TO: I haven’t forgiven him myself.
RR: You just put that right on your tie. I know, Wayman, that while you were in high school, almost every coach of every major college in America came down to Washington High School to see you play. And one such man was the man who was at that time–a little higher, Ted, if you would–one such man was Ted Owens, who at that time was the head coach of the University of Kansas. And he had not come to ORU yet to be our head coach and now our athletic director. And, Ted, you were telling me about the many times that you came down to watch this young man play. And your lips were watering, you said, because you wanted him at the University of Kansas.
TO: Well, we felt we could maybe have the greatest team we’d ever had if we could get Wayman to come with us. And, of course, he attended the University of Oklahoma and made them a great basketball power.
RR: And you were in the same conference, you had to face him.
TO: We had to face him.
RR: How grateful were you when Wayman graduated from ORU?
TO: I think everyone in the Big 8 Conference was grateful, except Billy Tubbs.
RR: Well, Wayman, you know that basketball has–of course athletics in general–play an important role here. We believe that athletics is a way to give a witness. Millions and millions of people read the sports page every day who don’t ever open the Bible. It is their Bible. And we are in athletics to be a witness for Jesus Christ. And I was so thrilled when I heard you say the principles upon which your father helped you to build your life and how you, how you pray before every game and what Jesus really means in your life. And I want to ask you to do something. I don’t want to put you on the spot. But there are a lot of young people out of school this summer and are watching this television program. And you know what’s been going on across the country, the death of a prominent basketball player, Len Bias, the death of other young men and young women because of drugs you’d take a moment and talk to young people, really out of your heart, because there are things that are going on that’s destroying young people’s lives, in athletics and also in other areas of life. And so what would you say to a young person who is watching this program right now?
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