Bet: Doc, Trevor have unique bond
know he was going to go with his hair and a straight Mohawk and stick it up that high. That’s my dad; he’s pretty crazy.”
In 2010, Trevor was a freshman working to make Guthrie’s varsity team. When he did as a secondstring defensive tackle, Doc made the bet that if Trevor became a starter he would shave his head and get a Mohawk.
A few weeks later, Trevor was starting after Cody Doyle suffered an injury.
“All the kids went crazy,” Doc said about the initial reaction to his hair. “I’ve been bonding with the kids now and everybody here and I just love them. I just fell in love with all of the kids here.”
Trevor never left the starting lineup and has since developed into one of Class 5A’s top defensive tackles. He has 103 tackles and 13 sacks this season for the top-ranked Bluejays, who play No. 6 Collinsville at 7:30 p.m. Friday in a semifinal at Sapulpa.
But the bet almost never happened.
In 2008, Doc was involved in a horrific car wreck. He suffered significant injuries to his head, shoulder and leg and had to be revived after suffering an adverse reaction to medication.
His life was changed.
“That’s when I decided, ‘OK, God, you’ve given me a lot but I need to take more responsibility over what I’ve got,’” Doc said. “So I moved here (from Bethany) to be with my boys and try to raise them, be their dad in a better way and I’ve grown closer to them.”
For Trevor, it was another shock from his father when he nearly lost him for good.
But it’s also something that fuels him on the football field.
“I love him. Every game
forever he says, ‘Take my heart out and play.’ I take that to heart and play my hardest,” Trevor said.
The bond between Trevor and Doc is unique and stems from his birth in 1995, just months after the death of Doc’s mother.
She suffered a stroke the day after the bombing of the Murrah Building and died a few months later, never meeting Trevor.
“I was really torn up about it and the day before my birthday the Lord gave me a present, and it was Trevor,” Doc said. “There’s a bond between me and my son that can never be taken away.”
It’s Friday nights that thrill Doc the most.
“You just can’t imagine the feeling when you go out there and you get to watch your son play and achieve his goals, not just on the field but in school, getting a driver’s license, getting a job, getting a state championship,” he said. “It just overwhelms me.”
Once a football player for Putnam West in the late ’70s, Doc still suffers lingering effects from the wreck, but that doesn’t slow him down.
He has yet to miss a Guthrie football game since Trevor made the team, but the Mohawk was noticeably absent at times.
In 2011, the year Guthrie last won the state championship, Doc sported it at each game. Last season, however, he did not and the Bluejays lost in the quarterfinals.
The Mohawk is back this season, and Guthrie is undefeated.
“I’m a superstitious rascal, so if that’s what it was, heck I hope he has that sucker up sky-high and blue,” Guthrie coach Rafe Watkins said. “I’ve seen him several times with it and it’s kind of comical, but he wears it proud.”
It may be comical, but it’s a source of pride for Doc along with his normal game day outfit that features blue shorts and shoes, high socks and a Guthrie shirt.
He spends hundreds of dollars each season dying, cutting and styling the Mohawk at two places in Guthrie. And it’s worth every penny.
“It’s all about these boys growing up together and staying together,” he said. “It’s important that they have somebody and if it’s just me hugging their neck and telling them I love them, then I’m right where I need to be at.”
Next season, though, he may end up in a college town with Trevor, perhaps with a different color in his Mohawk. However, he is hoping for blue to remain loyal to his younger son Christian and Guthrie.
Either way, he will be there for his sons no matter what.
“It shows that he loves me and all of this,” Trevor said. “It’s just really special. It’s just family love. Family is first.”