50 years ago November 30 was on a Saturday just like 2024.

As was customary until the SEC shake up, OU and OSU played to end the regular season and they did so in 1974.

I was a college sophomore working for the OU Athletic Department in Sports Information.

One of our jobs was to oversee operations in the press box for football games. We were doing just that as the Sooners and Cowboys battled on the frosty turf at Memorial Stadium.

Rich Clarkson was a photographer for Sports Illustrated who was at the game that ended in a 44-13 OU victory.

Joe Washington had a big game that day and Clarkson had called his higher-ups at the Time Life Building in New York. He told them that he had the cover shot for the next issue.

They were going to put Washington on the cover of the mag if they could get the film from Norman to New York City in time for production.

Clarkson called the press box phone and asked how he could get the precious film to New York.

I volunteered.

SI set me up with a red-eye flight from Oklahoma City to LaGuardia where I recall putting in my contact lenses in the restroom upon my arrival.

The magazine sent a car to pick me up at the airport and hauled me to the Time Life Building, where the mag was published.

One thing that really stands out in my memory was the fantastic framed photographs that adorned the walls of the halls of Sports Illustrated.

I was allowed into their dark room where they developed the film for what everyone thought would be the next cover shot.

Only one small thing got in the way.

Anthony Davis scored five touchdowns in USC’s titanic 55-24 comeback victory over Notre Dame, after trailing 24-0.

He made the cover, not Little Joe.

Even though my film got bumped off the cover, the magazine set me up in a downtown hotel not far from the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

In the snow, I walked down to take a gander at the beautiful tree.

I returned to my hotel room to watch the New York Giants play football in that snow before catching my flight back to OKC.