “Beloved Disciple” referred to in the Gospel according to John, but who is not mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels.
Boston Celtic great John Havlicek is the only person who played with both Bill Russell (NBA) and James Brown (NFL) on a professional level.
In the lyrics of the song “The Final Acclaim (You’re in My Heart),” Rod Stewart alludes to his two favorite soccer teams: Manchester United and Glasgow Celtic.
Rod Roddy replaced original Price is Right announcer Johnny Olsen in 1985 and served in that role until his death in 2003.
The U.S. National Scout Jamboree in the summer of 1985 was held at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. President Ronald Reagan was recovering from surgery at the time, so his wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan, went to speak to the assembled Scouts instead.
In To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator is almost always called Scout, but her real name is Jean Louise Finch.