OU Nana during the game against Wichita State on Feb. 23.
Reporter
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
OU Nana during the game against Wichita State on Feb. 23.
As fans fill the Lloyd Noble Center and players warm up on the court, a familiar face stands out in the crowd. An older woman in red, white and black striped overalls with the words “OU Nana” stitched on the back, along with black cowboy boots with the OU logo on the front, stands behind the Pom Squad, preparing to cheer on Oklahoma.
OU superfan, Patti Gunter, known to many by the nickname, “OU Nana,” has been a Sooner fan her entire life.
Growing up in a small town, Healdton, Oklahoma, an hour and a half south of Norman and the same town as former women’s basketball head coach Sherri Coale, Gunter was raised to bleed Crimson and Cream. For over 50 years, Gunter and her husband, Jerry, have been season ticket holders for not one but five different Sooner sports — football, men’s and women’s basketball, softball and baseball.
Students pay about $14 in annual fees that support the Daily. If you are not a student and find value in our work, please match or exceed that if you can.
When attending OU football games regularly, Gunter formed connections with several football players, bringing them brownies sometimes. The guys wanted to call her “Mom”, but Gunter refused because she could not replace their mother. She agreed to let them call her “OU Mama”, and that’s what they did.
Once Gunter became a grandmother, she graduated from “OU Mama” to “OU Nana.” She wanted to be “OU Nana” for everyone, not just Oklahoma athletes.
“There needs to be an ‘OU Nana’ out there for everybody,” Gunter said. “So, the kids came to me and they’re like, ‘Whose nana are you?’ I said, “Yours, yours, yours and yours, all of you – I’m your nana.”
“OU Nana” is present at every game she can attend when weather permits it. If there are multiple sporting events happening at the same time, Nana chooses the sport she can attend and gives away her tickets for others to enjoy the events she cannot.
“I would like to see it where we don’t play baseball and softball and basketball on the same day,” Gunter said after Oklahoma women’s basketball’s 91-84 win against Alabama on March 2. “I gave my baseball tickets to somebody today.”
At every basketball home game, “OU Nana” is in the student section, engaging with students and inviting them to join her and others to sit on the floor with the OU BoomSquad.
“I noticed there haven’t been, especially during women’s basketball games, a lot of people in the lower sections where the BoomSquad normally sits,” said an OU student who “OU Nana” pulled from the stands. “She’ll go around, pull students and say, ‘Come on, come sit down with us.’”
Not only has Gunter made connections with players, coaches and fans, she has also made a connection with athletic director Joe Castiglione. She has told him about her idea of a section for senior citizens in the Lloyd Noble Center.
“I went to Joe Castiglione, and I said, ‘Joe, I think we need a senior citizen section by the students and see which one can be the loudest because I know the seniors could take over,’” said Gunter.
Home games are not the only Sooner events Gunter goes to. She and her husband have traveled to numerous OU football and baseball away games. They have traveled a lot for football, making vacations out of the trips and friends along the way. Gunter has made friends in Iowa, Nebraska, Texas and Florida, among others.
She reminisced about a time she traveled to Missouri for a game and befriended a woman with the same first name. The woman’s son, a member of a Missouri fraternity, gave her a hard time for being from Oklahoma before Gunter told him her grandmother was born and raised in Missouri, so she has Missouri blood in her.
She and her husband recognize how fortunate they are and the good health they have. Gunter has seen many great things in her lifetime as a Sooner fan, witnessed numerous Sooners lift the Heisman trophy and made connections with many different people. Win or lose, she has and will always cheer on the Sooners.
“OU Nana” is a true fan through and through, trying to spread the message of love and the joys she has being a Sooner fan. She says that it does not matter whether a team wins or loses, it’s about having fun.
“If you do it with love, you will go a long way,” said Gunter.
This story was edited by Josh McDaniel.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Breaking + Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Breaking + Wednesday, Friday, Sunday
