Oklahoma football radio statistician Dennis ‘Stats’ Kelly chronicled their nine years together in a fun read for fans of the Sooners
Former Oklahoma Coach Merv Johnson, left, and current Oklahoma football radio statistician Dennis ‘Stats’ Kelly smile during a book signing even in Norman, Okla. on Saturday, Sep. 9, 2023. (Photo by Douglas Miles)
By Douglas Miles, For The Crimson Captain
NORMAN — It took just five games for Dennis Kelly to reach for his pad of paper.
The 2011 Oklahoma football season was Kelly’s first as the statistician with the Sooners’ radio broadcast team, and he quickly realized that radio analyst Merv Johnson — who spent 38 years as a college football assistant coach, including 19 with the Sooners — had an endless supply of engaging stories.
Kelly did not want to forget a single one.
“The first time I met Coach, I thought he was so interesting and he told me so many things the first night I really met him,” said Kelly, who has authored the new book, ‘Sooners Forever: Coach Merv & the Stat Man.’ “So it got into the fifth game of the year, we were playing Texas. I hadn't been to the Texas game since 1990, so this has been 21 years. … I was sitting there and he was talking about the ‘84 game (a controversial 15-15 tie) and all the different things and how we got robbed and I was like, ‘I've got to write this stuff down.’”
Kelly, now 69 years old and in his 13th season with the radio broadcast team – who affectionately dub him “Stats” – made it a point to always sit by Coach Johnson in the radio booth. While most of the other team members had other radio responsibilities four and five hours before each game, there were plenty of opportunities for Kelly and Johnson to visit as their broadcast roles did not really kick in until a couple of hours beforehand.
“It was like I was around a legend, you know what I mean?,” Kelly said.
Former Oklahoma Coach Merv Johnson, left, and current Oklahoma football radio statistician Dennis ‘Stats’ Kelly. (Photo submitted)
Whether it was traveling to a road game, dining the night before or morning of a game day, watching the early games on television or enjoying the serene quiet of the visiting coaches booth hours before a game, Johnson regaled Kelly with tales from his playing days at Missouri (1955-57), where he was notably on the losing end of the last of Oklahoma’s NCAA-record 47 wins in a row in 1957. Johnson also shared memorable stories from the two years he spent as an assistant coach at his alma mater (1960-61), followed by 13 seasons at Arkansas (1962-74), four at Notre Dame (1975-78) and of course, his remarkable tenure at Oklahoma that began in 1979 and would last until 2020.
“I just thought, ‘You know, this is stuff people pay for and here I am with a guy who's coached on the highest level. Won national championships at Arkansas (1964), Notre Dame (1977), OU (1985). Coached Joe Montana. … It just became a lot of fun and he's not a loud person by any means. He's very, very soft spoken. He never said bad things about anyone.”
Johnson, now 87, spent 19 years (1979-97) as an assistant coach on the Oklahoma staff under four head coaches – Barry Switzer, Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake.
“I had some great times,” Johnson told The Crimson Captain. “To be able to come in here with a team that was good every week. I don’t know that I did anything, but I got the chance to see it and what all of them did. It couldn’t have been better.”
In 1998, Johnson transitioned to the role of Director of Football Operations, which he held from John Blake’s final season, through the entirety of Bob Stoops’ reign and the 2017 debut of Lincoln Riley as head coach. Johnson added the radio analyst role to his responsibilities in 1999 and remained on the team until a serious car accident before the 2019 Peach Bowl.
Through his various positions with the Sooners, Johnson witnessed an astounding 513 games in person.
“They were all great,” Johnson said of his various roles with the Sooners. “I enjoyed doing it.”
Since the accident, Johnson prefers to watch the games from the comforts of home. After witnessing the highs and lows of six different regimes on the Oklahoma campus, he is excited to see what second-year Coach Brent Venables can do as head coach.
“I think they’ve got a good one there now,” Johnson said.
It did not take long into his role on the broadcast team for Kelly to recognize how beloved Johnson was within the Oklahoma fan base and the weight and impact of Johnson’s analysis and opinion to the listening audience.
“I probably hadn't done half a dozen, maybe 10 games,” Kelly said. “There were people that would come to me at my church and say, ‘What did Coach say? What did Coach do? How was Coach feeling? What did he say about that? I bet he had some words to say.’ That’s when I thought, ‘People, really, really want to know what he has to say. He has got his finger on the pulse of ‘Sooner Nation’ and I realized that early on.”
Kelly called Oct. 22, 2011 the “crowning moment” of Johnson’s on-air impact during their short time together. That was the night that unranked Texas Tech ended No. 3 Oklahoma’s unbeaten season and snapped the Sooners’ 39-game winning streak in a massive 41-38 upset.
“(Johnson) sat there and said, ‘You know, it takes a lot of people to win 39 in a row anywhere. It takes a lot of people to win 39 games (at all),’ Kelly recalled. “And I was like, ‘Wow.’ And he starts in on this, ‘Don’t get out the razor blades. Don’t start thinking about life’s over. You’re never as good as you think and you’re never as bad.’ And he starts on this thing, and everybody says, ‘Wow, I feel a whole lot better.’ … This guy, everybody wants to know (what he thinks) and they want to be consoled by him.”
Kelly diligently continued jotting down similar exchanges, favorite memories, funny moments and bits of wisdom shortly after each Oklahoma game. As the pages mounted, he decided to compile them in book form as a memento for his family and the Johnson family.
“I basically did it for my family,” Kelly said. “I always thought it'd be good if they had something about me. Just kind of like something to put in the drawer.”
Kelly’s daughter, Kelsey Carter, read the pages and excitedly suggested that they be published for all Oklahoma fans to enjoy. Kelly eventually agreed and contacted several publishers, including Heavener, Okla.-native Bob Babcock of Deeds Publishing in Athens, Ga. Babcock had published the 2015 book, “Sooner Football: Old School and Other Stories,” which was written by John Tatum, who played for legendary Oklahoma Coach Bud Wilkinson from 1960-62.
After no initial response from any publisher, Kelly was set to finalize the process to publish independently until a phone call from Babcock halted the self-publishing process. Babcock asked for a copy of the book.
“And he read it,” Kelly said. “He got it that day and he read it that night. He called me at the crack of dawn one day, I get a call, and he said, ‘I want to publish this book.’”
The book was released in late August and can be purchased from the Deeds Publishing website
(https://www.deedspublishing.com/product/sooners-forever). The book can also be found at Balfour of Norman on Campus Corner and Best of Books at 1313 E. Danforth Road in Edmond. At 202 pages in length, it provides a fun, breezy look behind the curtain of the radio broadcast team and is likely to entertain any Oklahoma football fan.
Kelly sprinkled in details about his own background growing up in Weatherford and the influences that helped him become a fan of the Sooners. The early reactions have been heartwarming and even surprising in some instances.
“Some people tell me that it's a range of emotions,” Kelly said. “Some of it’s kind of sad – and I didn't write it that way – and some of it’s kind of glad and then it's a really an insight into Coach Merv that a lot of people didn't know. He refused to write a book and that's another reason why I thought, ‘You know, I ought to write the book’ because he is not going to write one. And I am not going to write something that is going to be controversial. He was always joking around, like, ‘I am going to really tell it (like it is.).’ He would never do it because that is not his way. That is what I have heard. I heard from a friend of mine that I had not heard from in a long time. He said, ‘Wow, I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. All this stuff all through that book.’ I thought, ‘Wow.’”
Four years ago, Kelly retired from his “day job” with Griffin Communications after nearly 20 years in charge of accounting for multiple television and radio stations. It was in that role that he met Toby Rowland, the “Voice of the Sooners” for the past 13 years. The pair spent a decade together KWTV News 9 in Oklahoma City.
When Rowland was hired to provide radio play-by-play for Oklahoma football before the 2011 season, he asked Kelly to join the team as the statistician. It is a duty that has changed as the technology continues to improve. What began as actual box score tabulation has become more about providing trends and historical facts, which are always silently communicated to Rowland via a white board, note or index card.
“Over the years, the stat monitors and the stat system have gotten really, really faster and better,” Kelly said. “So now, I basically keep a very glamorized drive chart with pertinent things that I think are important, like ‘this is their sixth pass in a row’ and then try to tie in historic things. Or, ‘this is the first time we had a blocked punt since 2016.’ As soon as (Oklahoma freshman Peyton Bowen) blocked that punt on Saturday (against SMU), I went and looked that up. That's the kind of things that I work with now. I keep a passing stat, but you can't turn to me now and say, ‘How many carries does Tawee Walker have?’ Well, I can write that down, but the stats monitor has that right there in front of you.”
Oklahoma radio broadcast team members, from left, Andrew Shepard, Drake Diacon, Toby Rowland, Dennis Kelly and Teddy Lehman visit with former Oklahoma Coach Merv Johnson (seated) during a book signing event in Norman, Okla. on Sep. 9, 2023. (Photo submitted)
Former Oklahoma standout linebacker Teddy Lehman (2000-03) currently fills the radio analyst role previously inhabited by Johnson. Lehman progressed from a sideline role to the primary color commentator in 2018 – where he has flourished with his analysis – and shared the booth for Johnson’s two seasons on the team.
“I really like Ted and he has a serious style, but is the best in the business in football knowledge,” Kelly said. “He was really respectful of Coach Merv and it was an easy transition. Teddy has become a star in a short time, and Coach loves him and wanted it that way.”
Kelly plans to continue his statistician role “as long as Toby wants me to do it” and also writes game notes that are disbursed to the team before each game. For the kid from Weatherford that has cheered on the Sooners for six decades, every Saturday remains a “pinch me” moment.
“Every week is like a dream come true,” Kelly said. “I can’t believe it’s happening. I still can’t believe it. It’s just incredible.”
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