Former OU coach having the time of his life as a grandfather, businessman

NORMAN — Barry Switzer turns 70 today, which means we've got two things to say to the old rascal. Happy birthday, and did you ever think you'd live this long?

To which Switzer answers, thank you and what in the hell are you talking about?

"I always felt like I had good genes,” Switzer said. "Good plumbing.”

Another Oklahoma hero, Mickey Mantle, always said he never planned to live past 40, since Hodgkin's disease killed his dad and grandfather by that age.

Switzer has lived hard, and his daddy lived hard and died hard, and his mama died hard, too, by her own hand. So 70 seems a solid achievement for a bootlegger's boy raised in the Arkansas sticks

But no. "I never had that fatalistic attitude,” Switzer said this week from his homey mansion just south of the campus where he coached football for 23 years.

"When you grow up in the '40s and '50s in rural Arkansas, everybody lived the same. Privys. Coil lamps. Just typical.

"Black or white, gravel roads, no utilities. Pumped water. Smoke house. Chicken, dogs. Shotgun house. No REA. No electricity until I was in the ninth grade. You know why I was so happy to finally get electricity? So I could get a fan at night and keep the mosquitoes off.

"We always had something to eat. Nobody today would want to live like that, but nobody thought they were in bad shape.”

Switzer starts talking and sometimes can't stop, and never do you want him to.

He still can spin a tale, still knows football and still goes 90 miles an hour, late to most appointments because he says yes to everyone, and he's having the time of this life.

Literally.

"Best time? I guess the present,” Switzer said. "Grandkids.”

He's got eight, six live in Norman and he gets to see them all the time.

I ran into Switzer awhile back at a Mexican-food joint. My granddaughter was with me. Switzer told me just wait until she can call my name and tell me she loves me.

She's getting closer and closer to saying Papa Bear, and often I think of Switzer when she does.

"I had a good run,” Switzer said. "I had good bats. I've been fortunate to be around good people.

"Right now, my family's healthy, kids are in good shape. (Wife) Becky and I are in good health.”

He dabbles in real estate with his son-in-law, oil and gas in Texas, banking in Oklahoma City, storage units with