Henryetta radio personality David Garrett said he got his confidence because of his early life in Henryetta.
Speaking to the Rotary Club Wednesday, Garrett recalled his youth first delivering newspapers then being hired at KHEN to do play by play announcing for the Hens.david garrett
He said as a youth he developed confidence by first asking for subscriber’s payments then selling advertising spots for the sports broadcasts.
“Everyone of those pieces of support from the community meant something to me.” He recalled being struck by a car while going to collect for a newspaper subscriber and being held by Mark Johnson’s mother and, “Gary Henry’s father said I would be OK. That meant something to me.”
He hoped that if a person is being approached by a young person asking for support that would be good for the city, “you would look them in the eye and give them the courage to ask for the order.”
He studied broadcasting at Oklahoma State University much to the chagrin of his father, Foster, who wanted him to go to OU.
At Stillwater, he was a stringer for the Associated Press and wanted to get a comment from Barry Switzer in 1979. “I was given the responsibility for $15 to get two comments from the coach.” Because he missed the press conference, he got the courage up to meet Switzer in the men’s rest room. “I wanted to ask him for the order.”
Garrett admitted he missed the conference, and said even if he said no comment “that would be ok.”
He got the interview then wrote Switzer a thank ou not for helping a young person. “About two weeks later a letter from the OU football showed up. He said it was a letter from Switzer thanking him for his letter.
Some time later they met and Switzer asked him why he was going to OSU. Switzer offered to pay for his tuition and books. “Right there and then, I turned down Barry Switzer.”
Some years later, he was offered a job announcing for the Dallas Cowboys when Switzer was the coach. He met with Switzer and Jerry Jones in Dallas. He told me that “we really like you and thing we are going to hire you but Chris Myers from ESPN really wants this job. What was going through my head was survival.” He said he asked about doing pre-game and post-game, “to get my feet wet.”
After a few minutes, Jones and Switzer admitted they were trying to pull a joke on him.
“I tell that story that it starts in Henryetta looking people in the eyeballs, collecting for newspaper routes, then selling advertising for the Fighting Hens. “I still look back to the confidence I got shaking Henryetta citizens’ hands and asking for the order.”
He is currently calling games and doing announcing for K107.7 in Oklahoma City doing the pre-game shows for the OKC Thunder.
Garrett displayed the Super Bowl XXX ring he received earlier this year.
super bowl ringWhen the Cowboys won the Super Bowl he asked if he would get one but was told no because he, “was a media guy.”
This past year, on the urging of his wife, decided to write Switzer and see if he could get one. The reason why I wanted a Super Bowl ring in 1996 was for ego and show off reason. Today it turned into pride an accomplishments.
That letter resulted in Garrett receiving a ring bearing his name two months ago. Encrusted with diamonds and weighing heavy on a finger, the ring would have cost $21,000 in 1996.
He praised his wife, Rajeana, and said his life today is largely centered aroudn her and the two daughters they adopted.