Barry Sanders To Join Oklahoma State Ring of Honor
Barry Sanders will become the second member of the Oklahoma State Ring of Honor when the Cowboys induct their legendary Heisman Winner later this year.
The Cowboys will induct Sanders on Nov. 13 when they host TCU at Boone Pickens Stadium. His No. 21 and name will join Thurman Thomas, who was inducted into the Ring of Honor in 2020.
One could argue that Sanders should have earned induction first, given that he did something that Thomas didn’t while in Stillwater — win a Heisman Trophy.
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However, Sanders will get a first at the stadium for a former player — a statue. OSU has commissioned a statue of Sanders that would permanently honor Sanders. That statue would be outside the stadium at a location to be determined. But the sculptor, Harold Holden, designed the statue honoring T. Boone Pickens, the stadium’s namesake.
Sanders may have had the single-best season for a college football running back in 1988, when he won the Heisman and earned First-Team All-America honors. Sanders set college football season records with 2,628 yards rushing, 3,248 total yards, 234 points, 39 touchdowns, 37 rushing touchdowns and 5 consecutive 200-yard games.
He also scored at least 2 touchdowns in 11 consecutive games, and in nine of those games he scored at least 3 touchdowns.
In a three-game span against Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech, Sanders rushed for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Sanders went on to a Hall-of-Fame NFL career in which he played his entire career for the Detroit Lions and retired with 15,269 career rushing yards. Sanders is fourth all-time in NFL rushing.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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