Forgotten Tulsa Stories from the 1970s

The 1970s brought Tulsa its first women’s pro-football team, lime-green fire trucks and a fully clothed Golden Driller.  Not to be outdone by the Golden Driller, enter the Touring Stripper.

Some of these stories may be familiar, but many have been forgotten.  From the archives of Tulsa World and Tulsa Tribune, here’s Forgotten Tulsa Stories form the 1970s:

10.  Tulsa Babes

In 1977, 50 women averaging 200 lbs. formed Tulsa’s first women’s pro-football team, Tulsa Babes.  Husbands rebelled and parents cringed.  Three months later, only 15 women remained.  The coach said no one showed up for practice because the players didn’t want to hurt each other.

In 1977, Tulsa’s first women’s pro-football team folded.

9.  Kissing Cops

If you kiss a cop against their will, you’re probably charged with assault.  In 1978, you were considered an “occupational hazard.”  When two female cops were kissed in their squad cars, the women filed charges against the men for “holding, kissing and contending with” them.  The city prosecutor shrugged off the incident, calling it an “occupational hazard.”  The men paid a small fine.

8.  KOTV Flips the Bird

Late Tulsa anchor Mack Creager opened a November 1970 KOTV newscast by flipping the bird.  Before the live newscast, the station conducted a test of its equipment.  No one realized the switch to broadcast was on.  Thousands of viewers saw Creager’s gesture.  KOTV suspended him for one week for “making a gesture in poor taste.”

7. Liquor-by-the-Wink

Although prohibition ended in Oklahoma in the 1950s, it was still illegal to sell alcoholic drinks.  If you wanted to drink in a restaurant, you had to bring your own bottle to a city-licensed private club.  To fight liquor-by-the-drink, churches held voter registration drives and television ads against the proposal.  I remember my pastor preaching about the evils of liquor-by-the-drink.  I supported the proposal because if my church told me not do something, it was usually fun.

6.  Marriage Passes Divorce

1979 was the only year during the decade that marriages out totaled divorce.

5.  Golden Driller Gets Dressed

Before 1979, the Golden Driller stood bare-chested.  That was until the Golden Driller Committee decided his pecs needed softening.  They added a shirt and a new belt buckle for $65,000.

4.  Un-American Fire Trucks

For a brief moment, Tulsa changed its fire trucks from red to lime green.  Many Tulsans considered this Un-American.

3.  Wendy The Stripper

Wendy, a Skiatook native and an OU graduate assistant, read poetry to an English class while she removed her clothes.  A year later in 1973, Wendy toured nationwide to challenge the nation’s attitude toward nudity.  In the East Room of the White House, she sang, “I’m All Covered in Clothes.”  Then, she removed them.

Meanwhile, back in Skiatook, a man streaked through a bar wearing only his cowboy hat.  He must’ve heard Wendy’s message.

2.  Demolishing Downtown

On December 30, 1979, Tulsans gathered near 3rd and Boston to watch The Streets Building come down.  A series of planned explosions demolished the building except, almost. The south wall remained standing.  A few minutes later, the wall twisted and landed against the Fourth National Bank’s garage.  Oops.

1.  The Great Raft Drag

The first Labor Day Great Raft Race in 1973 became more labor than great.  At 12,000 cubic feet per second, it took 18 hours for water to reach 51st Street from the Keystone Dam.  Not enough time was given to fill the Arkansas River.  The rafts speed exceeded the flow of water.  Most racers dragged the rafts down the river.

The number of racers double the next year.

(Photo courtesy of the Beryl Ford Collection/Rotary Club of Tulsa, Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Historical Society.)

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