TULSA, Okla. — A new exhibit opening in downtown Tulsa honors the past of sports across the state. 'OK, Play!' features over 100 artifacts from sports played in the state for over a century.
With this year's theme for the University of Tulsa's Oklahoma Department for the Humanities being 'movement,' curators said choosing to look at past and current athletes was a no-brainer. Director Sean Latham said while they combed through more than 200 donations, they were dazzled by all of the new stories they uncovered.
"For some people that know a lot about the history of baseball in Tulsa, or they may know a lot about the history of football, but we really wanted to talk about sports as a cultural practice that we all share in the city," said Latham. "As we began to dig in, we were really surprised to find sports figures and legends we didn’t even know were associated with Tulsa."
The idea behind 'OK, Play!' is to not only inform the community of the beginnings of their favorite teams, but also to shed some light on the games less well-known.
"‘Sports have been a part of Oklahoma since there was a thing called Oklahoma, whether it was Indian stick ball, or football, ice skating, hockey, sports have played a crucial role in the history the state and especially the history of our city," said Latham.
Jake Cornwell helped curate pieces of America's favorite past time for the exhibit - but his passion for baseball and preserving the history of the sport goes back decades.
His father was a talented player in his early years before suffering from an anuerysm, making him ineligible to continue playing. Talking about baseball became the sensation of his childhood, which carried on to him finding his niche in African American baseball.
"There’s a dynamic history of baseball in Oklahoma from before statehood, from before incorporations of cities, baseball was here," said Cornwell. "There’s also this history that I say is hidden in plain site, the history of African American baseball within Oklahoma, but especially within Tulsa with the Tulsa Cults, the Tulsa Black Oilers, and the Tulsa T-Town Clowns, which a lot of their pieces are represented here."
As for getting involved in this specific exhibit, Cornwell was brought in through a mutual friend, Wayne McCombs. McCombs was a well-known local baseball expert, who unfortunately passed just a month before the gallery opened.
"With his absence, we all have to collectively fill in a lot of the voids that he would have been able to fill in, so with the collection that I have and the Oklahoma baseball archive, we were able to piece mill together pieces to help fill in that void," said Cornwell. "Then with my expertise in African American baseball in Oklahoma, we were able to bring in another narrative that maybe not a lot of people know about this sport in Oklahoma."
Many of McCombs' pieces are featured in 'OK, Play!,' paying homage to his life's work and also, the stories he worked so hard to preserve. In large part, that is what this display is all about.
Curators hope walking through 101 Archer and taking in these moments frozen in time will educate the community on their favorite teams, but also reminding them who played before them.
'OK, Play!' opens tonight from 6-9 PM, and will be on display for three months at 101 E. Archer.
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