Mazie had huge impact on NFL’s Ryan brothers
A farewell to people with Oklahoma ties who enjoyed the game day experience:
•Bob Mazie, 82, of The Woodlands, Texas, was head football coach at Southwestern Oklahoma State from 1978-85. The Bulldogs were 39-37-2 with two Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference championships under Mazie, who also had seven NAIA All-Americans. Mazie had a pair of undersized defensive ends who didn't play much but became famous later in life as NFL coaches — twin brothers
Rob and Rex Ryan. "Southwestern was a small pond," Rob Ryan told The Oklahoman in an interview years ago. "I really enjoyed it, and we had a lot of fun. We played for a great coach in Bob Mazie and learned a lot of football. Coach Mazie had the pulse of a team better than nearly any coach I've been around."
Mazie was a Pittsburgh native who also had collegiate coaching stops at Southern Illinois, Kutztown and Dayton. One of Mazie's late-career jobs was in the NFL. He was hired as a scout by the Arizona Cardinals, then coached by the Ryans' father, Frederick native Buddy Ryan. •Leon Schroeder Jr., 84, of Edmond. He played football for Marquette High School in Tulsa. He was a member of the 1949 city championship team. The Navy veteran and retired sales representative liked racing homing pigeons.
Schroeder volunteered at the Northside All Sports Association, working on the baseball and football fields.
•Lynn Duncan, 68, of Oklahoma City was an All-State lineman for John Marshall High. He starred at defensive tackle and linebacker for Wichita State from 1967-69. The Associated Press named Duncan as Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year after he collected a single-season school record 78 tackles. Duncan signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bears, but he never played in the NFL. He went into the oil and gas industry. In 2014, he was added to the Wichita State Sports Hall of Fame.
•Jack Huffman, 79, of Oklahoma City. He was an Oklahoma State grad — but a lifelong seasonticket holder for Oklahoma football.
•Clarence Whittenberg, 81, of Wellston lettered in football at West Texas State in 1954 and 1955. He spent more than 30 years as a history teacher and football coach, including a stop at Oklahoma Christian School as an assistant.
•Joe Drouot, 90, of Oklahoma City made his own bow and arrows while competing for the Tulsa Rogers High School archery team. Drouot graduated high school at age 16, and just before his 19th birthday, he was in the third wave to land on Okinawa during World War II.
•Gary Massey, 61, of Midwest City. He was allconference in basketball
and baseball at Blanchard High School. The former Navy photographer played intramural basketball. He worked in the Oklahoma City Police Department property room.
•Bob Williams, 92, of Earlsboro, was known throughout his athletic career as "Pee Wee." He was small in stature but made up for it with a strong work ethic as a student trainer for the Oklahoma A&M football and basketball teams.
The 1945 football team won the Sugar Bowl and later recognized as national champion; he was also the essential man-behind-thescenes for the 1945 and 1946 NCAA championship basketball teams.
"Pee Wee was as valuable as any of the players," former Aggies halfback Bob
Fenimore told The Oklahoman in 2004. "He had so much enthusiasm. If we were down, he'd get us up. He worked out with me so many times on Lewis Field and was an excellent trainer."
Williams stood about 4-foot-11. His college roommate was 7-foot All-American basketball player Bob Kurland. They lived in the basement of Gallagher Hall.
While Kurland went on to help the U.S. win two Olympic gold medals, Williams went into coaching. He was a football, basketball and baseball coach at Eastern Oklahoma A&M in Wilburton. Williams also had high school coaching stops in Borger, Texas; Shawnee; and his native Lawton.
He was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1975.
•Durlan Davoult, 82, of Oklahoma City was a longtime Oklahoma football season-ticket holder.
•Billy Manthey IV, 42, of Los Angeles worked in the food, art and entertainment business. As a youngster growing up in Oklahoma City, he joined the youth hockey explosion. Manthey skated in the Central Oklahoma Junior Hockey Association, often playing games at the old Iceland Arena.