If he hadn’t been wearing his bright orange jacket and College Football Hall of Fame ring, I might not have realized I was sharing an elevator with Leslie O’Neill at Boone Pickens Stadium.
I had heard his name once or twice before last week, but unlike many of Oklahoma State’s other stars, I didn’t know what he looked like or how special he was.
I was standing next to perhaps the greatest defensive player in OSU history, a two-time All-American, the 1984 Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year and the team record holder for career sacks (34), and I knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get some comments from a man who was just hours away from becoming the fifth member of the Cowboy Football Ring of Honor.
But before I could say anything, he asked me a question.
“Are you just going to take pictures or do something else?” he asked gently, eyeing my camera and photography vest.
In the 90 seconds that followed, I learned everything I needed to know about the man’s character — his humility, his courtesy, his honesty — but there was still so much more to learn about the player.
That’s when I realized that the ring of honor not only means something to the younger generation, but to the former players as well.
Oklahoma State alumni and football fans will forever revere Barry Sanders, but players like O’Neal, Bob Fennimore, Terry Miller and the great Thurman Thomas will soon be forgotten and forgotten by time.
I never expected to find myself standing next to a man who was a top 10 pick in the NFL Draft, the 1986 Defensive Rookie of the Year, a six-time Pro Bowl selection and the man with the most career sacks as the greatest defensive player of all time, Lawrence Taylor.
Perhaps older alumni will scoff at my lack of knowledge about OSU football players from 20 years before I was born, an ignorance that deepens with each passing decade.
Even in her prime, Leslie O’Neill felt underrated.
“I think when you score a touchdown, you get a little more excited than when you get a sack or a tackle or a double team and you do something for somebody else,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill left Stillwater in 1985 and didn’t return until last year’s game against Bedlam, but he always watched the Cowboys on TV and said it was a great honor to be back as a VIP for the game on Saturday.
The halftime ceremony reminded him of the feeling he had the first time stepping onto the field and the first time the crowd cheered for him after he made a big play.
“I’m grateful that they accepted me as part of the Oklahoma State family and that they felt worthy of having my name up there,” O’Neal said. “It’s just nice to feel the love and have people talk to you and say hello. It’s one thing to have people recognize you as a player, but now after more than 40 years, they’re recognizing me for my accomplishments.”
Now, decades after O’Neal left the San Diego Chargers, the Cowboys have become known for their great running backs and explosive offense.
But O’Neill believes that without the defensive teams of his era, Oklahoma State may not be what it is today.
“The group that we had in ’82, ’83, ’84, ’85 started to build a culture here,” he said. “I think in some ways I give us credit for building the program and bringing people here, because the reality is, what helped us was the hungry mentality of a lot of our players.”
“We had something to prove, so we played with determination. We played for each other, and I think that’s helped put this school where it is now.”
O’Neill and his teammates may never get the credit they deserve for laying the foundation for the program, especially considering how much more coach Mike Gundy has accomplished.
But the letters above the west end zone at Boone Pickens Stadium will be a lasting legacy, piqued the curiosity of OSU athletes, students and fans yet to be born.