Harold Keith Quotes (1903-1998)

“Boys everywhere are quick to recognize and respect any kind of talent in each other, and one of Will Rogers' best talents was talking.”

“Crosscountry is a team sport, too, and many a meet has been won by what the English call "packing," whereby one team sticks together and the good runners encourage the poorer ones, until the final dash home.”

“Few Americans know how savagely the Civil War raged or how strange and varied were its issues in what is now Oklahoma and the neighboring states of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. Rifles for Watie was faithfully written against the historical backdrop of the conflict in this seldom-publicized, Far-Western theater.”

“Track and field events get you outdoors, improve health, are not as dangerous or as expensive as other sports, require very little equipment, and can be indulged in any time of the year one wishes. Moreover, running is the basis for nearly every other sport on the calendar and therefore part of the training routine for each.”

“And so one night Will Rogers ran away from Kemper. He was through with schools forever. For years he had been irked by their routine to which he could not adapt himself, and now he was determined to lead the free life he loved so well. Back at Kemper the janitor brought Will's trunk down to his room and John Payne silently packed Will's things so that they could be shipped home. They had all liked Will Rogers and were sorry to see him go.”

“Volleyball is perhaps the best sport ever devised for correcting the "student stoop" since, if the net is kept high and the two-handed return used, it compels players to keep the head and shoulders up and back, the spine straight and the chest thrust out. It is a good game for the spectator, too, since he can sit close to the small court and keep the ball in constant view, and yet it is hard for a spectator to watch it very long without acquiring a strong impulse to pull off his coat and join the players.”

“Wrestling is healthy. No other sport so brings into play the vital organs of the body. The constant stretching and twisting of the body tends to strengthen the muscles needed for good digestion. Likewise wrestling is an effective blood circulator and body builder. Wrestling is not dangerous. Ed "Strangler" Lewis, a former heavyweight champion who wrestled nearly a quarter of a century, declares that only two wrestlers have ever been killed in an American ring. What other American contact sport can show such immunity?”

“Literature is filled with allusions to swimming. Longfellow's Kwasind, in Hiawatha, caught a beaver after a long underwater cruise; Beowulf and Breca swam seven nights in the swollen seas, carrying their swords with them to fight off whale fishes; Dumas' hero Edmond Dantes escaped by swimming from the Chateau to the Isle of Tiboulen; and Leander swam across the Hellespont, the narrow strait that divided Europe and Asia. Perhaps the most poignant tale ever written about a swimmer occurs in that charming short story, The Tale of James Carabine by Donn Byrne, the Irish author. The swimmer was not successful and paid with his life. His name was Bartley McGeehan, known as Swimmer McGeehan, the Swan of Ireland or the Marine Marvel, as he was billed in the circus. He had once swum between Ireland and Scotland over the stormy waters of Moyle.”

“Then the general stepped so close that Jeff could smell the pomade on his thick black hair. Leaning forward, he passed a ribbon around Jeff's neck and underneath his collar. Suspended from the ribbon was a tiny piece of red, white and blue fabric. And dangling from the fabric was a shiny bronze star and eagle that flashed more brilliantly in the sunshine than even the general's gold shoulder bars. Noah got one, too. Just as Jeff began to realize that he and Noah were being decorated, the general was shaking hands stiffly with each of them. Jeff couldn't hide the embarrassment and the unbelief in his face. Somebody had made a mistake. He hadn't done anything in the battle but follow Noah. If this was the way the army handed out decorations, then something was wrong with the system. "Shoot, General," Jeff blurted in protest, "all we did was load her and swab her."”

“Never change your tactics when winning. Likewise, if you are losing try something new even though it may be foreign to your usual style of play.”

“Suddenly the fresh booming of cannon was heard. A two-story red brick building half a block down the street began to twist and buckle. With a shivering roar, it toppled and collapsed. Bricks flew in every direction. A rebel shell had made a direct hit. A lieutenant sprinted down the middle of the street, one hand on his clanking sword to keep it from tripping him. As he ran, he muttered, "That crazy, dumb Hindman! Shelling his own town!"”

“He helped steady millions of drifting people, not only financially through his charity campaigns and his own large personal gifts which he always tried to hide from public knowledge, but mentally and morally as well through the ability to lift people, guide them, make them laugh, and then make them think. Presidents, cowboys, financiers, kings, show people, children- he knew and liked them all and all were genuinely sorry when he died. I think- because of this personal trait which Lincoln had- that Will Rogers is one of the very greatest men who ever lived.”

“The incident illustrates a batting skill that every boy can acquire with practice- place-hitting. Place-hitters, also called choke hitters because they choke their grip on the bat, snap the stick with their forearms and punch the ball through any opening in the diamond which the infield may leave them. Cobb was probably the greatest place-hitter of them all with the possible exception of Willie Keeler, diminutive marvel of the old Baltimore Orioles, a star of an earlier era. I am going to refer frequently to Ty Cobb in this chapter because he was the greatest baseball player who ever lived.”

“Harold Keith grew up near the Cherokee country he describes in Rifles for Watie. A native Oklahoman, he was educated at Northwestern State Teachers College at Alva and at the University of Oklahoma, where he was a long distance runner. While traveling in eastern Oklahoma doing research on his master's thesis in history, Mr. Keith found a great deal of fresh, unused material about the Civil War in the Indian country. Deciding he might someday write a historical novel about it, he interviewed twenty-two Civil War veterans then living in Oklahoma and Arkansas; and much of the background of Rifles for Watie came from the notebooks he filled at the time. The actual writing of this book took five years. Since 1930, the author has been sports publicity director at the University of Oklahoma, famous for its national collegiate championship football and wrestling teams. Mr. Keith is married and has a son and daughter. He was awarded the Newberry Medal for 1957 for Rifles for Watie.”

“Harold Keith won the 1958 John Newbery Medal for his Rifles for Watie, a young adult novel about the Civil War. The Oklahoma native received a master's degree in history from the University of Oklahoma and became the university's first sports publicity director. He remained at OU for thirty-nine years, introducing many innovations to that office and establishing himself as an institution in the field. In 1951 he received the Helms Foundation Award as outstanding sports publicity director in the nation. Keith was the author of sixteen books, as well as a noted historian, long distance runner, and barber shop quartet singer. In 1997 Keith was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Oklahoma Center for the Book. Just before the publication of Chico & Dan, Mr. Keith died at the age of ninety-four.”

“My father would have loved this book as Mr. Keith interviewed every person who was important in Dad's life and then wove their memories of him into a story that is timeless and easily read.”