For OU football fans, the new-look gameday means a new approach: 'The memories are more important'

NORMAN — Just feet from campus, three older gentlemen dressed in crimson and cream lounged under a canopy in lawn chairs facing two televisions, while others gathered at tables near a camper.

Not far away, a sign warned OU fans that tailgating was not allowed on campus.

No matter. They weren’t going to be denied.

After all, this wasn’t on campus.

The small patch of green grass on the north side of Brooks Street was private property. That meant tailgating was possible — even in the closest spot to campus.

It was nearly the only tailgate in town.

“We’re going to make a lot of friends,” joked one man, who declined to be named or interviewed.

But nearly 2 hours before the Sooners’ kickoff against Missouri State on Saturday afternoon, there weren’t a ton of friends to be made.

OU’s campus was far from normal on a day usually highlighted by all-day fanfare. The COVID-19 pandemic tamed a rowdy college football gameday, leading fans to get creative.

Jenkins Avenue was wide open to traffic, instead of a one-way direction. Lindsey Street — the usual spot for OU’s “Walk of Champions” — was blocked off but empty. There was no pregame walk by the Sooners.

Fields were full of green grass, not fans tailgating. No aromas from hot dogs or hamburgers filled the air.

Even Campus Corner and the “Party at the Palace” on the north end of the stadium were nearly empty until about 90 minutes before kickoff.

The only semblance of normalcy came in a few scattered groups of fans congregating near their vehicles. They pushed the limits of tailgating.

One group of four men safely spread out near an Argosy camper with a few chairs.

“I wouldn’t call this a tailgate,” one said.

But the group just off campus had bigger plans.

The tailgate has run in that area for more than 20 years. That wasn’t about to change when OU elected to ban tailgating on campus.

Instead, the family — which declined to be named — chose to take their own precautions. Invite only people they trusted. Safety was a priority.

“It’s fun just being able to chill here with my friends, especially now that corona’s happening,” said 20-year-old Gabrielle Mayfield, a junior at OU wearing a face shield who became the tailgate’s unofficial spokesperson. “Everyone was not expecting that tailgates were going to work, but here we are.

“Most of us are using safety precautions.”

Mayfield said she liked the changes. It meant more time with close friends and family before she entered the stadium.

“At the end of the day, the memories are more important,” she said.

And for one family, they found a new way to make memories in an old spot.

Sitting near a revamped 1979 camper in the RV lot, they had a small gathering in their paid spot.

But they were under heavy restrictions from the university.

Only family members.

There was no food. Just a TV, canopy and chairs for seven people in front of a banner labeling the group, “The Drinkin’ Lincolns.”

“All the people we usually have here, we couldn’t,” Norman resident Randy Kornele said.

Kornele and his family said the tailgate they’ve had for years normally reaches close to 50 people.

The only downer was they were unable to debut the camper for friends. It was completely gutted on the inside as a pandemic project for the purpose of tailgating.

“That’s the real story,” joked Kornele.

But it sat in the nearly empty parking lot Saturday, waiting for a grand debut to others.

Perhaps next season will be better.

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