PROFILE: Ron Smith

[PawneeSports]

Sources:
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise
Oklahoma High School Sports InfoNET

Bartlesville football program has been to the playoffs only once the past 13 years and has one winning record and three 5-5 marks during those 13 years.

In 2005, Bruins were 1-9 which the starting quarterback left the team after the second week, the returning leading rusher also departed early in the season and injuries depleted the depth on the offensive and defensive lines.

Smith takes the place of Greg Willis, who guided the program the past two years and resigned a few weeks after 2005 season.

Owasso football is 36-21 the past five years, including a 2-5 mark in the postseason.

During that same five-year period, Bartlesville was 19-31 with one playoff loss. Five of Bartlesville's losses from 2001-05 were to Smith's Rams.

The Rams finished 7-3 in 2005, but had the misfortune of crashing into a brick wall, otherwise known as Tulsa Union, in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs. Union won, 45-6, and went on to win the state championship three weeks later.

Offensive Coordinator: 12 years (1985-1996) at Midwest City
In 1985 won the state championship.
In 1988 won the state championship.
In 1994 won the state championship.
In 1995 won the state championship.

Head Coach: 4 years (1997-2000) at Deer Creek (3A)
(5-5) in 1997;
(3-7) in 1998;
(5-6) in 1999;
(12-1) in 2000; and won the state championship.
Smith's youngest son Paul had thrown for 3,077 yards and 24 touchdowns as a sophomore at Deer Creek in 2000.

Head Coach: 5 years (2001-2005) at Owasso (6A)
(9-3) in 2001
(8-4) in 2002
(8-4) in 2003
(7-4) in 2004
(7-4) in 2005
Smith's hiring by Owasso in 2001 turned out to be a winning package deal.

With Paul Smith under center at Owasso in 2001-02, Owasso had cumulative record of 16-8, advancing to the second round of the playoffs each season.

Paul Smith, who recently addressed the adult chapter of the Bartlesville Fellowship of Christian Athletes, currently is the starting quarterback at the University of Tulsa.

He played an instrumental role in Tulsa's golden season in 2005, including a 9-4 record and victory against Fresno State in the Liberty Bowl.

[OKLAHOMAMOSES]

He should be able to make a turnaround there with his coaching style.

Does anyone remember the old days? Bartlesville College-Heights & Sooner i think?:thumbsup:

[PawneeSports]

I remember reading articles about:

It was written like this...hmmm.
http://www.college-high.net/cohi1961.jpg
The REAL Bartlesville, College, Sooner High School WEBSITE (http://www.college-high.net/)

College High was constructed in 1939. Its official name was Bartlesville Senior High School and Junior College, and it originally served 585 students in grades 11-14. On January 8, 1940 those students, who had been attending Bartlesville's Central High School, moved 3/4 mile south to the impressive new building.

Paul C. Norvell was the first Col-Hi principal. Some old traditions were maintained, such as the Nautilus yearbook and the Peppers girls' pep club. New traditions were also started, such as the "Deliberative Committee" which would serve as the student government for the next four decades. By 1946 Maurice W. Taylor was principal, followed by G. M. Roberts and then Carl A. Ransbarger until 1954. Students in these and subsequent years participated in long-lasting clubs such as Hi-Y, Y-Teens, Service Club, Trade & Industrial Club, and the B Club for lettered athletes. The B club sold Wildcat stadium seats and ran the concession stands at games, using the proceeds for an annual scholarship. New clubs in the late forties and early fifties included the United Nation Youth, Future Homemakers of America, United World Federalists, and Junior Red Cross. Foreign language clubs thrived, including the Latin Club & Senate (which later became the Junior Classical League), and the Spanish and French Clubs (sometimes grouped as the Modern Languages Club). Driver's education was first offered as an elective in 1949. Students participated in such annual traditions as the homecoming parade and bonfire and Sadie Hawkins Day.

Sophomores began attending Col-High in the fall of 1950, and the junior college closed. John C. Haley moved up to principal in 1954, a position he would hold until 1973. He had formerly serverd as teacher, counselor, and vice-principal. The junior college had closed, but in 1956 black students were finally welcomed to Col-Hi from segregation's Douglass High School. Jane Morrison was the first black student to attend Col-Hi, with Principal Haley noting that Bartlesville was a leader in the state in integration, with a smooth transition. The baby boom was on and several additions were built to serve the 1,000+ students on campus. The fifties brought such clubs as the Future Teachers of America, Fashion Board, Future Nurses of America, Key Club, Boys and Girls State, and various Science Clubs. Bartlesville hosted the state Student Council convention in the early 1950's, an honor that would not be repeated for forty years.

The late fifties and early sixties brought the Canteen, a popular hang-out on Price Road for local youth. It was built and operated by the Service League, and members taught card games and hosted tournaments. The facility offered dances with live bands, and is still in active use today.

In the sixties, Col-Hi organizations included the Indian Club, International Relations Club and American Field Service, Youth Court, Medical Careers Club, Art Club, Math Club, Drafting Club, and several business organizations such as Distributive Education Clubs of America, Future Business Leaders of America, and the replacement of the old T&I Club with Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. The baby boom made for cramped conditions, with 1,942 students on campus by 1966. That led to the building of Sooner High across town, and began the long-time rivalry between the Col-Hi Wildcats and the Sooner Spartans. Each school would burn the other's mascot during pep rallies the night before their annual football game.

The seventies brought clubs focused on students' personal interests and issues, such as Contemporary Music, Photography, Rodeo, Interracial Relations, and Afro-Americans. Other additions were the Secretarial Club and the John Baird Society; Baird's 1974 Calculus course was the first Advanced Placement course at Col-Hi. The character of the school was changing to keep up with the times. The traditional pep club disbanded in 1971, and the "Wild Bunch", consisting of boys and girls, was formed. Mr. Haley retired in 1973 and Jim Morrel was principal for a year, followed by Col-High's final principal, Dennis Pannell. 1976 was the first and only time the school held no prom, since students felt the attendance guidelines were too restrictive.

Decreasing enrollments in the early eighties led the Col-Hi Wildcats to merge with the Sooner Spartans and in 1982 form the Bartlesville High School Bruins. Freshmen and sophomores now attend classes at the former Sooner site, while juniors and seniors attend what was once Col-Hi.

Hi Wildcats wore colors of black and gold in keeping with Bartlesville's primary industry. The high school mascot was the Yellow Jacket until 1924-25,Col- when it changed to the wildcat. Incidentally, that was the same year C. Custer (as in Custer Field) arrived as head football coach, a position he would hold for many years. The Wildcats were state boys basketball champions in 1967, state baseball champs in 1969 and 1980, and took state in tennis in 1978, 1979, and 1982. A boys' basketball game between Sooner and Col-Hi at the Phillips Gym set a national record of nine overtimes in 1977. The school's mascot, Willie Wildcat, was a prominent part of school spirit.

The Campus
In 1939 the 20+ acre campus at 17th and Hillcrest Drive was valued at $25,000. It was purchased from John H. Kane and C.E. Burlingame for $10,000, which was the most allowed by the federal Public Works Administration's regulations. Another depression-era federal agency, the Works Progress Administration, built a sandstone rock amphitheater along with four tennis courts and other athletic fields to the east in the area occupied today by Custer Field. The amphitheater had a built-up stage in the center surrounded by three rows of seats in an oval shape, in about the center of the south half of the present-day practice field. A small brook meandered through the area and through the present-day parking lot which at that time also had a grove of trees.

Col-Hi's original design capacity was 800 students. The main building housed the auditorium and academic classes, and the field house or manual training building housed the band, orchestra, physical education, and industrial arts classes. The exterior could have been brick, but a petition from 273 employees of the Dewey Portland Cement Company convinced the school board to build it of white-painted reinforced monolithic concrete. The white was offset by windows with cherokee red spandrels. The floors were marbleized asphalt tile, while the corridors had terrazzo with glazed tile wainscoting. No two classrooms were alike, each arranged for a particular purpose with beautiful birch cabinets and built-ins.

Original Costs:
$402,475.52 Construction, Classroom and Manual Training Buildings
$ 26, 278.63 Architectural and Engineering Costs
$ 1,755.01 Legal, Administrative, Preliminary Costs
$ 21,390.33 Equipment
$ 10,050.00 Original 21.56 acre Site
$ 14,782.80 Landscaping Grounds and Site Development
$ 476,732.29 TOTAL

Financing:
$214,855.00 Grant from Federal Government (PWA)
$134,100.00 Bond Issue
$ 72,777.29 Cash from Building Fund Levies
$ 55,000.00 Donation from The Frank Phillips Foundation, Inc.
$476,732.29 TOTAL

By March, 1949 the campus was packed with 1,042 students and bonds were voted to build a stadium and classroom addition. The amphitheater and tennis courts, which had often flooded, were covered with dirt hauled in from the downtown Phillips complex (Adams Building site).

The building and campus have seen many changes over the years, as summarized below:

1952 - A track and field were constructed for $66,000.

1954 - The stadium was constructed for $476,000.
It was named for Coach C. "Lefty" Custer, who graduated from Bartlesville High in 1922 and was a head coach for many years. The stadium includes classrooms as well as the band room, dressing rooms, etc. The old band room/stage in the field house is now the concession stand and coaches' offices/lounges.

1956 - A new basement cafeteria was constructed for $94,583.
The cafeteria was originally across the hall from the library, and served as an auxiliary reading room. It was moved to the basement and the upper room became a study hall. That area was the library reference room for many years and is now classrooms and storage

1958 - The annex was constructed for $214,188.
This brought the confusing "3rd, 4th, and 5th floors", with the "3rd" floor below-ground! The home economics classes, which were on the first floor across from the office, moved to a customized 3rd floor. The 4th floor included a skybridge connecting the main building to the stadium. The 5th floor has a rooftop greenhouse which was used by environmental science and business classes (which grew homecoming mums) until the late 1970's.

1962 - Concession stands for the track and field were constructed for $27,245.

1963 - An auxiliary cafeteria was added for $20,000.
This is a white metal building between the main building and the stadium. It now houses classrooms.

1968 - General renovations were performed and the small and auxiliary gyms constructed for $899,877.
The auxiliary gym was the wrestling room until the field house machine and auto shops were closed, when it became the weight room. The 3rd floor home economics area was remodeled and the science labs in the main building were renovated.

1973 - 16 acres of land were added for $11,690.
This floodplain land included a pond and became the John C. Haley Land Lab, used as an outdoor classroom for environmental studies.

1982 - College High becomes Bartlesville High School

1986 - Flood damage of $52,033.
Three to four feet of water damaged rooms in the stadium and field house due to a hundred-year flood of the Caney River.

1988 - The Chuck Doornbos track was built around Custer Field, with a $300,000 donation from the Doornbos family.

1995 - General renovations costing $1,169,317.
North, south, and west exterior repainted and given new windows. The 1968 gymnasium addition's exterior walls given a new sheathing. The roof was repaired, and many classrooms were repainted and received lighting and climate control upgrades.

1996 - Handicapped access was added to top floor of the annex by constructing a hallway ramp atop the east side of the auditorium balcony.

1997 - The library annex was partitioned to form a classroom and other areas. Sinks were added to one of the chemistry labs.

1998 - Bond issue passed to renovate the stadium exterior and boiler and repaint its interior as well as repaint the east side of the main building.

[OKLAHOMAMOSES]

Thanks Pawnee! It's true, you are a walking encyclopedia!