Billy Tubbs was not just the coach for Oklahoma basketball. He was not just the pasty, face-twisting devil of a coach that led his team to 436 wins over 22 years. Billy Tubbs was more a man than any of his pre-game sermons and outright scream-fests would otherwise convince you. Were Billy just this one character, this red-faced, obsessive-compulsive, fidgeting disciplinarian, looking like he just took two lines of coke in the locker room, pacing the floor with fire in his eyes and "Kendrall! Shaun! Get your goddamned heads in this goddamn game right here!!!" type of guy, why then it wouldn't make sense why he would turn his God-given talents to acting like a holy-hell-and-a hand-grenade basketball coach. Yes, acting. On TV, or maybe the movies. But first it was ok to start off in local theater, the Old Farmhouse Theatre off Thornton Road, then maybe move up to an appearance at the Oklahoma Conservatory.

What would it take for a man with an intensely wound-up and assuredly ticking temper to switch gears and fall into the acting profession? Acting is for those without the indignation and righteousness, that say, a successful big time College Basketball coach would have at Oklahoma University. Such a late start for Mr. Billy Tubbs after 27 years of pacing the little hardwood box called the home bench. What makes a man decide to do such a thing?

It was his mother, it turns out, Mrs. Tubbs, long-standing widow (Billy Sr. died in a farming accident when Billy Jr. was 14), beloved of Billy and affectionately called Gertie by all.

"You always look like your putting on some kind of performance, getting flubbergusted and blowing up like a great big balloon on the court! Such a sweet Billy, you must be acting! You must be able to really feel like you're angry. You remind me of Victor Chamberlain on As The World Turns. Victor has always been my favorite. And you have always been my favorite son. I think he would be as proud of you as I if you turned your sweetness to the stage!"

Sweetness? Billy Tubbs couldn't charm an infant. The players called him Red, a reference to the color of his face when his team was down by 9 in the second half. But to Gertie, Billy was always a fond recollection of the early days when she and Billy Sr. were proud to have raised such a fine All-American boy, and one who fought his way to overcome his scrawniness. Such a fine boy Billy junior was, and wholesome too. He had been born early, 10 days to be exact, and was skinny to start.

** TO BE CONTINUED **

Hollywood Drips
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The Great American Pastime
BY CHRISTOPHER CURRY

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