The Maskat Shrine Temple’s game is the longest running high school all-star game in the country. Not only that, it also has the most interesting format — Texas vs. Oklahoma. The two rival states have met in 65 of the previous 74 games with Texas owning a 46-18-1 series advantage.

Tickets: General admission is $10 and reserved seats are $15. They may be purchased at Bobby Evans Sporting Goods (2404 Kemp) or Jerry’s Sporting Goods (4031 Sports Street). You can also order tickets by calling 940-766-4511.

A special promotion for this Diamond Anniversary game will be to give free admission to all 75-year-olds. Just show your ID with a birth date at the ticket window or go by the Maskat Shrine to receive a free general admission ticket.

Beneficiary: All profits from this year’s game will go to the Shriners children hospitals. These 22 hospitals have a mission to provide the highest quality care with no family financial burdens to children with neuromusculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries and other special health care needs with a compassionate, family-centered and collaborative care environment.

They also provide for the education of physicians and other health care professionals. They conduct research to discover new knowledge that improves the quality of care and quality of life of children and families. This mission is carried out without regard to race, color, creed, sex or sect, disability, national origin or ability of a patient or family to pay.

Banquet: The annual banquet will be at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 8 at the Maskat Shrine Temple. This year’s speaker is former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter. Tickets are $15.

The late Joe Golding, who coached Wichita Falls High School to four state championships, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the banquet. All players and coaches from the Golding era are urged to attend.

Tailgate Party: Fans will have the opportunity to meet the players and coaches and get autographs at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 9 in the west parking lot of Memorial Stadium.

Oil Bowl Band: Any band members of all ages are asked to volunteer to play in the Oil Bowl band and make this the biggest one ever. For more information, call 940-766-4511.

Trivia:Mickey Maroney of Wichita Falls High School caught a 23-yard pass from Terry Southall of Brownwood to set up one second-quarter touchdown and then snared a 4-yard TD pass from Victor Castillo of San Antonio Brackenridge later in the period to lead Texas to a 21-13 win. Maroney became a Secret Service agent and was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing. He was inducted into the Oil Bowl Hall of Fame in 1996.

Player Spotlight: Billy Chappell is a 5-foot-10, 170-pound wide receiver/defensive back from Springtown. He was first-team all-district at three positions the last two years, at cornerback and wide receiver as a senior and at safety as a junior. He has not signed with any college.

I fell in love with football when I was 9 years old.

After watching the Coyotes whip up on some overmatched opponent at the Canyon on Friday night, the boys in my neighborhood would gather on the lawn of Kemp Public Library on Saturday morning to imitate our heroes.

But it didn’t take little Nicky long to learn I was whole lot better at watching football than I was at playing it.

Reagan-Zundy on Thursday afternoon; the Coyotes on Friday and Midwestern on Saturday — that was how I spent my time from September through November.

Then in the summer of 1956, I learned about another football game in town.

The newspaper said an all-star game called the Oil Bowl would be played in August.

I had to go.

But there was a problem. A ticket to the Oil Bowl cost three bucks.

I usually paid a quarter to get in games. Three bucks to a kid back then was like 300 bucks today.

Daddy told me if I wanted to go to the game, I would have to do some extra jobs around the neighborhood and save up until I had the three bucks.

I did just that, and when I showed him I had saved the money, he told me to keep it in my piggy bank and bought me a ticket.

The Oil Bowl, to a 9-year-old, football-loving boy back then, was like the Super Bowl.

The one name that I will never forget in that 1956 game was Wahoo McDaniel from Midland. He went to play football at OU but became famous as a professional wrestler.

Now turn the clock forward 56 years.

Here we are just five weeks away from the 75th annual Oil Bowl.

To me, it should be a time of real celebration for Wichita Falls.

When I Googled to find what was the longest running high school all-star football game, the Ohio North-South Game staked claim to that title. But it is only 67.

Eleven players from the Wichita Falls area have been chosen to play in the 75th annual Oil Bowl football game on June 9 at Memorial Stadium.

Anthony Wagner and Eddie Speight of Rider will team up one last time with Jim Garfield, who will be the head coach of the Texas squad.

Wagner had 1,655 yards of total offense and scored 26 touchdowns for the 10-4 Raiders last year. Bound for Cisco Junior College, the Rider running back ran for 1,071 yards (an 8.6 average) and 23 TDs and caught 38 passes for 584 yards and three TDs.

Speight, an inside linebacker who signed with Bacone College, had 96 tackles for Rider.

Wichita Falls High School will be represented by wide receiver Chance Garey, a signee with Wayland Baptist.

Garey caught 74 passes for 1,146 yards and 13 touchdowns to lead the Coyotes last season.

The speedy Brandon Sheppard of Hirschi, also a Wayland signee, was a two-way first team all-district football player and is a member of the two Husky relay teams that qualified for state meet next week.

Other area players selected to play in the Oil Bowl are: Blaine Curren of Burkburnett; Kaleb Littleton of Iowa Park; McCall Maddox of Jacksboro; Ryan Todd of Holliday; Kolten Booher of Henrietta; Tyler Coats of Electra and Madison Firmin of Bowie.

Curren is one of four Midwestern State recruits on the Texas roster.

The others are Arlington Sam Houston quarterback Kendall Jackson, Lubbock Estacado’s Ti Russell and Rowlett’s Rashid Turner.

There is another Rider tie to the game in that Burleson coach Jason Tucker, the defensive coordinator for Texas, is a former Raider. Tucker was a defensive standout at Rider in the early 1990s and graduated from there in 1993.

Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson, the offensive coordinator for Texas, played in the 1984 Oil Bowl after quarterbacking Knox City to a Class A state championship the previous fall.

Texas and Oklahoma have met in 65 of the previous 74 games with Texas owning a 46-18-1 series advantage.

The Maskat Shrine Temple sponsors the game with all profits going to Shrine hospitals.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and $15 for reserved and are now on sale at Bobby Evans Sporting Goods and Jerry’s Sporting Goods. You can order tickets by calling 940-766-4511.

The annual banquet will be at 7 p.m. onJune 8 at the Maskat Shrine Temple. This year’s speaker is former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter.

The late Joe Golding, who coached Wichita Falls High School to four state championships, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the banquet. All players and coaches from the Golding era are urged to attend.

Banquet tickets are $15 and may be purchased at the Maskat Shrine Temple

2012 GAME

You can now purchase tickets for the 75th Annual Maskat Shrine/Under Armour Oil Bowl Charity Football Game at Maskat Shrine.   If you wish to purchase by credit card,  call Maskat Shrine (940-766-4511).  We will take your information, charge your card, and mail your tickets to you.

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**To celebrate  the Oil Bowl’s 75th year and your birth year, if you were born in 1937 (become 75 years old this year), you can receive a General Admission Ticket ($10.00 value) free. If instead you wish a Reserved Seat, you can purchase it for $5.00 instead of the $15.00 regular price if you present an ID showing birth date.

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Tickets are also available at the following locations in Wichita Falls:

BOBBY EVANS SPORTING GOODS
2404 Kemp Boulevard
Phone:  940-723-1459

JERRY’S SPORTING GOODS
4031 Sports Street
1-866-696-0480  or 940-692-1156

There will be NO online ticket sales.

We will charge your card and mail your tickets to you.  You can also purchase tickets at our facility (5101 Henry S. Grace Freeway, Wichita Falls TX).  Tickets will not be required for players. 

This year’s banquet will be at the Maskat Shrine facility (5101 Henry S. Grace Freeway).  Because of the limited space, we have only 200 tickets to sell, and some have already been sold.  To be assured you have tickets, purchase as soon as you can. 

Not only are we celebrating the 75th Anniversary of our great game, we are also announcing that Shriners Hospitals for Children has become the official chari

The Hospitals budget for 2012 is over $900 million.  The money you spend buying an ad in the Oil Bowl Program, purchasing a program, shirt, game video, etc., or donations you make means more money for “our kids.”   Over the past five years alone, more than 7,400 children from Oklahoma and  more than 9,100 children from Texas have been helped, or currently being helped, in our hospitals.  We want to thank all of you (our sponsors, players and their families,  and fans) for helping us raise money for Shriners Hospitals for Children.  Just so you will know, 96% of  all monies given to them goes to patient care.

This said, please help us “help the children!”  Buy an ad in the Oil Bowl Program; buy lots of tickets to the game–you can give some  to friends and family or donate to worthy recipients; buy an Oil Bowl shirt.

Come on out and enjoy one of the finest football games you will ever see.

After taking Rider High School four rounds deep into the playoffs in his two seasons as head coach, Jim Garfield was chosen to lead Texas against Oklahoma in the 75th Oil Bowl.

The Rider coach will be the head coach for the Texas all-star football team in the diamond anniversary game June 9 at Memorial Stadium.  “I am excited that I get to represent Wichita Falls and Texas high school football in a game that has been played 75 years.  It’s both an honor and a privilege.” he said Saturday at a gathering of coaches for the annual Maskat Shrine Temple game.

Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson, who played in the 1984 Oil Bowl, will be Garfield’s defensive coordinator.  Hutchinson quaterbacked Knox City to a Class A state title his senior season.  “I was a defensive back and punter in the game, and the play I remember most is when we lined up to punt, and the ball was snapped over my head.  I ran for my life, picked it up, planted and threw across the field to Milton Williams of Post, who ran for a touchdown,” Hutchinson said.

Texas won that game 27-7.  After winning the Oil Bowl’s first overtime game 17-14 last year, the Texans now lead the series 46-18-1.

Jason Tucker of Burleson will be the offensive coordinator for Texas this year.

The three Oklahoma coaches will be Harlon House of Seminole, Rob Fry of Ponca City and J. R. Winton of Pryor.  House will be the head coach and defensive coordinator.  Fry will coach receivers, quarterbacks and running backs.  Winton will be offensive coordinator and coach the offensive line.

Oil Bowl Chairman Gary Hill said former Southlake Carroll coach Bob Ledbetter will be the speaker at the game’s banquet on June 8 at Maskat Shrine Temple.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.

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Oklahoma felt like it gave the game away.  Texas thought it seized the moment.

Whatever the assessment of how the 74th Oil Bowl ended, the first overtime game in the bowl’s history concluded with a field goal that was all but a certainty after previous circumstances.

After Texas failed to convert its two extra points in regulation Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, Argyle’s Chad Hedlund drilled a 39-yard field goal for the winning points.

That provided Texas with a 17-14 victory in front of 4,000 fans, increasing its lead in the series to 46-18-1.

More than that field goal, Texas walked away a winner because of a defense that forced three Oklahoma turnovers and a critical safety.

“We just gave the game away, bottom line,” Oklahoma coach Phillip Koons (Tuttle) said.  “Sometimes you get around these kids and for the most part, 90 percent of them play really hard and you get some prima donnas during the course of the week that fiddle3-fart around and don’t have a lot of character.  Sometimes in close games that shows up, and that’s what happened to us.”

Texas coach Byron West (Henrietta) disagreed with Koons’ stance, pointing to the big plays his defense delivered and offense executed late.

“I feel like it was 17-14 and Texas won.  It’s a football game.  Things happen.  You go gamble and you lose a bunch of money, and you don’t say, “Well, I played a bad hand.  I shouldn’t have done that.”

“They were bigger than we were.  They had guys going to a lot more places, more D-I’s.  But we beat Oklahoma this year.”

Texas won this rivalry all-star game despite not leading in the second half and missing both of its extra-point attempts — one on a block and another because of a bad snap.

Hedlund’s field goal also allowed the Wake Forest signee to leave Memorial Stadium on a bright note.  The last time he played in this venue, Hedlund missed a penalty kick late in a playoff game that ended in a 1-0 loss.

“It’s good to leave here redeeming myself,” Hedlund said.  “It’s one of those kicks where right when you kick it, you look straight up to see the result.  I got it.”

Oklahoma managed to survive a couple turnovers early, but its last one on the first play of overtime proved the costliest.

Kingfisher quarterback Derek Patterson fumbled after a hit from DeSoto’s Cord Seay, and Coppell’s Brandon Mullins pounded on it.

That continued the wave of momentum Texas rode after Oklahoma’s bad snap from its 9-yard line gave the Lone Star State renewed life at 14-8 with 6:06 remaining.

Texas hadn’t sniffed the red zone before then, but it took over on Oklahoma’s 43-yard line after the free kick and a late-hit penalty.

Doug Gentry’s 4-yard touchdown with three minutes left tied the score, but the biggest play came from Iowa Parks Lee Clubb.  Clubb broke several tackles after catching a short pass on fourth-and-6 from the 39-yard line, gaining 23 yards.  But a failure to execute a PAT sent the game into overtime.  Before Gentry’s touchdown, Texas’ only score had been produced by the defense.

SMU’s Stephen Sanders (Mesquite Horn) picked off a screen pass and sprinted 69 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.

“Thank goodness for our defense — they played hard all day,” West said.  “I think the defenses were matched for the offenses we had, and it turned out to be a good game.”

But Oklahoma was able to take a lead and build on it through big plays in the passing game.  Twice, Guthrie’s Devante McCully, a 6-6 receiver going to East Central, caught deep passes that set Oklahoma up touchdowns.  After connecting with McCully for 38 yards, Elk City’s Will Davis rolled to his right on and fired a 21-yard touchdown to Lawton’s Tyrequek Zimmerman.

Oklahoma made its PAT for a 7-6 lead at intermission and added another score late in the third quarter on Zimmerman’s 39-yard touchdown on third-and-30.  McCully’s 45-yard reception set up that TD.

With Texas’ offense sputtering, a 14-6 lead looked safe.  It didn’t help that Clubb saw more time at quarterback because Colleyville Heritage’s Jeff Calvert was injured late in the week, giving Keller’s Tyler Park little time to learn the offense.

In the end, both defenses played well enough to win, but it was Texas that capitalized in crunch time.

“Seventeen points we gave up, and our defense was responsible for none of it,” Koons said.  “Good for them.  They hung around, and we couldn’t put them away.”

74th Oil Bowl Scoring Summary
TEXAS 17, OKLAHOMA 14

FIRST QUARTER:  Texas — Stephen Sanders 69 interception return (PAT blocked), 4:36

SECOND QUARTER:  Oklahoma –  Tyrequek Zimmerman 21 pass from Will Davis (Daniel Bond kick), 3:12

THIRD QUARTER:  Oklahoma — Zimmerman 39 pass from Derek Patterson (Daniel Bond kick), 2:07

FOURTH QUARTER:  Texas –  safety (bad snap), 6:06

OVERTIME:
Texas — Chad Hedlund 39 field goal

Oklahoma Texas
First downs 14   11
Rushes-Yards  28-80   27-82
Passing  200  129
Comp-Att-Int   13-28-2    16-29-0
Punts   6-31.3   6-34.3
Fumbles-Lost   1-1     3-2
Penalties-Yards   10-104   7-75

Individual statistics

RUSHING
Oklahoma-Derek Patterson 8-57; Greg Johnson 3-21; Louis Durant 6-21; Deaquan Wojciechowski 5-14; Tyrequek Zimmerman 1-2; Will Davis 2-minus 4; TEAM 3-minus 31.
Texas-Doug Gentry 14-52; Tyler Park 5-19; Lee Clubb 7-17; TEAM 1-minus 6.

PASSING
Oklahoma-Derek Patterson 9-20-2-130; Will Davis 4-8-0-70;
Texas-Tyler Park 12-21-0-93; Lee Clubb 4-8-0-36.

RECEIVING
Oklahoma-Christian Hood 4-23; Tyrequek Zimmerman 3-66; Devante’ McCully 2-83; Tanner Jackson 2-14; Brayle Brown 1-9; Greg Johnson 1-5.
Texas-Jermaine Merdock 6-56; Lee Clubb 4-47; Doug Gentry 3-7; Greg Allen 2-18; Sam Ajala 1-1.

INTERCEPTIONS
Okahoma-none
Texas-Stephen L. Sanders 1-69; Andre Moseley 1-0.

FUMBLES
Oklahoma-Derek Patterson 1-1.
Texas-TEAM 1-1; Doug Gentry 1-1.