Sports

VIDEO: Oklahoma Sports, Entertainment Suffered Losses In 2013

KGOU | By Brian Hardzinski,

Published December 31, 2013 at 9:03 AM CST

The football coach who installed the wishbone at the University of Oklahoma, a former OU quarterback, an Oklahoma State basketball legend and one of America's first great ballerinas were among those with ties to Oklahoma who died during 2013.

Chuck Fairbanks installed the wishbone in 1970 and the offense helped OU to national titles in 1974 and 1975 after Fairbanks left for the NFL. Fairbanks died in April at age 79.

http://youtu.be/Q2QoAI_OA3w

Steve Davis quarterbacked those championship teams. He was killed in a plane crash in March in Indiana.

http://youtu.be/aBmZu24MuZ4

7-foot basketball center Bob Kurland died in September at age 88. He led Oklahoma A&M — which is now Oklahoma State — to national basketball titles in 1945 and 1946.

http://youtu.be/DjxKcqt8_l4

Ballerina Maria Tallchief died in Chicago in April at age 88.

http://youtu.be/0y_tWR07F7Y

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Brian Hardzinski

Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.

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