Remembrances of OU/tx Weekends 1970 - 1997
by Jack Williams (Club President,1972)

My 27-year involvement with the OU/tx Weekend was a great experience filled with surprises and fun!

In 1970 the OU Club of Dallas met at a restaurant in a two-story house located at the corner of Lemon and Oaklawn. We met upstairs in a room seating possibly 20 or 30, and we always had empty chairs. In the spring of 1970 I was assigned to handle the "Beat Texas Dance" for one year, but it turned out to be my assignment for the next twenty-seven years. We had no start-up money, so I would buy postage and be reimbursed when we sold some dance tickets. Dance tickets sold for $8.00 each, and I sent dance tickets to every known Okie in Dallas, begging the individual to sell as many as possible.

During the next six years, with one year at the Sheraton downtown, we were at the Marriott on Stemmons @ Industrial Boulevard. In the middle of this large complex was a freestanding building called the Conquistador Room. We held our dance in that building, which held 400 people, plus dance floor. In 1971 I hired two bands - one rock and roll and one traditional (for our "mature" folks). I paid the rock and roll band $250.00, the traditional band $150.00, and they alternated being on stage. Security at this building was most difficult, and we had a constant problem of interlopers trying to crash our party. I always had the Pride come in for a 20/30 minute rally, which stirred up the crowd. One year at the Marriott Jim Weatherall (OU All American) and his lady stayed at our hotel and came to the dance. I had him seated at our table. Prior to each dance I would meet with the waiters and instruct them to run a tight ship with no drunkenness or misconduct toward any lady and to advise me if such occurred. There was a black waiter in his fifties, and I assigned him to take card of Jim Weatherall, I had informed the waiter that this man was a United States Senator. The next morning Jim told me the waiter was never more than two feet from his chair all evening. Jim did not know that I had given him the title of a US Senator.

In 1972 we wanted to add culture to our OU Club program, so we engaged the OU Concert Choir to perform for us on the SMU campus. We rented the SMU facility, plus motel rooms for the choir members. We charged $1.50 per person for admission to hear this fine group. Only a handful of people showed up, and we lost our britches. We did not have a dime left in the bank. The officers of our club in 1972 were: Jack Williams, President; Bill Newton, First Vice President; Joe Eashuhl, Second Vice President, and Jay Brown, Third Vice President.

In 1977 we moved our dance to the Royal Coach Inn on Northwest Highway. We stayed at this location from 1978 to 1983. This hotel name changed to Dunfey's in 1980, and our ticket price increased to $12.50 per ticket. We always tried to follow the music trends of the country, and C&W was the hot ticket at this time, so we had Ray Wiley Hubbard for our music in 1981 and 1982. We paid Ray Wiley Hubbard a measly $1,500 for each performance - the going rate for a very popular band. While at this location we gambled and rented two buses to transport our people to the game. This part of the package continued to grow each year. We also hooked up with Bodacious BBQ from Longview, Texas, for an OU barbecue lunch at Fair Park prior to the game.

One year while at the Dunfey hotel there was a disturbance at the entrance to the dance and I was summoned. It seemed that a man in Indian dress wanted to enter. I visited with the man and found him to be very pleasant. He was the Chief of the Cherokee Indian tribe. The dance was sold out; however, this man didn't want to sit down, he only wanted to stand against the back wall. I immediately brought him into the ballroom, and everything was OK.

From the start I had a lady from Houston reserve a table at the dance. Her husband had a heart problem and she requested a table half way between the entrance and the dance floor. I kept that table for her for 27 years. In early 1983 we learned that the Dunfey was to be torn down, and we quickly had to find a new location.

By the summer of 1984 we moved to the Crown Plaza at Midway Road and LBJ Freeway, and I started reserving the entire hotel. Our crowd had grown to 600 for the dance, and this LBJ location was highly favored by the OU fans coming down I-35. We remained at this location for four years. Our attendance continued to grow at the dance. I filled the hotel and started using other hotels in the area. To better utilize ballroom space we started using rectuangular tables, but the ladies were tearing their panty hose on the sharp table corners, and the ladies were on my case. All of the above was telling me that we needed a larger hotel.

In early 1987 I receieved a letter from the DoubleTree Hotel wanting our business. The timing was great because I was starting to look for a larger facility. Our most memorable years have been spent at the DoubleTree Hotel. The size and location of this hotel were perfect for us. Our dance grew to 1,000 and was the largest social event in Dallas during the OU/tx Weekend. We increased our bus transportation to 14 buses and our BBQ crowd had grown to 1,500. Texas also had a BBQ at Fair Park and one year their party was in the open. It rained them out. We had a covered facility, so I invited them to join us. Most of their people came to us, and we had a lot of fun. From the start I reserved the entire hotel. The DoubleTree Ballroom was perfect for us. We could seat 900+ stand-ups for a total of 1,000, plus the dance band and a large dance floor. With "The Pride" joining us, I often worried that the Dallas Fire Marshall would lean on us. It was wall-to-wall with bodies.

On each Friday from 3 to 5 p.m., the hotel would hire a 7-piece band comprised of local insurance men to play in the lobby since this was the peak check-in time. They were very good and there was dancing in the lobby and the crowd loved it. We had portable bars placed around the lobby and, with the dancing a Mardi Gras atmosphere existed. This activity put our people in a festive mood.

As our crowds grew, our dances would sell out as early as mid-August. At the Friday night dance, hundreds of people would fill the lobby just to see "The Pride" arrive, listen to their music, and see them depart. Everyone at the dance knew that "The Pride" was due to arrive at 10 p.m., so everyone had their hearing turned up to hear that first drum roll as the band entered the hotel. It was an electrifying moment and, as the first musician entered the ballroom, everyone was standing and cheering. Young children were excited to be so close to a band member. Many local parents would bring their children to the hotel for this event.

We always used Dallas Police Officers (in uniform) as our security and ticket takers for the dance. Their presence had a sobering effect on any "would-be" troublemakers.

From 1987 to 1997 many funny things happened during The Weekend:
1. There is a large lagoon on the west side of the DoubleTree Hotel, and one year some OU fan put red dye in the water. The lagoon had large water fountains spewing bright red water.
2. An OU fan checked into the hotel on Friday afternoon. The man had been consuming "adult beverages". He went to his room but a short time later returned to the front desk demanding "red" curtains be installed in his room. The young lady at the front desk was new on the job and could not handle the matter. She called her supervisor. At this point the fan laid five hundred dollar bills on the counter and again demanded red curtains. Had the supervisor been clever, he would have taken the $500, walked across LBJ to the JC Penney store, purchased two red sheets and a box of safety pins and gone to the room and hung the sheets. He could have pocketed $450 and everyone would have been happy. The supervisor convinced the fan that red curtains would not fit in with the room decor.
3. We had an attorney from Miami, OK send a check for only one dance ticket. He arrived at the dance with his lady. When I confronted him with the need for more money, he advised me that he had planned to carry his lady into the dance "piggy back". He did buy another ticket.
4. For several years a lady from Oklahoma City would spend Friday afternoon in the lobby carrying a mechanical monkey. The monkey would turn its head and move an arm. It apparently opperated on a battery. She thought it was cute; the rest of us thought otherwise.

During my 27-year assignment, I took a hands-on position and all reservations for rooms, dance tickets, bus tickets and BBQ tickets came through me. As a result, I got to know many people in Oklahoma because they would come year after year. Wives or lady friends made most of the reservations. I ran a tight ship and made sure the ladies were safe and that they had a good time in Big D. The week prior to the game would produce a staggering number of phone calls on my message machine, and one year I returned phone calls until 1 a.m. The demand for suites was always greater than availability. The top four floors contained the suites, a bar, and a free breakfast area, and the westward view was very pleasant. Not only did many people want the same table at the dance, but also the same hotel room. Thus my involvement became year round. In my 27 years, I never handled a hot check. People knew "don't mess with Jack if you want to come back". At the dance I would group people by profession and geographic location. We had a group from the Phoenix area join us, along with a group of physicians from southwest Missouri, and several from the Ft. Smith area. One old gentleman from Worland, Wyoming, brought his grandson several years and they had a blast. The old gentleman told me that at his age he didn't need much money, so he gave sixty of his oil wells to his daughter. He wanted to lessen his load. At one point we had a number of organizations wanting to display their wares just outside our ballroom entrance on the lower level. One year Barry Switzer sold his autographed book "Bootlegger's Boy" and made a ton of money.

As our crowds grew over the years, many fans were coming to Dallas as early as Thursday and several on Wednesday prior to the Saturday game. On Thursday night we would have a party to raffle off tickets to the game. This pulled a large crowd, and I always would sell many bus and BBQ tickets. Many of our out-of-town guests would join us. This was a fun event.

The DoubleTree Hotel loved this weekend because we brought excitement into their facility, and we constituted a nice group of people with no problems. The hotel provided professional service to our people.

In 1998 Luanne and I decided to move out of Dallas. We built a home in a gated community four miles east of Grandbury, Texas. As a result I felt it wise to bow out of my OU/tx Weekend duties. It was time that I stepped aside. I departed with many fond memories.

Note: In addition to Jack's 27-year "labor of Love" for The Weekend, Jack was also an avid supporter of the club's accademic scholarship program. He was our lead interviewer for many years. In addition, who can forget his annual introduction of the "young damsels and gentlemen" at our summer club meetings. In 1998, in appreciation for Jack's efforts and dedication the Board elected to name our scholarships the Jack Williams Scholarship. Then in 2000 the board renamed the four scholarships again. They now are: the Jack Williams, the Jack Mckinney, the Director's Choice, and the Paul and Judy Kaye Massad Scholarships. Thank you Jack for the fun and memories!