The Big Game

Welcome back,

I take it that you made the decision to pursue the truth! Let's not waste any time then and get into the first dark secret of OU history. This tale took place in what is now known as your very own Sarkey's Fitness Center, also known as the Huff. The Huston Huffman Physical Fitness opened in 1981, and is open not only to OU students, but also to anyone in the Norman area. You probably are already familiar with this campus landmark, but I'm sure you are not aware of the tragedy that occurred not too long ago. I'm about to tell you the story of five OU students who's deaths occurred in the Huff, and were covered up by the university.

The year was 1985, and five freshman students were looking to make their mark on the OU campus. These five students had always been a gifted athletes and were looking forward to competing in intramural sports during their time at OU. This group of friends were specifically focused on intramural basketball. As the time for the annual intramural basketball tournament neared,this squad became excited and anxious. They would wake up at 5:30AM to make sure that they would arrive to the Huff when it opened at 6AM, in order to practice for the tournament. They would even go as far as to sneak into the Huff when it was closed. They called themselves the "Gym-Rats" and carried themselves with pride. You always knew the Gym-Rats had been practicing because they would blare radio music as they practiced, and would always forget to turn the music off in the gym when they left. Their favorite was the song "Basketball" by Kurtis Blow. At the end of their practices, they would have a shooting competition between them, and the loser had to take a cold shower in the woman's locker room. All this to say, the boys and were ready for the tournament.

The day of the tournament finally arrived and the Gym-Rats were off to a hot start. They made light work of everyone on their side of the bracket. As the day drew on, they would hear murmurs about a great team on the other side of the bracket, the "Bench-Warmers". Everyone knew that the final showdown would be between these two teams, and that the games leading up to them might as well be scrimmages. The moment of truth finally arrived as the championship round was minutes away from starting. The Gym-Rats were nervous but ready to reach the goal that they had been dreaming about since enrolling at the university. The game started off with a demanding lead taken by the Bench-Warmers. It seemed as though they could not miss, despite the Gym-Rats playing great defense. Things were looking rough for the Gym-Rats as they had no answer for the Bench-Warmers.

At halftime, the Bench-Warmers were leading 35-22. The boys gathered around in a huddle and devised a defense to stop them in the second half. The team was low on morale but ready to execute the new and improved game plan. The plan appeared to be working perfectly as the second half began. The Gym-Rats were making a dent in the lead but they were running out of time. The squad forced a turnover with ten seconds left and immediately called a timeout. The five freshman huddled up, they were trailing by one point. They drew up a play to execute immediately after the timeout. The whistle sounded and the play began. The guard waited until the clock read five seconds and then dribbled towards the right wing and passed it to his teammate. The guard then acted as if he wanted the ball back but then aggressively cut towards the basket as his other teammate got in the way of the guard's defender. The ball was launched towards the open man who now had the chance to attempt an open layup! The buzzer went off as the ball was in the air, seemingly frozen in time. The player's momentum had made the shot more difficult and threw off his accuracy. This resulted in the ball being perfectly lodged in between the rim and the backboard. The game was over, and the Gym-Rats had been defeated. The Gym-Rats did not handle the loss well. They headed towards the direction of the women's locker room and skipped post game high-fives with the opposing team. Hours passed and nobody had seen anyone from the Gym-Rats squad. Panic slowly broke out in the community. A police search broke out but had no luck. The families of the students were grief-stricken, but large lump-sums of cash from the university quickly transformed these tragedies into strictly family business. Those five students were never seen again.

Nowadays, when closing late at night, all of the exercise equipment is put away. It is as if the staff is concerned that the equipment might be used while the Huff is closed. When the last employee leaves the Huff they have everything perfectly tucked in, and the lights off. However, on certain occasions the staff will come in later on to find basketballs scattered around the court as if someone had been playing with them. Students have also reported that the basketball lights are often on at random hours of the night. According to patrons to the ladies' locker room, one corner of the showers always has its light either flickering or burned out completely. Those who are brave enough to shower in this corner note that is colder than any other shower by a large margin. This should be reminiscent of the game the Gym-Rats would play, where the loser was punished with a cold shower. To top it all off, rumor has it that if you get to the Huff when it opens, you can faintly hear Kurtis Blow's 1984 hit single "Basketball" coming from inside. You may dismiss this as something else, but that sounds like the Gym-Rats to me.

Your friend,

The Alumnus

Author's Note: I used Provine's chapter to give me a clear aim on what curses were currently in place. I then modeled a story to fit this mold. Provine's novel gave me the ideas for the music, balls on the court, and other curses in place. I came up with the legend of the five players and the tale that ensued. My other inspiration was a conversation I recently had with my dad. My dad attended OU too and still loves to attend football games to this day. While he was at the game recently, another man his age recognized him because they used to play basketball at the Huff together. I then asked my dad about his experience playing basketball at the Huff as a student. It was great to hear how similar we were and funny to learn about his experiences as a student. They took intramural sports very seriously, though not as intense as I depicted in my story. Many of Provine's stories provide the curses around campus without giving any background information. This leaves me with a lot of room to build my own story around what he has already created.

Bibliography: Story Source - Campus ghosts of Norman, by Jeff Provine (2013). Basketball, The Radio and Peeping: The Huff

Selected Stories - The Huff