BOZ’S WORTH
With a fractured relationship with the state long forgotten, former Sooner football star Brian Bosworth is set to go into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
NORMAN — When Brian Bosworth’s book “The Boz: Confessions of a Modern Anti-Hero,” was released in 1988, his ties with Oklahoma ceased.
The legendary Sooners linebacker went into exile from the place where he transformed from Brian Bosworth, the recruit, to “The Boz,” one of the most outlandish personalities in college football history.
“For him to have severed all relationships present, past and future with the OU football program, I
just wish it would not have happened,” legendary OU coach Barry Switzer said of Bosworth then.
The two-time Butkus Award winner and twotime consensus All-American linebacker remained separated from the Sooners for several years.
Over the last two decades, Bosworth’s exile has gradually ended.
On Monday, Bosworth will be inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame with a class that also includes Bob Barry Jr., Joe Dial, Leon Heath, Jimmy Houston and Scott Verplank.
In 2000, Bosworth returned to Norman as the 1985 National Championship team was honored. He stood on the field right next to Switzer as the current players came out of the tunnel.
He’s apologized not only for the book but for the “National Communists Against Athletes” shirt he wore on the sidelines at the 1987 Orange Bowl after he’d been suspended by the NCAA for steroid use.
“In a matter of 10 seconds, I undid everything good, for what, a laugh?” Bosworth said in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Brian and the Boz”.
He’s said the hardest part of the fallout from that incident was how it affected his relationship with Switzer, whom he’s called a father figure.
In recent years, he’s made repeated appearances in Norman.
His daughter, Hayley, played for OU’s volleyball team in 2014.
He was honored at a 2015 game for his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame later that year.
He’s been featured in the “There’s Only One,” pregame videos played at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Last year, he returned for Oklahoma’s Senior Day festivities, where he presented Sterling Shepard with a Sooners Illustrated magazine with Shepard’s father, Derrick, on the cover.
“I just remember what a great player he was,” Sooners coach Bob Stoops said of Bosworth. “He’s been a great friend to everybody around here every time he comes back and the passion and intensity he played with and what a fabulous player he was.”
Switzer was at the January announcement of the 2016 class, sitting at Bosworth’s table.
Bosworth said at the time that he was grateful his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame didn’t happen earlier.
“If it would’ve happened five or six years ago,” Bosworth said. “I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate it the way I appreciate it now.”