Sutton Deserves Hall for More than Basketball, He Deserves Hall for Influence
STILLWATER -- Eddie Sutton and his family, the Cowboy nation that held him so dear for basically resurrecting the school's athletic department, his former players that often talk of the life lessons he imparted, and the countless others that he touched with a letter, a kind word, or some other gesture deserved this news before now. Honestly, it should have come in his first year on the ballot when Sutton still stood tall and strong like the "John Wayne" type of presence so many of his saw in him.
"Eddie Sutton won more than 800 games and he was the first to take four different schools to the NCAA Tournament," said ESPN host Reece Davis as he introduced the Hall of Fame inductees on the network's special announcement show. "Others have done it since, but Eddie Sutton was the first."
"My dad loved teaching the game of basketball and he loved his players," his son and former player and assistant coach Sean Sutton said in a taped reaction on ESPN. "He would tell you that he couldn't have done it without those players and the great assistant coaches that he had on his staffs. The only thing that could make this more special was if my mother, the rock of our family, and the love of his life for 54-years would have been here to see it, but I know she is smiling above."
"I'm very pleased to see Eddie Sutton go in," added ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas. "Very pleased for Coach Sutton."
Sutton and the rest of the class in 2020, which includes Koby Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, NBA coaching great Rudy Tomjanovich, and fellow Big 12 coach on the women's side in Baylor's Kim Mulkey is being lauded as the best class in the history of the Hall of Fame.
"I'm so excited and proud of my Dad being elected in the Naismith Hall of Fame," Eddies Sutton's youngest son and current Oklahoma State assistant Scott Sutton text Pokes Report. "It was such an emotional moment yesterday when our family got the call. I only wish my Mom could have been with us to enjoy the occasion. She was such a big part of everything my Dad accomplished. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to all of the players, assistant coaches, and the fans that helped shape his Hall of Fame career."
I think all those players and assistant coaches would tell Eddie Sutton thanks, and I think most of them have, either in the process of all the winning and accomplishments or in the aftermath of the success.
The basketball part of it is clear from all of his accomplishments. He coached three teams to the Final Four, Arkansas in 1978 and his alma mater, Oklahoma State in both 1995 and 2004. His overall coaching record of 806-329 is very impressive. There were big wins over so many ranked teams. There were so many players that Sutton and his old school coaching style pried out there very best. Sometimes more than they could ever imagine themselves.
"He is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game," sharp shooting All-Big Eight guard from the 1995 team Randy Rutherford said earlier this year at the 1995 Reunion in Stillwater.
"It deserves in the Hall of Fame. Randy's right, he is a one of the greatest coaches ever," added Bryant "Big Country" Reeves, We all knew that when he was coaching us."
"He proved what he was as a head coach because he coached the game in so many different eras," started Roberts that same weekend. "He coached when there was no three-point shot and no shot clock. He coached with a three-point shot and no shot clock. He coached with a three-point shot and a shot clock, and he coached with a shortened shot clock. He taught us about life by coaching us basketball. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. In fact, I think of him as being in the Hall of Fame."
Former Cowboys point guard and now national sports talk show host and basketball game analyst Doug Gottlieb always was appreciative of Sutton. Doug's father, Bob, had been an assistant under Sutton and later became a head coach. Sutton gave Doug a second chance after he left Notre Dame.
"Chianti is right about Coach Sutton being a coach for life and using basketball," Gottlieb started. "He told us when we played for him that if we could get through this then we could get through anything. There wasn't a room he walked into that he wasn't comfortable in and there wasn't a player that he couldn't coach.
"He knew us as players and knew how to push our buttons," Gottlieb continued. "He knew how to build me and make them better and as players to push them to play better than they ever imagined they could. Something else, that I'm amazed by in looking at other people I work with and I realize that Coach Sutton taught us how to be great teammates."
Okay, before we get much further into this on the day that Eddie Sutton finally and officially heard his name called to Springfield and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Sutton had his faults.
He is a man that fought off the addiction gene. He leaned on alcohol at times. Many a good man and woman have. Sutton had pain, some physical and other mental. That is what happens when you invest your life in coaching young men. A piece of you rides with each one. Many, in part because of you, find great success and become strong people, good husbands and fathers.
All three of the players quoted above from the 1995 Final Four team reunion said as much.
"Coach Sutton coached us in a way that we may not have known it at the time, but he knew he was making us better people, preparing us for life," added Chianti Roberts. "He used basketball to coach his players into being good people and knowing how to treat others. We may not have realized it, but when his players think back they know it."
That list is long for Sutton and includes two of his own sons, former players you hear about like Sydney Moncrief, Bryant Reeves, Tony Allen, Doug Gottlieb, Daniel Bobik, Ivan McFarlin and the Graham twins, Joey and Stephen. Unfortunately, others struggle like his own son Sean, who overcame his addiction and put his life back together. Perseverance is another lesson taught in the Sutton system.
Then there are those influenced over the years by a letter, a gift, and a gesture. Sometimes all three. Sutton's long-time assistant at Oklahoma State Mary Lee Draper can tell you about the countless, in the hundreds and maybe thousands of handwritten letters that Sutton sent out to people, people he'd never met. He would hear or read in the newspaper, see on the news, hear about over coffee in Stillwater, and he would write a letter. He would often include a trinket, basketball t-shirt, a pin. Sometimes, maybe some cash, if he felt it was needed and would go to good use.
Eddie Sutton at a recent Oklahoma State game will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Aug. 29, 2020.
© Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports
Larry Reece, the long-time and popular Oklahoma State public address voice has a huge fan in Coach Sutton, and he may have said it best.
"Well, I'm first so glad for Coach Sutton to be here to enjoy this moment and for the Sutton family to enjoy this," Reece said of the announcement. "But I'm also glad for the OSU family because with everything we're going through and not having sports, we needed something to cheer for and all of us can cheer for Coach Sutton. I know this too, Patsy (Coach Sutton's wife) is smiling down on this."
Eddie Sutton often spoke of how he needed players to have a big valentine. He needed his players to have heart. Sutton had heart, certainly for basketball and his basketball players and family, but the coach that could scowl like no other, had a heart for humanity.
Now, it is finally nice that the individuals with votes for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame discovered a piece of their hearts and voted this deserving man, deserving for many reasons, although not without his faults, a place in a Hall that he deserves to be in forever. Thankfully, they did it while his family, players, friends, and fans can see him go in while he is still with us.
