Orange Crush winners announced
Thursday, February 14, 2013
JUDGES CHOICE
Scott Ambler
Guys, how many of you remember the first time you saw the girl of your dreams? I remember
it like it was yesterday. Thanks to a little help from Pistol Pete and “Prof” Montemurro,
my life was changed forever.
In 1979, Pete rescued a damsel from the clutches of the Sooner Nation. Martha had
grown up in Norman, but loved Pistol Pete, so she enrolled at THE State University
in Stillwater and, after being recruited by “Prof” Montemurro, enrolled in the Marching
Band.
My memory starts on the first day of Band. I was going over the first week’s show
with Prof, when Martha entered the room. Prof dropped what he was doing and exclaimed
“Scottie, look what I've got for you!” Of course, he was talking about Martha and
her friend Donna, the pair of mallet players he had recruited for the Percussion Section
I led. But all I saw was the girl that was destined to be my best friend and partner
in life. Surely, she would need some special tutoring by the Percussion Section leader….
Of course, she was a doe-eyed Freshman and I was an over-the-hill 5th year Senior,
so she may or may not have recognized that the drooling boy in the corner had already
fallen in love. Over the next few months, I found that she was willing to laugh at
my jokes, liked to dance and was a pretty darn good pool player! But she never let
on, or I was too dense to see, that she was developing a comfort with this lucky boy.
It took a special double date to Pistol Patties to seal the deal. Drum Major Danny
invited Martha and a friend to join us for some dancing at Pistol Patties. Martha
was happy to go along, thinking her date was the cute drum major. Little did she know,
the scheming section leader was hoping to win her heart. A kiss on the dance floor
clued her in and our life together had begun.
Thirty four years have passed since that Fall and I often remember Prof’s generosity
and Pistol Pete’s winning ways that led my best friend to Stillwater and into my life.
We return every fall for tailgating, Football and the Cowboooooyyyyyyyy Marching Band!
FIRST PRIZE
The first time I saw my wife, we were on a coke date our freshman year, and I couldn’t
keep my eyes off of her. Sarah Beth wasn’t my date, but I sat there wishing she was.
I realized later in the week that she was in my Political Science class, and strategically,
I sat in front of her hoping she would notice me. Thankfully she did, and we immediately
became best friends. After a year and a half of being together, I decided it was time
to give her my fraternity drop (a necklace bearing fraternity letters that symbolize
a commitment). We were walking home from Gallagher-Iba after a basketball game. I
stopped on the east side of the library, told her I loved her, took out the drop,
and promised that after we graduated we would get married. But, our “OSU Love Story”
doesn’t end there. We eventually went our separate ways (the nicest way possible to
say we broke up). Eight years passed, and although we had both moved on, neither one
of us had ever felt the same “love” we had found with each other. I finally got enough
courage to call her. I told her I thought of her often, and wondered if there was
any way we could give our relationship another chance. It was just that simple, and
again we were inseparable. 11 months later, I sent her a rose and an envelope that
said “Surprise!”. It was the beginning of a scavenger hunt, and the object was to
find 12 roses. Clue #1 sent her to the movie theatre in Stillwater where we had watched
our first movie together. At the theatre she was handed another rose and clue #2,
a favorite restaurant, and from there the scavenger hunt continued. Each clue was
a memory that led her throughout Stillwater; Lake Carl Blackwell, Ag Hall, Kerr-Drummond,
etc. 11 roses later, she found herself at Theta Pond reading her final clue, “I think
you know where I am”. She made her way across library lawn and spotted me holding
the last rose. I gave it to her, hands trembling, and said “I always knew it was you.
Even when I wasn’t with you, I always knew you were the one for me. Sarah Elizabeth
Jenkins, will you be my wife?”. We were standing in the exact spot I had promised
to marry her nine years before.
SECOND PRIZE
Matt and I met our freshman year working at the OSU Library. Both science majors,
we ended up having many classes together and realized that we had one major thing
in common-- we were both obsessed with our grades! We often studied together but were
so foucsed on school that we never realized what the Lord was doing in our lives.
It took us four years of noses-buried-in-books to finally one day look up and realize
what was in front of us. Only a few short months later, Matt took me back to the spot
where we first met and asked me to marry him. Thank you OSU for the best years of
my life and for bringing together another Cowboy marriage. Go pokes!!