Oklahoma State to Unveil Barry Sanders Statue Prior to Kickoff Against TCU

STILLWATER – It was first reported back in July that former Oklahoma State great, and Heisman Trophy winner, Barry Sanders was finally getting his statue and going into the Oklahoma State football Ring of Honor.

Well, the time has finally come. On Saturday, two hours prior to kickoff of the game against TCU, Oklahoma State will be unveiling the statue located in the northwest corner of Boone Pickens Stadium, then honoring him at halftime of the game with the Ring of Honor induction ceremony.

The unveiling of the statue is free and open to the public.

He joins former Oklahoma State great, and fellow running back, Thurman Thomas in the OSU Ring of Honor. Thomas was honored during halftime of the West Virginia game in 2020.

“He’s the greatest running back to ever play college football and if he had played eight more years in the NFL, he’d hold that rushing record too,” said head coach Mike Gundy. “It’s nice that we have his statue up and it’s nice that we have Thurman [Thomas’] name up. Now Barry’s is going up and a statue and that’s really what it should be. If you just think back to the affect that he’s had on this athletic department and this university, he deserves what’s going to take place on Saturday.”

Sanders marks the fourth person with a statue on the Oklahoma State campus, as he joins former OSU president Henry Bennett, OSU’s first African American student, Nancy Randolph Davis and OSU mega-booster, T. Boone Pickens, who had his statue unveiled outside the stadium with his name on it in Nov. 2020.

This will be the second time in the past few months Barry’s been back in Stillwater. He was in town with the Nissan Heisman House tour for the Baylor game, so head coach Mike Gundy brought him into the locker room to meet with the running backs.

“I was talking about how he walked into the locker room a few weeks ago and our guys were amazed,” said coach Gundy. “He won the Heisman Trophy 33 years ago, so the guys he went into talk to are 15 years from being born and they knew who he was, and it was a big deal to [Barry]. So, I think his presence of not even arguably being the greatest running back to ever play college football, maybe the NFL, I don’t even think it’s up for debate, still had an effect on those guys because they have the access to everything with their phones, so they watch all of his old highlights and they’re just amazed by his ability and what he was able to accomplish.”