Deion Imade was working in his downtown Tulsa office this spring when his ONEOK colleagues started congratulating him on a promotion.

Imade uses his Spears School of Business education daily as a senior accountant, but this news wasn’t related to his full-time position at the oil and gas company.

On April 16, Oklahoma State University Athletics introduced Imade as the new football sideline reporter for the Cowboy Radio Network.

Although it’s his most public-facing role yet, Imade has spent years efficiently balancing his corporate job with weekend sports reporting assignments, from Oklahoma high school football broadcasts with the Ford Game of the Week on Cox Yurview to OSU pregame and postgame shows.

“I can roll with the punches and put myself in many different situations,” Imade said. “People need to understand that you can be a Renaissance man or woman. You don’t have to just fit into one specific mold or one specific stereotype.”

Imade’s varied interests converged at OSU, where he made lasting connections and turned his talents into career paths. He graduated from Spears Business in 2014 with a finance major and accounting minor before earning his Master of Business Administration in 2022. He also learned the art of sports announcing from Dave Hunziker, the play-by-play “Voice of the Cowboys” for football and men’s basketball, who considers Imade a good friend.

“He is the ultimate student-athlete success story,” Hunziker said.

Imade’s business and broadcasting dreams sprouted from his passion for football. A Cowboy safety/linebacker from 2010-13, he contributed to a golden era at OSU with a 41-11 career record and a 2011 Big 12 championship. Often, Imade was an unsung hero on special teams.

He grew up as one of three sons in a close-knit Nigerian family in Rowlett, Texas. Imade credits his father for getting all of the kids interested in football, a rewarding outlet for their boundless energy.

As a child, Imade told stories with the engaging delivery of a sportscaster. Two of his childhood friends are twins, and he remembers a time when they were bickering until their mother stepped in to ask what happened.

No older than a fourth grader, Imade recapped the siblings’ squabble with action-packed details as if they were fighting to recover a fumble in a championship game.

“You should probably do that for a living when you grow up,” the mom said.

Although her words sparked the idea for Imade to be a reporter, he eventually formed another career plan in response to the challenging side of sports. As an undecided major at OSU, he watched an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called “Broke.”

The 2012 film showed the true stories behind a startling statistic: 78% of NFL players experienced bankruptcy or financial strain only two years after retirement. In some cases, friends and acquaintances — or even financial professionals — took advantage of athletes’ money.

Imade didn’t want to risk it.

“If I go pro, I might as well learn accounting now so I can handle my own finances,” he said.

While Imade achieved his classroom goals, his NFL hopes dwindled because of a torn ACL. Although he recovered to finish his OSU career, he couldn’t bank on an opportunity at the next level.

Through the pain, Imade wasn’t alone.

His best friend, Devin Hedgepeth, endured a similar situation as a promising Cowboy cornerback forced to retire after repeatedly tearing his Achilles tendon. Hedgepeth, who graduated from OSU with an industrial engineering degree before earning his MBA from Stanford University, encouraged Imade to stay focused on business.

“I kind of just followed his lead,” Imade said. “He would help me and say, ‘Hey, come on, we’re going to the career fair. Hey, we’re going to this networking event; you’re coming with me.’ Luckily for that, I stumbled upon the oil and gas world and being able to do an internship at Samson the semester before I graduated.”

That internship with Samson, a former Oklahoma-based energy company, led to a full-time job. Imade gained valuable experience over a couple of years, but uncertainty hit again when layoffs did not spare him.

He evaluated his next steps, this time using business and broadcasting in complementary ways. Imade saved money from Tulsa-based radio gigs to invest in houses, launching his real estate investing career. Eventually, Imade also reentered the energy industry with Cimarex Energy Co., which became Coterra.

As if he wasn’t busy enough, he went back to school.

“My parents really wanted me to get my MBA, and Devin talked me into it as well,” Imade said.

Living and working in Tulsa made OSU the obvious choice. Spears Business offers three distinct MBA pathways: on-campus in Stillwater, professional in Tulsa and online.

On the professional track, Imade enjoyed in-person courses with mentors such as associate professor of management Dr. Raj Basu.

“His negotiations class kind of changed my life,” Imade said.

After graduating with his MBA, Imade stayed close to his alma mater, bringing his in-game expertise to the Cowboy Radio Network’s pregame and postgame shows.

Coworkers at ONEOK, his workplace for the past three years, have heard Imade on air long before his debut as the football sideline reporter this fall. Now, he will lead the Cowboys’ postgame interviews, and his role won’t be limited to Boone Pickens Stadium.

“The main difference now is I’ll be traveling to the away games,” Imade said. “With that being the case, ONEOK and my managers and supervisors have supported me. Luckily, they’ve been big football fans and Oklahoma State alumni, so they’re excited for me as much as my friends and family are.”

As OSU prepares to kick off the Eric Morris coaching era Sept. 5 at Tulsa, Imade is getting ready for his new chapter, too. He’s diving into research, getting advice from mentors like University of Tulsa sideline reporter Jeremie Poplin and meeting with his broadcast partners, including Hunziker and John Holcomb.

Imade thanked the broadcast team and Robert Allen, OSU’s sideline reporter from 2002-25, for recommending him for the job. Combining people skills from the business world, years of on-air experience and deep knowledge of the game, Imade’s credentials speak for themselves.

“I knew long before Robert retired that Deion would be next if he wanted it,” Hunziker said. “That decision, in my mind, was made. He needed to have a prominent role on the air.”

Hunziker said Imade has contributed to the Cowboy Radio Network’s football broadcasts more than fans even realize. If Hunziker and Holcomb missed a detail during a complicated play, they often turned to Imade for off-air clarification during commercial breaks.

On air, Imade helps listeners understand and appreciate the game’s intricacies.

“You have to appeal to someone who is interested but doesn’t know football, all the way to someone who has played or coached,” Hunziker said. “You have to find that middle balance, and he does a really good job of that.”

In Imade’s home office, where you might find him analyzing financial statements or Big 12 stats, he keeps his orange-and-black football jerseys framed on the wall. The mementos remind him why, despite his busy schedule and frequent drives between Tulsa and Stillwater, he loves what he does.

“The reason I got into broadcasting was to not just be a face on TV or for people to hear my voice on the radio, but to inspire kids like me,” Imade said. “The kid who gets the touchdown is always going to hear his name. But, if you know the game, you can call out the kid who made the big block. You can shout out the kid who took on that blocker so someone else could make that big tackle.

“I want to call his name and give him some attention, give him some spotlight, and inspire him to keep going forward. You never know what that small vote of confidence, that little encouragement, will do for that young man later on in his life.”