http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=300&KEY=&ATCLID=30029 What is a Sooner? College sports fans are hard-pressed to find a nickname that is as unique and as linked to a state's history as a Sooner. The University of Oklahoma is the only school known as Sooners. The Oklahoma Territory opened with the Land Run of 1889. Settlers from across the globe, seeking free land, made their way to the prairies of the plains to stake their claim to a new life. One of the few rules to claiming a lot of land was that all participants were to start at the same time, on the boom of a cannon. All settlers who started then were labeled as "Boomers" and the ones who went too soon were called "Sooners." Also, increasingly, "Sooner" came to be a synonym of Progressivism. The Sooner was an "energetic individual who travels ahead of the human procession." He was prosperous, ambitious, competent, a "can-do" individual. And Oklahoma was the Sooner State, the land of opportunity, enterprise and economic expansion, very much in the Progressive spirit that engulfed the old South in the 1920's. OU athletic teams were called either Rough Riders or Boomers for 10 years before the current Sooner nickname emerged in 1908. The university actually derived their name from a pep club called 'The Sooner Rooters.' The success of University of Oklahoma athletic teams over the years have made the nickname synonymous with winning.
Your description paints a pretty picture of the "Sooner" origination compared to everything I've read thus far. That's the most positive spin on the word I've seen yet. All the historical websites I've looked up give a much more grim definition on what a Sooner is.
Curious is OU going to have their Boomer Sooner horse and carriage thing. I know OU is our enemy right now, but I think thats one of the great things of College Football...
Texas, it should be there. Whether it's allowed to go onto the field is another matter, which it usually isn't at bowl games. I know we've beaten the whole what-is-a-sooner thing into the ground, but here are two encyclopedic entries from the state museum, if you're interested. You'll find surprises in both....especially the boomer entry; some sooners weren't illegal, etc. http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/enc/sooner.htm http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/enc/boomvmt.htm
