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[Mr. Orange-Power]

December Issue: Nichols Hills News, NW Style, Edmond Monthly...AND, Norman Living!!!

[Mr. Orange-Power]

(Orange) Power to the People
By Lauren Hammack

When Lee Redick, a dyed-in-the-polyester Cowboy fan, purchased his Tulsa home, it came with a basement. And the basement came with a particularly shocking vestment that had been left behind by the home’s previous owners: a dayglow orange one-piece suit – the kind you’d wear to stand out on a deer hunt. Maybe the exiting family was just too embarrassed to put it out in the trash, but for Redick, it was love at first sight.

“I look at it this way – I bought an electric-orange polyester suit for $150,000, and got a house in the deal,” Redick explains. And had the suit not fit like a neon glove, the story might have ended there.

Instead, rising up from basement obscurity, the suit quickly became Redick’s trademark habit, bringing impressionable Cowboy fans everywhere Redick’s sparkplug alter ego, “Mr. Orange-Power.” Superman had the cape. Spiderman had that clingy get-up that tended to be a little less forgiving in the later years. Redick had the highway-cone orange jumpsuit – and a mission.

As a student at OSU in the 1980’s, Redick always loved the “Orange Power” cheer. When he moved out of state to follow his career, the “Orange Power” cheer eventually flickered into oblivion. Returning to Oklahoma, Redick was disappointed to see that Cowboy fans were no longer doing the cheer at all. With the encouragement of Kristi, his enabling wife, the very un-shy Redick rallied the 1999 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament crowd with the renowned battle cry and “orange power” has enjoyed a contagious resurgence ever since.

Today Redick is something of a celebrity among the leagues of Cowboy fans he inspires with his immortal call to arms and the cue card he waves to the crowd, a handmade poster inscribed with the word “Orange.” Able to leap several bleacher rows in a single bound to rally the frenzied crowd, he’s Mr. Orange-Power: bringing power to the people.


ORANGE-POWER!!!


Mr. OP

[frankeaton]

"Norman Living!!!"

and I can say I knew him when

[Jonno]

Saw a NW Style while working out at the Northside Y tonight. Pretty neat to be profiled like that. It was nice to learn the legend of the suit. :D