You Had To Be There to Fully Appreciate Eddie Sutton's Induction
STILLWATER – I understood going in that Eddie Sutton was going into the Basketball Hall of Fame as part of one of the most stellar classes ever. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett represent three of the best NBA players in history. Kobe Bryant is on the Mt. Rushmore of NBA stars and his tragic death with his wife giving his acceptance speech and Michael Jordan standing with her onstage as the presenter was compelling television. I get that, but as a reporter that covered and learned from Eddie Sutton, I wanted more than a few minutes.
Sutton not only taught basketball, but he taught reporters how to do their job better. He would challenge those of us on the beat. I think I may have caught Sutton in his most interesting era dealing with media. I also saw how Sutton took an athletic department that had lost pride and had little to hold on to for hope in athletics. Probation in football and wrestling, NIT was the best basketball could do, and facilities were falling apart or rusting away.
I have often said that Eddie Sutton helped save Oklahoma State athletics and maybe helped usher in a long and prosperous era in the history of Oklahoma State University on the whole. Sutton was not a saint, and he had his faults, his demons that brought him down, but not before he lifted up his alma mater and created multiple generations of Oklahoma State fans that cheered and held their heads up high with pride.
For all those reasons I was needing more than three-minutes of attention. Sean Sutton videotaped the acceptance. That is okay, but the Basketball Hall of Fame kept it short. I sensed an eagerness to move on from master of ceremonies Ahmad Rashad as he introduced Sean and Eddie Sutton’s trio of presenters in Bill Self, former Sutton player at Arkansas and hoops great Sidney Moncrief, and current Kentucky coach John Calipari.
I didn’t want to move on. I wanted more Eddie Sutton. I was told by the people that were there that it was okay. The entire Sutton clan, all three boys Steve, Sean, and Scott and their families felt special. My good friend Larry Reece was there along with deputy athletic director and soon to be athletic director at Oklahoma State Chad Weiberg, current head coach Mike Boynton, and former Sutton standout and NBA center Bryant “Big Country” Reeves all felt Sutton and his accomplishments were honored and appreciated.
“I felt so blessed to be able to be there,” said Reece, the public address announcer that came into his job under Sutton. “I wish it had been closer so more of his former players could have been there. I know they would have liked to have been there.”
“It was unbelievable for a couple of reasons,” Scott Sutton told me. “He finally got in and I’m so proud of what he accomplished throughout his career. There are so many great players and basketball celebrities there. My dad went in with three of the greatest players of all time in Kobe, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett. It was a really cool event. Because of who got in it was a who’s who of the NBA and even the people there beyond the NBA. A lot of important people were there to see my dad go in.”
I was very pleased to hear this. The group there supporting Coach Sutton was one of the larger for the 2020 inductees. This was the 2020 class that was supposed to go in last September, but it was delayed by COVID-19.
“We had one of the larger contingents there for Coach Sutton and I was proud of that. I’m standing about eight feet away from Dr. J (Julius Erving) who was my hero. I’m just glad Coach Sutton is where he belongs and needs to be. They robbed us of one of the greatest acceptance speeches because no one could weave a story like Coach Sutton, but I thought Sean did a really nice job and we are proud to have our fifth inductee into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. I thought it was very well done. It is a culmination of his life’s work.”
Not all of the memories made under Coach Sutton were joyful. Coach Sutton had to lead through some difficult situations, one tragic above all others.
“I just sat there and was thinking that I couldn’t believe that I was getting this opportunity (to be there) with all that he meant to our program and means to so many people, my family included,” Weiberg said.
Chad is the older brother of Jared Weiberg, who as a young member of Coach Sutton’s support staff and a former walk-on player for Sutton, died in the plane crash in 2001 that claimed 10 lives and became known as “Remember the Ten.” Weiberg remembers how Sutton told the families and how he was constant in his responsibility for his people that died and his response to their families.
“It was really important for us to be there, and it was great that I was able to be there,” Weiberg added, and you could hear in his voice Chad was thinking of his brother.
Eddie Sutton carried a lot of us with him into the Hall of Fame. He carried his former players, assistant coaches, support staff. He carried his family and friends. He carried an entire University in Oklahoma State and the multitude of students and fans that fondly remember the success of his teams.
That may be why I felt Sutton was slighted in his induction. We all take it personal when the man going into the Hall of Fame so vividly and personally impacted us. Eddie Sutton did.