Cotton Bowl will be Toby Rowland's first missed game

After testing positive for COVID-19, Rowland will miss Wednesday's game while Chris Plank fills in on the mic

John E. Hoover|

Cotton Bowl will be Toby Rowland's first missed game

Toby Rowland, the voice of the Sooners, hasn't missed a game since taking over the mid in 2011.

That will change on Wednesday when Rowland sits out the upcoming Cotton Bowl Classic between Oklahoma and Florida.

Rowland tested positive for COVID-19 on Christmas Day, he announced Monday in a statement on the OU Athletics Twitter account.

Statement from @TRowOU.

Get well soon Toby! #BoomerSooner pic.twitter.com/KChX5N6COQ
— Oklahoma Sooners (@OU_Athletics) December 28, 2020

“I am saddened to announce that I will not be in the Sooner Sports Radio Network booth for Wednesday’s Cotton Bowl Classic,” Rowland said.

“After experiencing moderate symptoms for 48 hours, I am feeling increasingly better and intend to participate in pregame and postgame coverage while remaining home in isolation.”

In Rowland’s absence, Chris Plank will move from sideline duty to play-by-play. Plank has been a fixture on OU game days since 2011.

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Published Dec 28, 2020

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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