Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Sam Bradford, first Native American to win the Heisman Trophy

Sam Bradford, born November 8 (Happy birthday, Sam!), 1987 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is the first Native American to win the Heisman Trophy.  He is a member of the Cherokee Nation and was drafted in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams.  He set a record for most completions by a rookie in NFL history and won NFL Offense Rookie of the Year.  

He played football at Putnam City North High School and accepted a scholarship from University of Oklahoma.  He became only the second sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy.  Bradford played for the Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Arizona Cardinals.

Celebrating Black History Month: Alicia Andrews, first African-American leader of an Oklahoma political party

Alicia Andrews, born in Oklahoma City, became the first African-American of Oklahoma's Democratic Party, the first black leader of any political party in June 2019.  She graduated from OU with a degree in psychology, and worked in Corporate America, focusing on organizational design and process engineering.  She established a real estate practice in Tulsa, where she is today.

Celebrating Pride Month: Lynn Riggs, openly gay Cherokee playwright

Lynn Riggs, born August 31, 1899 near Claremore, Oklahoma to a mother who was 1/8 Cherokee.  He started attending the University of Oklahoma in 1920 and taught English for a year, but developed tuberculosis and did not graduate.  After recuperating in Santa Fe, New Mexico he traveled to New York and began writing plays.

After receiving a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1928, he traveled to Europe and began writing his most famous play Green Grow the Lilacs, while in Paris.

The play went onto become the musical and movie Oklahoma!

Being gay, he was often a non-romantic escort in Hollywood for actresses such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943.

He passed away in NYC in June 1954 from stomach cancer.

Celebrating Black Pride Month: J. C. Watts, first African-American US Representative from Oklahoma

Julius Caesar "J. C." Watts, born in Eufala, Oklahoma 1957, is the first African-American U.S. Representative from Oklahoma.  He represented the 4th Congressional District (south-central) from 1995 to 2003.  He played football at OU and was starting quarterback in 1979 and led them to two Orange Bowl victories.  He then played for the Canadian Football League until 1986.

Watts was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in 1990, being the first African-American to win a statewide office in Oklahoma.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Frederick Leslie!

Frederick Weldon Leslie, born December 19, 1951 in Ancon, Panama, flew on Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-73) as a payload specialist October-November 1995.  He graduated from Irving High School in Irving, Texas (the one that's on O'Connor a few blocks south of SH-183).  He got his Masters and PhD in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma.