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Bob Fenimore Oklahoma State University
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UPDATE: Service Saturday for football legend Bob Fenimore
Stillwater remembers Bob Fenimore
STILLWATER, Okla. —
Stillwater residents remembered former Oklahoma State University football star Bob Fenimore as a warm, modest person.
Fenimore was a tailback for OSU, then Oklahoma A&M, from 1942 to 1946. Fenimore died Wednesday. He was 84.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 31, 2010, at the First Presbyterian Church in Stillwater.
Fenimore’s brother, Harry Fenimore, said his brother thought highly of Stillwater and was heavily involved with the community, serving on the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce. He was dedicated to his wife, Veta Jo Fenimore, and daughters, Beth and Jo Ellen, as well, Harry Fenimore said.
“From my standpoint, he was a terrific brother,” Harry Fenimore said.
Former Stillwater Mayor Roger McMillian said he knew Fenimore for most of his life. McMillian grew up a few blocks from Fenimore’s home in Stillwater and remembered admiring Fenimore’s athletic ability.
“He was a legend to all of us kids,” McMillian said.
As he became better acquainted with Fenimore, McMillian said, he became more impressed with Fenimore’s character. Fenimore was unfailingly kind, courteous and generous with his time, McMillian said.
“He was a great man,” McMillian said. “It’s a big loss for everybody that knew him.”
Fenimore’s wife of 63 years said the football great never lost his affection for his alma mater.
“He loved Oklahoma State,” said Veta Jo Fenimore, who grew up with Bob in Woodward and started dating him in high school there. “He loved being in Stillwater to keep up with all the sports in town. We still have season tickets to OSU football.”
During his time at the university, Fenimore was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. Mark McClure of Sigma Nu said the fraternity keeps a portrait of Fenimore on the wall in its fraternity house.
“He served as a role model of someone who wouldn’t settle for anything short of excellence,” McClure said. “His impact at Sigma Nu, the OSU football program and the university as a whole will be sincerely missed, but never forgotten.”
Winfrey Houston, a Stillwater attorney, became acquainted with Fenimore when Fenimore moved to Stillwater from his Woodward home in 1942. The woman whom Houston would later marry was also from Woodward and was well acquainted with Fenimore. Houston initially met Fenimore through her.
Houston said he had gotten to know Fenimore better later on. Both men were members of First Presbyterian Church. Houston said he was always impressed with Fenimore’s modesty, despite his high profile in the community.
“He was outstanding in every way,” Houston said. “He was a great role model for everybody, and he’ll be greatly missed.”
B. Gordon Edwards, the pastor for First Presbyterian Church, says Fenimore was more than an athletic figure.
“All of the athletic accomplishments are being heralded, but really Bob was a man of principles who was very stong in his beliefs as a Christian and those beliefs made him the husband and father, the athlete, the businessman, the community man that he was,” said Edwards. “Underneath all the accolades was a very humble, sincere, gentle man who served his neighbors.”
Edwards says Fenimore was elected as not only a deacon but an elder in the church and that his family and he were concerned for those in need.
NewsPress reporters Anita Pere and Chase Rheam contributed to this report.
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