25 Years Later, Oklahoma Football’s Return to Owen Field After the 9/11 Attacks

The story of how Oklahoma was forced to respond in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and how game days in Norman — and America — forever changed.

Oklahoma Sooners Ruf Nek carries the american flag on the Sooner Schooner prior to kick-off for the game against the Florida State Seminoles at Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

NORMAN — There are three numbers integral to this story.

25 — the years since 19 hijackers turned four commercial airliners into weapons, killing almost 3,000 people and shattering any assumptions of safety in America.

18 — the days that passed before Oklahoma football played again, from the Sept. 11 attacks until their Sept. 29 game against Kansas State in Norman.

 3 — giant American flags that existed big enough to cover an entire football field, with one making its way to Norman, Oklahoma on Sept. 29, 2001.

The Silence That Followed The Morning

Looking through the skeletal remains of one of the World Trade Center Towers in Sept. of 2001. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

For one morning, America watched in horror and shock as the images flashed on live television. The destruction was centered in New York, Washington, D.C. and rural Pennsylvania, but its shockwaves reached far beyond those places. In the hours and days that followed, grief and fear gave way to resolve and a drive to carry on in the face of terror.

But in those days after the attacks, sports went silent. At a moment of national grief, the games that usually filled the country’s conversation, acting as a fun distraction to the routine of normalcy, felt beside the point. Professional leagues and universities scrambled to postpone or cancel games that were scheduled to take place a few days later.

The Sooners’ had beaten North Texas 37-10 on Sept. 8, but the attacks forced the program to postpone their Sept. 15 date with Tulsa. Oklahoma’s bye was scheduled for Sept. 22, meaning OU football did not take anyone’s attention away for 18 days.

Oklahoma returned to play on Sept. 29 in a high-stakes game with Kansas State, who the Sooners had defeated twice in instant classics the year prior en route to the school’s seventh national championship, in Norman.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops meets Kansas State Wildcats head coach Bill Snyder after the game at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

New security procedures that day meant it took a little longer for fans to get into the stadium. Roads that were normally open were closed. There was a large police presence to give fans a sense of safety. Following the attacks, the thought of nearly 76,000 fans gathering in one place gave many reasons to feel uneasy. 

But when the crowd saw that giant American flag swallow Owen Field as The Star-Spangled Banner played, those 76,000 fans found a release they had been waiting 18 days for.

And they got to see a great game, as well.

“One’s Mind is Not Trained to Process That”

Oklahoma Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione before the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Verbalizing it, it seems like an insignificant situation considering what was going on,” Joe Castiglione told Sooners On SI.

In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, football could not compete with the scale of the loss. But when games returned, they offered something different: a familiar place to gather, celebrate and show a unified front, and, if only briefly, reclaim a rhythm of normal life. Sports helped give a grieving country a public outlet for emotions that were otherwise difficult to name.

For many Oklahomans — still carrying the memory of the Oklahoma City bombing six years earlier (for context: six years ago, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback was Spencer Rattler) — Sooner football offered that same measure of catharsis. It was a familiar gathering place, a source of pride and a tradition that spanned generations. 

But 18 days would pass before family and friends could join in a rendition of “Boomer Sooner.”

Castiglione, who was entering his fourth football season as Oklahoma’s athletic director, had to act quickly while he and his staff were processing the news like every other American.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“From the moment we started hearing about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, I happened to have a television in my office,” Castiglione said. “Turning it on and seeing the footage, while somebody was reporting in the background, you could see another plane hit the tower.

“From the camera's perspective, one’s mind is not trained to process that. The rest of what happened that day, later on at the Pentagon, then the other plane crash in Pennsylvania, and all of us Americans figuring out what was happening in our country.”

His thoughts went directly to those he was responsible for — nearly 600 student-athletes who came to OU from all stretches of the globe, plus hundreds more coaches and support staff — making sure everyone under his umbrella was safe and had the ability to reach out to family members and loved ones who may have been from the areas directly affected.

Castiglione’s second thought came closer to home, with the images of the Sept. 11 attacks triggering another tragic memory.

Castiglione was Missouri’s athletic director when a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. He remembered hearing reports of an explosion and rushing to a television in his office to watch the aftermath unfold.

Six years later, as Oklahoma’s athletic director, Castiglione found himself again watching an attack on American soil unfold on television. Although the Sept. 11 attacks occurred far from the state, he understood that they could resonate differently in Oklahoma, a community still shaped by the 1995 bombing.

Oklahoma Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione before the game against the Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl. | USA TODAY Sports

“For me, only being here in Oklahoma at that point a little over three years, I just couldn’t imagine what Oklahomans were thinking, feeling. Especially the families directly impacted by that tragedy.”

After a period of processing the events, Castiglione and his staff had a job to do.

“I Don’t Even Remember Thinking About Football”

Around the same time, Mark Clayton was walking between classes. The sophomore receiver headed for the training room to enjoy some off time among some teammates who may have been looking for a similar escape from campus life.

On one of the TVs in the training room, Clayton saw the live footage.

“I looked up, and obviously it was just on repeat,” Clayton told Sooners On SI. “It looked surreal. It didn’t even look real. I couldn’t believe it actually happened.”

Oklahoma Sooner wide receiver Mark Clayton #9 warms up against Nebraska during the game at Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The images didn’t immediately register. He couldn’t fathom what he was seeing. 

“It took a lot of news, a lot of people reporting on it, for me to realize that it really happened.” Clayton sat alone in the training room as his mind began to understand what he saw was very real.

“I remember sitting on the edge of that training table and staring at the TV. I don’t remember the rest of the day. I don’t even know what happened after that. I just remember sitting there,” Clayton said.

At the same time, Clayton’s quarterback, Nate Hybl, was experiencing the news. 

“I’ll never forget walking down the hallway of the townhouse I lived in,” Hybl told Sooners On SI. “Trent Smith and I were walking down the hallway and I caught it in the corner of my eye on the TV.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Nate Hybl (8) in action against the Washington State Cougars during the 2003 Rose Bowl at the Rose Bowl. The Sooners defeated the Cougars 34-14. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“We were shocked. Speechless. Nothing to say. Jaws on the floor,” he said.

Hybl, Clayton and their teammates were four days away from playing their fourth game of the season, trying to defend their national championship. Separated across campus, Hybl and Clayton had other things on their minds.

“I don’t even remember thinking about football,” Hybl said. “The world is upside down. Are we going to be OK?”

What Will Game Day Look Like?

Back at his office, Castiglione and his staff worked to get a picture of what the immediate future would look like. Games across the country began getting postponed or outright canceled with the weekend a few days away.

He got in contact with Tulsa athletic director Judy MacLeod — now the commissioner of Conference USA — and the Big 12 Conference office to push OU’s game with the Golden Hurricane later in the year (Oklahoma would defeat Tulsa 58-0 on Nov. 3). All of college football would follow suit and remain off the field that weekend.

Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione leaves the field after the Red River Showdown college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the University of Texas (UT) Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Rightfully, people canceled events the rest of the week to try to get their minds around what happened and think about what would need to occur before we could start having large events with people and any additional security measures that would need to be put in place,” Castiglione said.

Nearly two decades later, when the COVID-19 pandemic halted sports in March 2020, Castiglione said the uncertainty brought him back to the hours after Sept. 11.

“Albeit a very different kind of situation, there were similar thoughts about how you communicate and what you do,” he said. “It’s not like you just turn off a switch, and one action creates another action or a chain reaction, and how people are impacted.”

Once his people and the week were taken care of, Castiglione began envisioning what a game day would look like. Those thoughts led to conversations with campus leaders and security teams, extending to various federal agencies. He had the luxury of time, as the Sooners had their scheduled bye weekend the following week.

“Once it became known that we would be able to play again, especially at home, we immediately started thinking about how we could create ways of honoring America,” he said.

That led to Castiglione’s staff becoming aware of a giant American flag — three to be exact — large enough to cover most of Owen Field. It would be the perfect image to honor the fallen, instill pride in the 76,000 fans and hundreds of athletes and coaches on the field.

They just had to figure out how to get the flag to Norman.

The Flag

Nov 29, 2010; Glendale, AZ, USA; Fans watch as members of the U.S. armed forces hold a giant American flag over the field while the National Anthem is played prior to the game between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers at University of Phoenix Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Getting the flag reserved and having it shipped here was only part of it,” Castiglione said. “We had to get 200-some people to volunteer, and we had to practice how they get it out on the field, unfurl it, bring it back together and get it off the field.”

The flag, dubbed “Super Flag,” was owned by Thomas “Ski” Demski (who passed away in January 2002). It is a mammoth sea of red, white and blue stars and stripes at 505 feet by 255 feet and weighs over 3,000 pounds.

Securing the flag and going through the logistical rabbit hole was going to be difficult.

It was made all the more difficult when the university’s president, David Boren, was preoccupied.

Boren had served as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He happened to be in Washington the morning of the attacks, having breakfast with former Director of the CIA George Tenet and other CIA officials. Following the World Trade Center being hit, Boren and his company were whisked away to what Castiglione described as the “equivalent of the CIA Situation Room,” where he was “in a room that was processing every piece of information being brought in by all the various points of contact” in real time.

Oklahoma Sooners president David Boren on the sidelines prior to the game against the Missouri Tigers at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With air traffic shut down across the country, Boren wasn’t able to return to Norman until a few days later. Once he arrived, Castiglione let him know about “Super Flag.”

“President Boren was very involved and helpful because we needed some funding for it,” Castiglione said. “So he made that a priority once he heard about it. Again, we wanted to be able to find any way possible that we could join the other big events in honoring America.”

With help from Boren, Castiglione’s team were able to get in contact with the owner of “Super Flag” and secure it for Oklahoma’s game with Kansas State on Sept 29.

Show Up Early

America changed after the attacks. Some changes were visible shortly after, and others took time to be fully appreciated.

One of those quick changes seemed insignificant in the wake of mass horror, but all the more necessary given that at some point, Americans would want to gather in large numbers for events again.

“While people understood it, it still created some major changes for fans and how they accessed the stadium,” Castiglione said.

Those changes, and the long lines they helped create, exist to this day at stadiums across the country.

Oklahoma Sooners fans cheer during the during the first quarter against the Texas El Paso Miners at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

At Oklahoma, fans had long been free to leave the stadium at halftime and return for the second half. Some walked to the corner of Lindsey Street and Jenkins Avenue for a drink at the old O’Connell’s Irish Pub & Grille, while others gathered around the metal drink troughs next door.

When Castiglione arrived in the summer of 1998, the visual of fans leaving at halftime surprised the new athletic director. 

“I remember my first game here, and we were struggling, and everybody was leaving at halftime,” he said — OU was leading North Texas 10-6 heading into the third quarter before rallying to win 37-9. “I’m looking at my staff: ‘What is going on here? Why are they leaving now? We could come back in this game.’ I had no idea why they did that. And I said, ‘Guys, you can’t give up now!’”

After Sept. 11, 2001, that open access was no longer possible. For Oklahoma’s next game against Kansas State, there were visible differences among those in attendance. Despite the new procedures, the gathering still brought out joy. 

“I don’t necessarily remember being scared or nervous about being in a crowd,” Jason Kersey told Sooners On SI. “But thinking back on it, I’m sure the game itself was good psychologically for me and everyone there.”

Oklahoma Sooners fans hold up one finger for number 1 before the kick-off against the Florida State Seminoles at Memorial Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Kersey was a 14-year-old freshman from Noble High School who attended the game that day. He sat with his father and brother as season ticket holders in section 19, row 39, located in the north end zone. Kersey would eventually work as a beat reporter covering OU football for The Oklahoman and The Athletic between 2012 and 2021. 

While in the stadium things began to resemble normalcy, outside the field of play, there was a different scene.

“We had active bomb-detection dogs on site hours before the game, before the gates would open,” Castiglione said. “And then we had them still on site walking through the concourse areas while the game was going on.”

In addition to dogs, OU sought help from the Norman Police Department, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and other agencies, including the FBI, for additional game day support. 

Access had significantly changed. Jenkins Avenue was closed off hours before kickoff. The airspace above the stadium was made a no-fly zone during game days.

While those policies, which remain to this day, might seem normal to the modern sports fan, everything was new following those 18 days of planning.

Oklahoma Sooners (from left) athletic director Joe Castiglione Oklahoma governor's husband Wade Christensen governor Mary Fallin Oklahoma Sooner president David Boren | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The efforts from Boren, Castiglione and his staff were later commended by the newly founded Department of Homeland Security for “being way out front in some of the critical changes and techniques to make large sporting events safer.”

To the average fan, it just meant one thing: you better show up to the stadium earlier than normal.

“Put on a Show For Our Country”

While the Tulsa game was moved to later in the schedule, the Sooners couldn’t stop working. They had to continue with practice, keeping their regimented routines. The immediate future was uncertain, but certainly, Oklahoma football would return — and they would have to be ready.

“I want to say (Bob Stoops) alluded to it,” Clayton said. “I know it was a point we addressed. Everybody knew.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“He said something like, ‘We’re going to go out and put on a show for our country,’ something along those lines. Knowing our culture and our climate, I can only imagine that was the heart of any message he had as it pertained to (the attacks).”

That was the right mentality to have. Kansas State was coming to town as a fringe Top 10 opponent. The Wildcats were one of the best teams in the nation in 2000, pushing the eventual champion Sooners to the brink twice. KSU had revenge on their minds coming to Norman.

“It was obviously weird,” Hybl recalled when asked about practicing in the wake of the attacks. “I was a young, new starter. We had a great Kansas State coming in that was super aggressive.”

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Nate Hybl | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

So Oklahoma picked things up a few days later on the practice field, not only to work to beat Kansas State two weeks later, or to defend their crown, but for something more.

“If there’s one thing that unites a group of people in America, it’s ball,” Clayton said. “That means coming together, enjoying life, enjoying football, enjoying our beers, our hot dogs and our family.

“(The attacks weren’t) going to send us into a hole. We weren’t supposed to fold up because someone tried to scare us.”

Pregame

All the communication, back-and-forths and volunteer training had to work. The moment was too meaningful for there to be any mishaps.

“Super Flag” had made it to Norman. Volunteers from OU’s ROTC program and other student programs had rehearsed unfurling the behemoth flag. But now, it was showtime.

The man who helped orchestrate the pregame festivities was on the field for the ceremonies, albeit off to the side due to the massive flag. Graduate student Gary Sloan sang a powerful rendition of the national anthem as the flag adorned Owen Field to 76,000 fans — a visual Castiglione recalls as Americans coming together to show that “we would prevail” — to celebrate not just a big football game, but the country they all called home.

“What went through my mind was that the American spirit always prevails,” Castiglione said. “I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to do what we do. To serve athletes and create the platform for them, have such great leaders in the form of coaches, and have a packed stadium.”

“I remember that the national anthem felt different that day, just because of what had happened,” Kersey said. “Just the normalcy of being around the folks we always sat around, complaining as K-State came back in the second half, experiencing all the emotions of a game like that.” 

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Mark Clayton | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I felt an overwhelming feeling of patriotism washing over me, maybe for the first time in my life,” Hybl said, recalling the pregame ceremony. “It felt like it came over the state, the university, the buildup of that game. What was a horrible moment in time, there’s also a thousand stories where it unified a country.”

“For us, at that age, everything is a blur,” Clayton said. “We were still in a space where we were doing whatever we could to be the best we could be, to entertain and to continue doing what we do as Americans.”

The Game

OU led 28-14 at halftime thanks to a pair of long Hybl touchdown passes to Antwone Savage. 

“I can remember Antwone and I connecting on two big bombs, two South Georgia boys,” Hybl said. 

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Antwone Savage | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Wildcats outscored Oklahoma 23-10 in the second half to put the defending champs on the ropes. 

“I got my rear end handed to me several times in that game,” Hybl said. “I have very fond memories — some of them are a little hazy.”

Hybl wasn’t the only player to feel the brunt of Kansas State’s physical defense. Up 21-14 and facing third-and-five in field-goal range with just more than two minutes to go, OU dialed up a screen to Clayton.

“I almost got knocked out by a safety on the screen play,” Clayton said. “We saw cover zero, and (Jon McGraw), a big dude, too; oh God, he leveled me. I remember that.”

The next play? A fake field goal with reserve quarterback Hunter Wall running in for the score just before the half.

Oklahoma Sooners receiver Mark Clayton | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

A 57-yard touchdown throw from Kansas State and a converted two-point attempt made it a one-score game with two minutes to go in the fourth. The Sooners recovered the onside kick and intentionally took a safety to eke out a 38-37 win.

“It was a way to say, ‘We’re strong. We’re here. We’re still moving, and we’re doing this for everybody who was affected,’” Clayton said. “My mentality going into games was to excel and put a smile on people’s faces. They spent good money to come watch us play football, and I wanted to make it the best experience they’d ever had.”

After all the work by Castiglione for the safety of the fans and the pregame, Oklahoma did what Stoops told his team they would do a week prior. They “put on a show for our country.”

“When everybody’s working together, it’s really a wonderful thing because none of this is easy on anybody,” Castiglione said. “It made me proud. When people work together, amazing things happen, which is a saying we always have around here, but that took it to a whole new level.”

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