NEWS
By
Bonnie Rucker
brucker@ou.edu
Date
TULSA, OKLA. – Billy Sims and his namesake foundation, in partnership with the OU Club of Tulsa, announced a new scholarship for northeastern Oklahoma undergraduate students at the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday.
Beginning the spring 2025 semester, any freshmen or undergraduate transfer student from northeastern Oklahoma planning to attend the university’s Norman, Tulsa, or Oklahoma City Health Sciences campus is eligible to apply.
"Team Billy and I are excited to partner with the University of Oklahoma and the OU Club of Tulsa to support students across Oklahoma,” said Sims. “I am proud that winning the Heisman Trophy so many years ago has allowed me to give back to those trying to thrive."
Billy Sims is a former football running back who played in the National Football League for five seasons from 1980 to 1984. Sims played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, where he was a two-time consensus All-American and won the Heisman Trophy in 1978. He was the first overall pick in the 1980 NFL draft, selected by the Detroit Lions.
Billy Sims and Jeff Jackson started Billy Sims BBQ in 2004 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since then, the organization has grown to 30+ restaurants operating in six states, but it is still based in Tulsa. It is one of the top fast-casual barbecue restaurants in the U.S.
The OU Club of Tulsa provides fellowship for alumni and friends of the University of Oklahoma and promotes the university to prospective students. A central focus for the group is establishing and awarding scholarships to prospective and current OU students from northeastern Oklahoma. Each year, the OU Club of Tulsa awards eight to ten scholarships, totaling more than $45,000 in support for OU students.
For more information on this scholarship or other scholarships offered by the OU Club of Tulsa, please visit www.oucluboftulsa.com. The application is now open.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
University of Oklahoma students and faculty represented the university well in the recent Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts. Broadcasting students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences together had 34 winning entries, matching the record-breaking results of 2024.
University of Oklahoma Anthropology Professor Paul Spicer has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society.
The University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Department of Aviation and Aerospace celebrated progress at OU’s Max Westheimer Airport on Friday, March 28. The completion of a new hangar project and the groundbreaking for the new control tower project are part of continued efforts to advance Norman’s airport and the city’s economic development.
