Bootleggers boy
Bootleggers boyThough Barry Switzer’s career may have not always been glamorous, it was always successful. Switzer grew up in Arkansas, but will always be connected with Oklahoma. He is one of the best coaches to ever coach college football, and reached a hundred wins faster than any other coach. Barry had a different style of coaching on and off the field. He has a College National Championship and a Super Bowl ring, which can’t be said by many coaches. Due to his great success, he is still hailed by Sooner fans. Most people can’t appreciate his success until they know what he has gone through to get it.
Barry Switzer was born on October 5, 1937. He was born in Crossett, a small town in southern Arkansas. His first house was a houseboat on the Ouachita River. His dad worked at the toll bridge over the river. In 1941 he and his family moved to Long Beach, California. They moved there so his dad could work on ships during the war. When the war ended he moved back to Crossett, Barry just finished the third grade. His dad went through many jobs but didn’t gain any money. Then he decided to go to Louisiana and buy a few cases of whiskey. He brought the cases back to the dry county of Crossett and made a good profit. After this he became a bootlegger. Barry grew up as a poor kid and didn’t have electricity or running water until his senior in college. He attended the University of Arkansas to play football. He was more homesick than he thought he would, but quickly adjusted. He played for four years and often said he was never good enough player to play for one of his teams at Oklahoma.
At the beginning of his senior year, he met his future wife. He was talking to one of his teammates when she walked and asked them for directions. They started dating after that. After playing for the University of Arkansas, he enlisted in the reserves. He was supposed to have six months of basic training in Missouri. After a few weeks of training, Coach Broyles, the head coach at Arkansas, called and offered him a job. He became a full-time assistant coach in 1961. In 1963, after his wife received her degree, they got married. Two years later helped coach the Razorbacks to their only National Championship in 1965. After this year, Switzer started thinking about coaching a team himself. A year later Arkansas’ Assistant coach, Jim MacKenzie, was offered the job of Head Coach at the University of Oklahoma. In 1966 MacKenzie accepted the job and brought Barry Switzer with him. Not knowing at the time that Switzer would spend the next 23 years in Norman....
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