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OU Softball: Oklahoma Will Use Alternate Helmets at NCAA Regional

The Sooners are paying tribute to local tornado victims from 10 years ago with a new decal on their batting helmets.

John E. Hoover

No. 1 Oklahoma will have a new look this weekend.

The Sooners will wear an alternate batting helmet logo during their softball NCAA Tournament games at Marita Hynes Field, it was announced Thursday.

The new logo is actually a throwback decal to 2013, when OU softball paid tribute to those affected by the May 2013 tornado that devastated Moore.

The decal utilizes the light blue of the Oklahoma state flag on the state outline with the word "HOME" written across it, and the state emblem in place of the O.

OU opens NCAA Tournament play on Friday at 4 p.m. against Hofstra. The other regional teams are Missouri and Cal. Games continue Saturday and Sunday.

The Sooners are 51-1 and have won 43 consecutive games this season as they try to win their third straight national championship.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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