Presidents Can't Punt Quotes

“A few members of the faculty expressed the views that the [Korean] war was not all of the problem. The attitude of the faculty that was summed up neatly by one member, who said: "The football craze throughout the entire first semester occupied too much of the students time and resulted in low grades and class cuts." I was inclined to agree that football had been a factor. It seemed to me that a winning team had done a great deal for the state of Oklahoma, but not nearly as much for the university. I resolved to do everything that I could to prevent the university from taking part in a postseason game after the 1951 season.”
― George Lynn Cross, Presidents Can't Punt: The OU Football Tradition

“A few days after his appointment Wilkinson came to my office for a talk. He was impeccably dressed and, noticing just a slight tinge of gray in his hair, I remember silently agreeing with someone who had written in a newspaper article that "he could well pose for a Lord Calvert ad".”
― George Lynn Cross, Presidents Can't Punt: The OU Football Tradition

“After reflecting on this for a time, I realized that a university president cannot punt, cannot pass problems to someone else. He must run with the ball and try not to fumble. Once possession is lost, the ball may bounce in any direction. I resolved to keep this in mind for future use, not only when dealing with athletic problems but also in all matters having to do with the responsibilities of my office. I found later that this course would not be easy.”
― George Lynn Cross, Presidents Can't Punt: The OU Football Tradition

“When I boarded the plane, I found to my surprise that Tatum had decided to return to Norman with the team rather than go to Maryland. ....
When I saw Tatum on board, I had momentary regret that I had abandoned [my other flight]. I had no desire to spend several hours on the flight with him; I had learned from past encounters that he could talk endlessly, with exhausting intensity. Hoping to avoid him, I walked to the front end of the DC-4 and took a seat on the right side next to the window; but I had scarcely sat down when Tatum plumped down beside me.
He spent the first few minutes telling me how unethical he thought I had been to offer one of his assistant coaches the head coaching job at OU before he resigned and only hours before his team was to compete in a bowl game. He was offended and hurt, he said, by such treatment. I listened patiently, with the unhappy thought that there would be several hours of such conversation before I could find relief at the journey's end.
However, shortly after takeoff we ran into turbulent air. The plane rose over a series of updrafts and dropped violently between them. Tatum, who was not a good air traveler, soon began to feel the effects. When he stopped talking for a moment, I glanced at him and noticed that he had begun to turn a little pale. The paleness soon turned to a greenish cast, and I had a feeling that my problem might be solved. Finally, when he became noticeably ill, I signaled for a hostess and suggested to my sick friend that we remove the armrest between the two seats so that he could lie down. I would find a seat elsewhere. He accepted the suggestion, and when I left him he was in a semireclining position with his head on a pillow, holding a sick sack.
We soon got out of the rough air, and I enjoyed most of the rest of the trip, visiting with as many members of the squad as I could.”
― George Lynn Cross, Presidents Can't Punt: The OU Football Tradition