Magazine cover made a Sooner famous

By Julianna Parker
CNHI News Service

Norman, Okla. October 16, 2008 05:57 pm

— Dewey Buck’s 15 minutes of fame have lasted a lifetime.
Buck wasn't an athlete at the University of Oklahoma in 1954, but his photo somehow graced the cover of the ninth issue of Sports Illustrated. He was playing the trombone and identified only as a member of the band.
The picture magazine cover surprised Buck. The photo featuring him in full Pride of Oklahoma uniform had been taken a year earlier, he said, when Life magazine visited the university. The same company owned both publications, and the photo resurfaced for a feature on college marching bands.
Buck’s name wasn’t used, but the picture brought him celebrity.
After a half-century of successful sports journalism, Sports Illustrated covers signed by their subjects have become collector’s items, said Buck, who has autographed many copies of his photo over the years.
Someone recently e-mailed his son, asking if he was related to the Dewey Buck on the cover of SI. Buck has no idea how the person found his son.
But for Buck, the magazine cover is less about fame and more a reminder of the good times spent at OU. The Norman resident reflected on them Monday, the first day of OU’s homecoming week, over a Coke at the Vista Sports Grill, where the magazine cover is on display.
Buck was part of the Pride from 1951-1953 as an undergraduate, and also in 1957 as a graduate student. It was there he met his wife, Mary Patterson, who played the flute.
They were at an away game against Missouri in 1957. Neither liked the chicken in the provided boxed lunches, so a mutual friend took them for hamburgers. They sat together on the trip back to Oklahoma and started dating soon after.
They were engaged New Year’s Eve, when the Pride played the Orange Bowl.
Elizabeth Windes, of Norman, was in the flute section with Mary. She remembers Buck as fun-loving. “We just always laughed and had a good time,” she said. The Windeses and Bucks have kept in touch through the years, mostly seeing each other during homecoming week.
After finishing at OU, Buck left Oklahoma to earn a doctoral degree in anthropology in Wisconsin. He returned in 1967 to teach at OU. He now works in defense information systems for the federal government.
He never had a doubt about his college choice while growing up in Tonkawa, Okla. And he now enjoys living in Norman, even if it is quite different from the town he college town he once knew.
“There are very definite changes – great changes in Norman and on campus – but I don’t really notice them,” he said.
Buck’s family carries on the Sooner tradition. One of his sons, Doug, graduated in 1990 and 1992. His granddaughters graduated in 2007.
The family also revels in the pomp and pageantry of Game Day. Buck is a football season ticket holder.
“I try not to miss a game on TV, and most of the family goes to home games,” he said.
And he still enjoys occasional celebrity. When Buck, who lives in Norman, checked out the cover at the restaurant Monday, a young waiter saw the resemblance.
“I’ve always wondered who that was,” the waiter said. “Is that you?”
Buck told the waiter it was.
You couldn’t tell from the magazine caption that did not identify Buck. But, of course, it wasn’t the only problem with the caption.
The magazine described the trombone-playing Buck as an Oklahoma bandsman watching his instructor. That, he said, isn’t entirely true.
“I was looking at the twirlers,” he said.

Julianna Parker is a writer for The Norman Transcript.

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