Sooner Tradition: The Sooner Schooner

OU's Sooner Schooner - much like Purdue's Boilermaker Special or Georgia Tech's Ramblin' Wreck - is a highly recognized symbol of school spirit has been the official mascot of every sports team at the university since 1980.  Matching white ponies named Boomer and Sooner pull the Schooner, which is modeled after the Conestoga wagons that brought settlers to Oklahoma Territory.

In 1965 Dr. M.S. Bartlett and his brother Charles "Buzz" Bartlett donated the original "Sooner Schooner" and the ponies, Boomer and Sooner, to circle the field on home game days and at bowl games. After several groups passed on the care-taking of the Schooner, the RUF/NEKS, the oldest male spirit group of any college in the country, took the reigns. In 1980, the University of Oklahoma officially named the Sooner Schooner as its mascot. Today the Schooner is kept in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, at the Bartlett Ranch. The RUF/NEKS are still the official caretakers and drivers of the Conestoga wagon and each year one member is selected to become a Schooner Driver.  These well-trained young men are responsible for driving the Schooner out onto the field after OU touchdowns.

It's also tradition for the RUF/NEK queen to sit beside the driver and a young member of the RUF/NEKS usually hangs by his legs off the back, waving the university's flag as the Schooner is driven out onto the field and then back into the tunnel.

To honor the tradition, a retired Schooner has been placed in the student union in the Clarke-Anderson Room, adjacent to the union food court.

The Sooner Schooner...just one more reason there's only one Oklahoma!  Boomer Sooner!