Sooners Touch Lives, Help Miami Elementary School

Brent Venables' goal each football season is to win the national championship, but his goal each day is much more than that.

For more than 30 years as an assistant coach, dating back to his alma mater of Kansas State, Venables incessantly thought of ways to develop his players as people, to guide and assist them outside their usual scope of passing and catching, blocking and blitzing, touchdowns and tackles, X's and O's.

After becoming Oklahoma's new head coach, Venables decided the time had come to act upon decades of what potentially could be.

Venables has created the S.O.U.L. (Serving Our Uncommon Legacy) Mission, an in-house development program designed to smooth the transition to life off the field and help players become successful beyond football. It will serve as a foundation where former OU players also can mentor current players.

"For me, I was like 'That's got to be the backbone of the program,'" Venables said last March upon revealing the program. "Because if you make it all about winning and chasing championships, that's going to be a very empty, unfulfilling journey. You can be dysfunctional and really good. I think some of the best of the best programs, when they focus only on winning, they're exactly that. We have an opportunity to have some generational change if we can keep the main thing the main thing. That's equipping these young people and pouring life into them. Making sure that we're not just asking the right questions but putting the right resources and people where they need to be."

Venables hired former Kansas State tackle and NFL player Ryan Young as the program's senior director. Former OU standouts Josh Norman, Curtis Lofton and Caleb Kelly were hired as directors and Zulaikha Losman as coordinator.
Directors map out scheduling and organize the team's community service trip each year. The original hope for the inaugural trip was to travel abroad, but COVID derailed those plans.

"We started to look for some different opportunities around the state, some places we could serve, but also places where the guys would enjoy being," Norman said.

Norman contacted close friend and former teammate Moses Washington, a track All-American and a walk-on defensive back on the 2000 national championship football team while at OU, who lives in Miami, Fla. Washington's older sister, Dr. Bridget McKinney, happens to be the principal at Scott Lake Elementary School in Miami Gardens, Fla. In a bit of destiny, McKinney's school seemed a logical selection to become the S.O.U.L. Mission's first mission.

"That's what you want. You want people involved. Imagine if everybody took it upon themselves to get involved on a consistent basis. We're just a small blip on the radar. I'm extremely proud of the service we did and the impact we left at that school."
-- Josh Norman

Asked to describe last week's S.O.U.L. experience, McKinney said, "I would say 'tear-jerking' is the best way to sum up that visit. It was beyond our expectations. We just thought a bunch of jocks would come visit. What we walked away with was a connection and relationships. We now have heroes who are reachable for our kids."

Two dozen OU football players signed up for the mission.

"Every single one of those 24 guys volunteered their own personal time to serve," Norman said. "They finished school on Friday (May 13) and we flew to Miami on Sunday. A lot of guys could have gone home, but they chose to sacrifice their own time to go and serve somebody else."

Teachers, volunteers and sponsors helped prepare separate lunches for the players. "Those guys can eat, but we stepped up our game," McKinney said with a laugh.

Sooners sophomore defensive end Ethan Downs left the biggest impression at the school.

"The one who touched our hearts was Ethan," McKinney said. "He started a trend. Day One was our big show-off day with the food, and Ethan asked me for a cafeteria trey. I'm thinking, 'This is a big eater. He needs a bigger plate.' But no. He was asking for a cafeteria trey so he could go eat with the kids. Not the big spread of our food, but the cafeteria food. He said, 'I want to get in the lunch line, if that's not a problem. I'll pay for it, if there's a problem.' You can't make this up. This is authentic. Ethan started a trend and he didn't even know it. It was like a celebrity stepped into a room every time he walked into that cafeteria."

Told McKinney's remarks, Downs chuckled and said, "Yeah, she kind of took a liking to me. She's awesome. I loved being there. Working with the kids, that was the best time we had – waking up at 6 a.m. to go spend time with them, to welcome them to school, to give them high-fives, give them hugs, get to know their names."

Because his mother runs a daycare business in Raleigh, N.C., Sooners redshirt senior safety Justin Harrington was no stranger to the age group.

"I was very familiar with being around kids K-12," Harrington said. "I kind of tried to take the lead just because it was comfortable for me. They just wanted us to interact with the kids and the kids really liked being with us. They told us, 'Look, they're happy for you to be here. You don't be the one who's nervous. You're in the driver's seat, so go take off. Give these kids a hug. If you see someone who is shy, go say something that's going to brighten their day 100 percent.'"

Harrington said McKinney's impact at the school was easy to see.

"You can definitely tell that everybody's bought in at that school," Harrington explained. "Her staff has bought in, the community has bought in. It goes all the way down to the students and the parents. You can see the smiles glowing when they drop their kids off because they know they're in good hands. She (McKinney) definitely has built an identity there. It's a beautiful thing."

In addition to helping mentor Scott Lake students in their studies, S.O.U.L. members helped with the school's "beautification" by painting walls, pulling weeds, planting grass and other landscaping. OU players paired with students on service projects.

"We let them go out there and show what giving back was like," McKinney said. "They had a 'Wishing-Well Huddle.'"

Downs said the trip also was an opportunity to bond with teammates.

"Even when we had to paint the building," Downs said, "it still didn't feel like work, being with teammates, cracking jokes, having fun. In the times between painting, some of the guys would be chasing kids around and would swim at the little indoor pool they had. We were dancing with the kids during lunchtime and, honestly, getting in trouble because we got them too riled up. Man, I'm telling you, it brought a lot of joy and happiness to them for us to be there. But for us as athletes and for the S.O.U.L. leaders, it was so reviving."

Norman said he was impressed with how quickly the players adapted to the various tasks at hand.

"Oh, man. It was phenomenal," Norman said. "I called my wife (Jessica) and told her, 'I feel like a proud papa out here, man. I'm watching these guys interact with the kids, faculty and staff and it's just phenomenal to see.' They're just such good people. They blessed me. They really did."

McKinney agreed.

"Those gentlemen who came – I don't call them 'boys' – those 'gentlemen' mirrored coach Venables," McKinney said. "We had coach Venables speak and stream straight to our parents. I saw tears. I saw hearts and love because we know it came straight from the top. I'm telling you, that coach is setting the tone for great men."

The SOUL visit transpired in the heart of the school district's high-stakes testing period.

"I said, 'You know what, we can call this our championship,'" McKinney said. "My bosses all drove their cars over here to look at my face to figure out 'How in the heck did you get the Oklahoma football team to come here, to pass by 30 states and 30,000 schools? Say that again?'"

Once various television news reports aired on Monday, locals began calling McKinney and asked, 'Hey, how can we come over and be involved?'"

"That's what you want," Norman said. "You want people involved. Imagine if everybody took it upon themselves to get involved on a consistent basis. We're just a small blip on the radar. I'm extremely proud of the service we did and the impact we left at that school."

McKinney said fellow principals were quick to take note.

"I had a principal come to my school today and ask how Oklahoma ended up at 'The Great Scott Lake,'" McKinney said. "I told him it was grace and mercy. It was the right timing. It gave us a boost we needed. I guarantee you they are going to patent what we did as a model for other schools. It was icing on the cake for our school, our community and our school district to change the game of how we reach children. This separated us from every school in Miami-Dade County right now. We are like an elite school."

OU players made some new fans during their three-day visit.

"I asked each player to name one child they connected with, and every one of them knew their names," McKinney said. "Then we asked the kids if they could match the player's name with his (jersey) number. They got their picture taken with the player if they won. I wish I could replicate this with every school in Miami-Dade County."

Norman: "The brand of OU definitely makes a difference. We try to make sure our guys know that they're more than football players, that they view themselves and identify themselves as more than just football players. Truth is, I've learned that (identity) is so short-lived. After a day or two with somebody, you totally forget they're even football players. The kids and staff were able to see that you are more than just football players."

Downs: "They don't know who Oklahoma is. I don't even think they cared we played football. Those kids would ask a million questions to every one of us. Their eyes just lit up with excitement because there's a whole group of gigantic people with them. They just loved it. They asked us questions like, 'How old are you? How tall are you? What do you do?'"

Harrington: "Listen, they probably didn't even care we played football. They were just happy to see all these new faces."

Everyone involved with Scott Lake Elementary School – from students, teachers, counselors to parents – expressed their gratitude and appreciation.
"When the players left, kids were lined up at the gate with farewell signs – crying," McKinney said. "It brought chills."

Norman said, "The greatest compliment we received was Wednesday afternoon, our last time serving at the school. The principal (McKinney) that afternoon let us know they almost had to shut down school and bring in counselors because the kids were crying whenever we left. That shows the impact those guys had on those kids."

"That was crazy." Harrington said of the emotional good-bye. "In the short amount of time we had, to make such an impact on those kids, that's beautiful. Kids can't fake it."
Harrington said OU players also were appreciative.

"It was just good to see people still care," Harrington said. "You couldn't hide the impact it had on my teammates."

Asked if he anticipates the same rapid response from players to voluntarily serve under him in future SOUL missions, Norman said, "They're not serving me. They're serving those people. I'm just facilitating an opportunity. It's encouraging to know that we had so many guys who wanted to be a part of it. Hopefully, once they spread the word of how amazing of a trip this was and how rewarding it was, we can get more guys in the future to go."

As for future endeavors, Norman said, "We're seeking to do community outreach things locally. We're doing stuff with Big Brother and Big Sisters and also with children's hospitals. There's a lot on the horizon, not just locally but throughout the world."

Jennifer Jarvis-Denny is the director of OU's international program development and has been taking student-athletes abroad for 12 years.

"Having S.O.U.L. involved, it magnifies and opens those doors for really meaningful collaborations," said Jarvis-Denny, who also teaches Spanish at OU. "I have taken football players abroad. The primary location is Brazil. I have seen this kind of work before and every time its impact really is inexplicable."

Harrington said he is ready to volunteer again.

"I've already talked to Miss Jennifer," Harrington said. "If we can do Brazil and branch out – anywhere really – anything to do with child development programs, I'll be the first to sign up. I definitely want to do it again."