One OU Football Jersey

"Man, Jared, can't we just quit? I am so tired of this! Why do we need to win anyway? It is just a book scholarship; my parents will pay for my books. They don't care," cried Rob exasperated.

"Rob, aren't you getting used to it? They aren't going to hurt us. They just want to talk. I am having fun. Come on, don't be such a chicken!" Jared said.

The boys finally agreed to keep going. As they looked down the list they had no idea how they were going to accomplish this one; one used football jersey.

"Oh man, this is going to be impossible!" exclaimed Rob.

"Well, let's just make our way over to the locker room and see how it goes," said Jared. "The ghosts have helped us every step of the way. Maybe they will help us this time too."

The boys started their walk down Asp Ave. on their way to the Barry Switzer Center. It didn't take them long before they saw a man dressed extremely peculiarly. His clothes looked like they came right out of a 1900s closet. The man seemed to be walking at Rob and Jared and he was looking right at them. The closer the man got the more Jared realized there was something strange about this man.

"Does it seem to you that this dude looks a lot like a..."

"ghost?" said Rob.

"Yeah."

"Uh huh. Here we go again."

"Excuse me sir," said Jared.

The man jumped nearly three feet into the air exclaiming, "You can see me?"

"Uh, yeah. It has been happening to us a lot lately," Rob said looking a little bored. "So tell us, how did you die?"

"Woah, woah. Not so fast. First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Roy. Roy Stoops."

"Stoops, like Bob Stoops? The Bob Stoops? The greatest football coach of all-time, Bob Stoops?" exclaimed Jared.

"That is what I said. But unfortunately these is no relationship. So, you say this has been happening to you a lot today? Tell me about it. Who have you seen?"

"Well," said Rob. "We have seen Bobby from Cate Center; he died there. We have seen Jason from Ellison Hall; he died there too. Then there was another one from the library; he died in The Stacks."

"So Mr. Stoops, where did you die?" asked Jared.

"St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa. Not very glamorous I know. I had a heart attack years back. Now I just hang out here."

"So if you didn't die on campus here, why are you here?" asked Rob.

"If you have a minute, let's sit on this bench and I will tell you all about it. I was the first graduate here at OU. I was THE graduating class of 1898. When I graduated they told me I would do great things for the university. I didn't know what to think of that, but years later when I died and wound up here on campus I knew it was going to be huge. I have been here for quite a few number of years so I have seen quite a few football games. Through the 1990s I was embarrassed to be a sooner! Coach Blake was horrible! So, when he left and they started interviewing for coaches, Coach Stoops caught my eye, naturally. So, I did everything in my power to make sure his visit was as nice as possible. I cleaned up the head coaches' office and added a new layer of paint; I even went in add added another zero into his contract the night before he signed."
"Not that my work is done I can leave anytime I want, but I am going to stick around a while. I just love that Adrian Peterson!"

"Woah! That is really cool! You mean to tell me YOU are the reason we have Coach Stoops on our side? You are the man!" cried Rob.

"Yes young man, I am . Now, if you will excuse me I must be going. Practice is about to start." Mr. Stoops started to walk off. He quickly turned around and added, "Oh wait, I think you need this," and he threw the boys a jersey, not just any jersey either. This jersey was #28 with Peterson written across it.

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Authors Note:
This story was almost entirely an original. Roy Stoops was the first student to graduate from the University of Oklahoma, however. This was important to include in the Storybook because it isn't know around campus. The relationship between the two Stoops is a lot of fun , and those who do know about Roy Stoops like to consider the coincidence. This fact was made aware to me by Jay Corwin, an OU employee in an interview in his office on September 10, 2004.