NORMAN, Okla. (AP) 鈥� For the first time in its 60-year history, the Sooner Schooner, the University of Oklahoma鈥檚 , was driven by a Native American woman.
Brianna Howard, a junior at OU and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, first drove the Schooner onto the field during the football team’s season opener against Illinois State.
鈥淚 only had a minute to get on the Schooner, get the reins and go,鈥� Howard said Saturday before the . 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have enough time to get too nervous. When I went out there, it was amazing. I could not even hear the audience I was so zoned into driving.鈥�
Members of the RUF/NEKS and the all-female spirit group Lil鈥� Sis take care of the Schooner and its ponies, and they take turns driving it during the game.
First introduced in 1964, the Sooner Schooner is pulled across the field before the game and after Oklahoma scores by matching white ponies named 鈥淏oomer鈥� and 鈥淪ooner.鈥�
Because the scaled-down Conestoga wagon is reminiscent of those pioneers used while settling Oklahoma Territory in the late 1800s, Howard acknowledged that some see the Schooner mascot as a symbol of oppression against Native people. But she said to her, driving the wagon represents taking ownership of that symbol.
鈥淚 know that for me, it鈥檚 a representation of taking back something that was used to oppress my people and my culture, and now that I鈥檓 in charge, it鈥檚 giving us the power,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ot everyone鈥檚 going to see it that way, and that鈥檚 OK.鈥�
Jack Roehm, a senior at OU and president of the RUF/NEKS, drove the Schooner during Saturday’s game against Missouri and described the Sooner Schooner tradition as one of college football’s most unusual.
鈥淚t’s a historic tradition after every score having the ponies run across the field,鈥� Roehm said. 鈥淭here’s nothing like it in college football.鈥�
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