Defending a university budget request for more than an hour before the appropriations committee of the Oklahoma state legislature, Dr. Cross was stopped by one of the committee members and asked: “That’s all well and good, but what kind of football team are we going to have this year?”
Dr. Cross, a bit perturbed by the question because he thought his entire presentation might have been wasted, immediately responded in 13 memorable words that would be heard and repeated throughout the country for decades to come:
“We want to build a university our football team can be proud of.