Bryant “Big Country” Reeves wasn’t exactly sure what he was signing up for when he put his signature on that National Letter of Intent with the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the fall of 1990.
The 7-foot center from Class B Gans was putting his future in the hands of Eddie Sutton, who was as highly regarded as they come, but hadn’t yet coached a basketball game at Oklahoma State.
But Reeves knew what he hoped his career could be under Sutton at OSU, and it worked out.
Another momentous occasion shined the light on Reeves’ career Monday night at the Riverwind Casino’s Showplace Theater when the player everyone knows as “Big Country” was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
Reeves poured praise on Sutton, who helped build Reeves into an eventual No. 1 overall draft pick of the Vancouver Grizzlies expansion franchise in 1995.
Then an OSU assistant, Bill Self was the bridge between previous head coach Leonard Hamilton and Sutton.
“Coach Self was there when I got recruited, and then when they hired Coach Sutton, I signed with Oklahoma State before he ever coached a game,” Reeves said. “I knew about him at Arkansas. I thought that man knew what he was doing, and I wanted to play for him.
“It was by far one of the best decisions I ever made, because I got to play for a Hall of Fame coach and stay in my home state, so my parents, my grandmother, everybody got to come watch.”
Together, Reeves and Sutton helped the Cowboys to four straight NCAA Tournaments, reaching the Final Four in Reeves’ senior season of 1995.
“I was fortunate enough to play for one of the greatest college coaches ever to coach the game,” Reeves said. “He helped me get from a Class B school to major Big Eight basketball at that time. He had the confidence in me to get there. All I had to do was work.
“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
Reeves was part of a class of seven inductees that included:
• Jeff Bennett, a Vinita and Oklahoma Christian track star who competed in the 1972 Olympic decathlon.
• Doug Blubaugh, the Ponca City and Oklahoma State wrestler who won the gold medal at 160.5 pounds in the 1960 Rome Olympics with an upset of then-unbeaten Iranian Emam-Ali Habibi.
• Bill Greason, who became Oklahoma’s first African-American baseball player when he joined the Oklahoma City Indians in 1952.
• David James, the Del City wrestling star who went on to become a national champion both as a competitor and coach at Central Oklahoma.
• Bill Krisher, the Perry-born football player who played high school ball at Midwest City before becoming a two-time All-American at Oklahoma in 1956-57.
• Jason White, the Tuttle quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy at OU.
