http://www.kansascity.com/sports/colleges/story/312295.html

Posted on Wed, Oct. 10, 2007

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford is a star in his home state

By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star

NORMAN, Okla. | Admiration comes with the territory of a successful
quarterback. But Oklahoma could be working on something even more special.

Sam Bradford, Oklahoma’s redshirt freshman, leads the nation in passing
efficiency. He’s been so good that Oklahoma quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel,
the 2000 Heisman Trophy runner-up, said, “He’s so far ahead of where I was
at this stage of his career, it’s not even close.”

But there’s so much more to Oklahoma’s main attraction, as the hometown boy
and the No. 6 Sooners await a showdown with No. 11 Missouri. Bradford is
well on his way to satisfying many of the conditions required of a Sooners
hero on the gridiron — and in the tribe. As an enrolled member of the
Cherokee tribe, Bradford could become the face of a program in the state
with the nation’s second-largest American Indian population, according to
the 2000 census.

He is the first American Indian to play what amounts to the highest-profile
position in this sports-crazed region.

“We take pride in him,” said Raven Chong-Sang, an Oklahoma senior who
belongs to the Muscogee and Seminole tribes. “A lot of kids look up to him,
even if he might not realize they do.”

In an interview earlier this season, Bradford said he was only beginning to
understand how his heritage and role on the team could have a profound
impact.

His background, “really wasn’t something our family talked about a lot,”
Bradford said. “I know who I am and I’m proud of who I am.”

Bradford’s father, Kent, was an Oklahoma offensive lineman during 1975-78,
lettering his final two seasons. He is one-eighth American Indian and said
the attention his son is receiving could be beneficial in both directions.

“I think it’s truly a positive thing that he becomes more and more exposed
to his heritage,” said Kent Bradford, president of Bradford-Irwin Insurance
Agency, Inc., in Oklahoma City.

Sam Bradford’s great-grandmother, Susie Walkingstick, was a full-blooded
Cherokee, although he never got to know her.

“I’ve had people (on campus) say they’re proud of me and that’s great,”
Bradford said. “I think it’s something I’ll become more aware of because
it’s affecting people in a positive way.”

In a state with “Native America” emblazoned on its license plate and the
symbol on the state flag honoring more than 60 groups of American Indians
and their ancestors, Oklahoma Native American Studies professor Joe E.
Watkins says there are plenty of positives — but also a few negatives —
drawn by the relationship.

“Many tribal people don’t like the Sooner aspect,” said Watkins, whose
father was a full-blooded Choctaw. “The Sooners were the people who came in
before the opening of the land run, and the land run was the last great
governmental policy to give tribal land to Western settlement. So there is
a negative connotation.”

But mostly the messages are positive.

“As his background becomes known, every time someone thinks about him being
Indian,” Watkins said, “it’s going to reinforce the fact that Indians are
still here, we have vibrant cultures, that we’re part of the mainstream,
that we don’t just wear feathers, ride horses and live in teepees.

“He’s good press.”

Bradford is believed to be the first major-college quarterback with
American Indian heritage since the early 1970s, when Sonny Sixkiller played
for Washington and Jim Plunkett for Stanford.

“I’ve heard they were great quarterbacks,” Bradford said.

And Bradford is just getting started.

•••

Two months ago, Bradford was locked in a tight scramble to see who would
succeed Paul Thompson. Spring practice had not decided the issue among
Bradford, junior Joey Halzle and freshman Keith Nichol.

During the competition, defensive coaches in film review noticed Bradford’s
calm demeanor.

“He just never got rattled,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “If
something didn’t go his way, you couldn’t tell by his body language.”

So Oklahoma entered the season with plenty of strengths — an experienced
defense, playmakers at wide receiver with Malcolm Kelly and Juaquin
Iglesias, an exciting redshirt freshman running back DeMarco Murray joining
Allen Patrick in the post-Adrian Peterson backfield — and a huge question
at quarterback because of inexperience.

Quality of opponent tempered the excitement of Bradford’s impressive debut
in a 79-10 blowout of North Texas. A truer test would come the next week
when Miami, Fla., and its ferocious defense, would visit.

By the end of that Saturday, a star had emerged. Bradford tossed five
touchdown passes with no interceptions. After two games, he had completed
40 of 48 passes with drops accounting for four of the misfires.

Two easy pickings followed before Bradford and the Sooners got snared at
Colorado. Oklahoma took a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter, but for the
second half the magic touch was gone, when Bradford completed just one of
eight passes. He was intercepted twice on the day.

Coach Bob Stoops quickly defended Bradford.

“It wasn’t just Sam, it was the players around him,” Stoops said. “He was
the least of our problems that day.”

Still, with Texas looming and also coming off an unexpected loss, the
Sooners would need a better effort all-round, starting with Bradford.

And he delivered in the big game, executing an aggressive game plan with
stunning precision. Bradford completed 21 of 33 for 244 yards in a game
neither side controlled. Only one other quarterback in Oklahoma history had
thrown as many as Bradford’s three touchdown passes in the Red River
Rivalry.

“There’s not a lot of hesitation in our game plan with him,” offensive
coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “We don’t ask ourselves, ‘Is that good for
Sam or not?’ We have a great deal of confidence in him.”

•••

Those who recall Bradford’s days at Putnam City North High in Oklahoma City
aren’t surprised to see his college career off to a fast start.

“I remember watching high school highlights shows on TV,” said Jaimie
Ishcomer, an Oklahoma grad student who also has American Indian lineage.

“He could play.”

Several sports. Bradford averaged 18 points as a senior and received
basketball recruiting interest from Tulsa.

He once considered ice hockey his best sport and played at a high junior
level. He somehow latched on as a fan of the Vancouver Canucks. He was a
terrific youth baseball player and could probably make a major college golf
team.

But football was almost a destiny. Not only did his father play, but so did
his grandfather, Bill Bradford, for Oklahoma A&M in the 1940s. The family
owned Sooners season tickets and it was Sam’s misfortune to have attended
many games in the mid-1990s, while the program was going through hard
times.

Still, Oklahoma won the recruiting battle over a handful of others,
including late interest from Michigan and a first offer from Texas Tech,
with former assistant Chuck Long doing the leg work. Bradford had attended
an Oklahoma camp, and the Sooners knew they wanted the gifted 6-foot-4,
220-pound high school star.

He follows a succession of successful quarterbacks. Four of the previous
five starters have won a Big 12 championship. Heupel won a national
championship. Jason White won a Heisman Trophy.

“He has the makeup to be a great one,” Heupel said.

There’s something else. Bradford is the first starting quarterback from
Oklahoma City since Kelly Phelps in 1982 and only the fourth from the state
capital in the program’s history.

Bradford will be part of another first in the spring. The Oklahoma City
Indian Clinic will honor Bradford at its annual powwow.

“It will be the first function like that he’s attended,” Kent Bradford
said. “And we’re honored that he’s being recognized in that setting. If
people can take some positive from him and his heritage, that’s a good
thing.”