Sooner or Later?

Sports teams at the University of Oklahoma are known as the Sooners, one of strangest nicknames in collegiate athletics. The story of how their peculiar nickname originated highlights a key ingredient to success in leadership: initiative.In 1889, the U.S. government agreed to open up public lands in Oklahoma to aspiring homesteaders. Anyone who agreed to cultivate a parcel of land for at least five years could gain title to 160 acres. Congress set a time and date—April 22, 1889 at noon—as the...