For those of you who have been waiting to read Footprints in the Dew, my Kickstarter campaign should begin right after New Year’s- stay tuned for an official notification as soon as it begins and I hope you will all help me make this project a reality.
Down The Road with the Original Buffalo Dale
Welcome back. History has always been one of my biggest interests with biographies running a close second. When I recently heard that the Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City will be opening a new exhibit of Ansell Adams’ “Masterworks” it definitely caught my attention. I found out that the exhibit contains what are known as the “museum set” of photographs. These are images that Adams himself considered to be his best works. According to the museum, there are going to be forty-seven photographs on loan from Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding, California. The exhibit opens on February 28, 2015 and will be on view through May 10, 2015. This looks like a great show of one of our best known and best loved artists. Don’t forget that if you are a member of Woolaorc, you get in for free and a membership would make a great Christmas gift for anyone on your list, young or old. I’ll have more about this show after it opens, along with an interview with the new museum director Dr. Stephen Kamp.
Moving forward, this Saturday night will be the third professional fight for my new friend boxer Kenzie Witt who trains here in Bartlesville. You long time readers may remember that I knew Kenzie’s dad, heavyweight world champ and movie star Tommie Morrison. Working in Tulsa for restaurateur Charlie Mitchell during the late eighties and early nineties, I often ran into Morrison who was then at the height of his career and kept a place in Tulsa. I always enjoyed talking with him as he was about as down home as it gets. I find his son to be the same way. Kenzie is hoping to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a champion. Saturday night will be his toughest challenge yet when he faces Jason Lovett.
The fight will be held in the event center at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma and will be taped by ESPN which is doing a special feature on Morrison that will air on 30/30. This will be my first visit to Buffalo Run and after a little research I learned that the casino is owned by the Peoria tribe of Indians. Apparently the Peoria tribe was created in 1854 when several different bands of Indians joined together. It sounds like an interesting story and I plan to learn more while I’m in Miami on Saturday as this is also their tribal headquarters.
In the meantime I’ll close this segment with a little more information about the life of Tommy Morrison in case you are not familiar with him. Tommy David Morrison was born in Gravette, AR on January 2, 1969 and was raised in Delaware County, Oklahoma, spending most of his youth in Jay. Nicknamed “The Duke” because of a well written about family tie to John Wayne (aka Marion Morrison), Tommy Morrison won his first Golden Gloves belt in 1988 and become Heavyweight Champion of the World Boxing Organization in 1993. Morrison’s career record was 52 fights and only three losses. He also appeared in Rocky V with Sylvester Stallone. Due to health issues he retired in 1996 and sadly died on September 1, 2013 at the age of 44. There is definitely a film to be made here and I’ll bet someone is already working on it.
I want to wrap up this week with a thank you to all of you readers for supporting my weekly column. I am looking forward to bringing you another year of interesting stories from my travels and from the history of our area.
Till next time I’ll see ya down the road……
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