Brent Venables honors late country music superstar, Oklahoma superfan Toby Keith

Country music legend and Oklahoma native Toby Keith died Monday night at the age of 62. Keith had been battling stomach cancer since June of 2022. His death was announced on Twitter Tuesday morning.

Keith was not shy about his love for the Oklahoma Sooners, and he frequently attended OU sporting events.

Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables took to Twitter on Tuesday to honor Keith. Venables posted a photo of himself alongside Keith and former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.

“WE are all Better, for knowing Toby…An Amazing Man who GAVE to so many. RIP brother. All love & [prayers] For His Family,” Venables posted.

Whether it be football, softball or another sport, Toby Keith constantly did whatever he could to support the Oklahoma Sooners.

He attended the Women’s College World Series last year when OU beat Florida State and joined the Sooners team in the postgame celebration.

ESPN’s Holly Rowe videotaped Keith and the Sooners singing along to his famous hit, “How Do You Like Me Now?!” at what appeared to be his restaurant “Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill” in Oklahoma City after Oklahoma won its third consecutive national championship.

“Congratulations to Natty Patty and the (Oklahoma softball) team. 7 time champs. Boomer Sooner,” Keith tweeted at the time.

The Sooners finished the 2023 season with a 61-1 record, which marks a .984 winning percentage. That is the best winning percentage in Division I history. The team also finished the season on a 53-game win streak, which was also a Division I record.

Oklahoma’s third straight national championship is tied for the most in a row by a softball program along with UCLA from 1988-1990. Sooners head coach Patty Gasso said this last national title was the most difficult of the three.

“It is incredibly hard. I don’t know how to explain it. I just can tell you the way I feel right now is free because the expectation is overwhelming, the pressure is overwhelming,” Gasso said. “They all have each other to laugh with. I’m standing here by myself, so that’s why you’re hearing my voice do this. I know what they’re feeling. I know what I’m feeling. It’s very difficult. It’s extremely rewarding. Like, I just want to go to Costco and shop and no one care that I’m there. They feel the same.”

It won’t be the same without Toby Keith at Oklahoma sporting events in the future.