A Friendship Formed at Headington Hall

hat could a distance runner, a thrower and a horizontal jumper possibly have in common? Especially a distance runner from Barboursville, W.Va., a thrower from St. Thomas, Ontario, and a jumper from Phoenix, Ariz.

At the beginning, when Jacob Burcham, Charles Nguyen and Hayden McClain were assigned to the same floor in Headington Hall in the fall of 2013, they weren't sure either. Thanks to the people in the housing office, Nguyen and McClain were roommates with Burcham two doors down the hall.

They still remember their first impressions of each other, although they may agree to disagree on the accuracy of those impressions.

“The first impression of Charles was definitely that he was an angry guy,” recalls Burcham. “He's really not, but he just seems like it at first. It's just his personality. He likes to pretend that he is mad all of the time.”

McClain has a distinct recollection of Nguyen at the beginning. “When we first moved in, it was just me and T.J. (Noonan), and Charles was never there. Our first nickname for him was 'Houdini', because he was always missing. He was just some big thrower guy that I never met before. I thought he was really mean because he never said anything, and hated everyone.”

(For the record, Nguyen disputes that he was angry.)

For Nguyen, “Jake (Jacob) was like your typical distance runner. He loved running. I thought he didn't want to talk to anyone else. But it wasn't true at all.

“With Hayden though, he had this like blank stare on his face all of the time, so I was kind of scared of that. I didn't really want to be his roommate. But then we started laughing at the stupidest things and we figured out that we had the same sense of humor.”

Added Burcham, “I think my first impression of Hayden was that he was kind of shy at first, or quiet.”

Humor was the ice breaker for them, allowing them to move past how they seemed to be to get to who they really were.

From there, McClain and Burcham discovered their similar interest in outdoor activities like fishing and hunting.

Years later, the three of them live together in a house off campus and those interests have expanded to playing golf, video games and around the world basketball.

“It was Charles and I living together the first year,” says McClain. “Then Jake and I lived together, just us, in an apartment. For our third year, we all decided just to live together. We all came in at the same time, we all get along together. It's been pretty fun.”

On a deeper level, their friendship has progressed to include long talks over shared meals at Headington Hall where it all began, road trips with the track and field teams across the country, and an annual visit to Arizona and McClain's house.

“What's really fun, is we'll have long dinners at the Caf, with long conversations,” shares Nguyen. “Even on the weekend, we'll get together to sit down and start playing video games, or whatever, but we'll shoot the breeze and converse.”

Adds Burcham, “for me, sitting at the cafeteria and talking, that's going to be my favorite memory. Every time, we talk about the most outlandish things, and it's always very funny. It's always fun to just talk.”

For McClain, “one of the more fun memories is spring break every year. Because I'm from Phoenix, I've taken both of them home. We go to my house for a day, go swimming, and then go to dinner. It's just an annual thing that we always look forward to.”

Burcham agrees. “I think Arizona is definitely the best memory for us as a group, because most trips we don't really hang out as much because we are in our own event groups. I spend more time with the distance guys on trips, except for Arizona. Arizona is more of a laid-back environment.”

Outside of the track and at home, they rarely see each other as they all are on different schedules with different majors and classes. Even at the track, they all are doing their own thing with their own event groups.

But spend five minutes in their presence, and you'll see the dynamic of their friendship. They enjoy giving each other a hard time, sharing inside jokes, and just making each other laugh in general. A smile is never far removed from their face, which is in contrast to their serious, straight-faced persona when in competition.

And perhaps under all of that good-natured fun and slaphappy nature, there is a genuine bond and care that has carried them throughout their time at Oklahoma.

“These are the guys that can give me a hard time about jumping, or I can give them stuff about running or throwing,” provides McClain. “They'll hear it from me first before they hear from anyone. If Charles has a bad throw, I'm going to tell him. If Jacob isn't running under 4:05 in the mile, I'm going to tell him. We push each other.”

“Getting a little sappy here, but let's say I have a bad day, I can see Hayden or Jacob and start making stupid jokes, even though I'm mad or having a bad day. Even though it's just common bickering, it's always fun to see these guys after a bad day.”

Burcham agrees with McClain, and appreciates the fact that “it's nice to come home and just be other around the other guys.”

It's a point that they might not have seen coming all those years ago when they started out as freshmen. Now as they near graduation, it is a friendship that has left a lasting imprint on their lives and that they will carry with them whenever they go beyond graduation.

“One thing Coach (Jim) VanHootegem said was that the top five people that you hang out with, you take something from them,” adds McClain. “I'm going to take something from Jacob, something from Charles and something from three other guys, and they'll live with me forever. Once we all graduate, I don't think we'll ever not see each other. Once we settle into a career, we're going to make plans to get together.”

Adds Burcham, “We'll probably plan an annual trip. Maybe a fishing spot. You never know.”

“Jake and I had this idea. Jake and Hayden would have a fishing show, and I would cook the fish. It would be an outdoor show and a cooking show called “From Land to Fork” or “From Sea to Fork”.

The three have the potential to enjoy three more meets together as student-athletes at the University of Oklahoma, and then from there, who knows. Keep your eyes peeled for McClain, Burcham and Nguyen on the track, in the sand pit and in the throwing circle, or in the Caf or lakes of Oklahoma. Chances are, they'll all be together, laughing.

ROOMMATE QUICKFIRE:

Who is the:

Messiest: Jacob (personal room)

Charles (common area)

Cleanest: Hayden

Loudest: Hayden, he plays rap music.

According to Hayden: Charles. For example, when he is cooking breakfast in the morning while I'm in my room, opening the drawers and slamming the doors, all of the silverware would clink.

Early Riser: Jacob, although that is partially due to his running schedule.

Night Owl: Jacob, staying up late for classes and workload.

On something that people wouldn't know about the others:

Jacob: Charles is really into cooking. He'll cook burgers, pasta, etc. He doesn't cook for us, but he does like to cook. I'll come home to Charles watching cooking shows and YouTube videos on how to cook something. He's very into culinary arts.

Charles: I'm too scared to cook for them. I don't want to cook something that people don't think is that good. Until I perfect my craft, maybe then I'll start.

Charles: Jacob is into investing now-a-days.

Charles: Hayden is actually a lot more emotional than people think he is. He tries to walk around like the tough guy and pretend he doesn't care about anything, but he does. He cares about stuff.

Jacob: Hayden definitely has a tough exterior when he's in public, but he's not like that at home.