Justin Blackmon joins OSU football Ring of Honor with Cowboys recalling unique personality
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STILLWATER — A couple hours before the Oklahoma State football team’s home opener in 2011, the players gathered for The Walk, their traditional pregame journey from the Atherton Hotel to Boone Pickens Stadium.
Just before exiting the hotel into the fandom that awaited, Justin Blackmon put on his sunglasses and glanced toward teammate Deion Imade.
“Deion, this is the best part,” Blackmon said, turning to walk out into the adoration of the orange-clad fans lining Hester Street.
Throughout his OSU career that virtually cemented his place as the best receiver in college football history, Blackmon never cared much for the media attention his on-field excellence generated.
But he fed off the love he felt from Cowboy fans.
“He loved the love and the realness when it was genuine,” Imade told The Oklahoman this week, ahead of Blackmon’s induction into the Cowboy football Ring of Honor. “But the national stuff, he could take it or leave it.”
Blackmon will become the sixth inductee into the Ring of Honor during a ceremony OSU’s game against Kansas State, set to kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.
After redshirting in 2008 and playing minimally the next year, Blackmon had back-to-back Biletnikoff Award-winning seasons and capped his OSU career with 3,564 receiving yards and 40 touchdowns. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last December.
His journey hasn’t always been smooth. The star-crossed kid from Ardmore has battled drug and alcohol issues that cut down what looked to be a promising NFL career after just 20 games.
When he returned to OSU for an event last April, he was arrested on a complaint of public intoxication, though the charge was later dropped.
Blackmon has battled his demons throughout his life, and his Cowboy teammates hurt for him.
But they also haven’t let Blackmon’s struggles minimize their memories of the incredible things he did on the field or the fun-loving person he was away from it.
“Off the field, he was pretty quiet with most people, but in the locker room he was funny and had a dry sense of humor once he was comfortable with you,” former Cowboy defensive back Devin Hedgepeth said. “On the field, the thing that stands out about Justin to me was how competitive he was every single day. Going against him in practice was like a game. He never cruised, and if you weren’t locked in he’d embarrass you.
“It honestly felt like a video game at times.”
Under his helmet, he was supremely competitive and supremely confident, yet his natural personality never let him become the stereotypical diva receiver.
“He was the complete opposite,” said his quarterback, Brandon Weeden. “Of all the games we played together, catches he had, touchdowns he caught, he never came to the sideline and threw a fit at me asking for the ball.”
Well, other than one such interaction in the locker room in Lafayette, Louisiana, in October 2010. The Cowboys trailed Louisiana 21-17 at halftime.
“I don’t give a s— what the play is or how many guys are covering me, throw it up and give me a chance,” Blackmon told Weeden.
And the quarterback listened.
“I’m not stupid,” Weeden said. “He made an unbelievable catch on a poor throw by me, and from then on, I knew he was gonna be special. Elite talent but even better guy and great teammate.”
In public, Blackmon had a shy side, but he could put that away when the moment was right.
OSU went to the Alamo Bowl at the end of the 2010 season, and bowl officials held a Christmas-themed family event for the team in a log cabin-style venue outside San Antonio.
But the atmosphere of the event was lacking.
“We were sitting there, like, this is stupid,” former OSU receiver Tracy Moore said. “I’d rather be back at the hotel relaxing.
“Then Blackmon grabbed the microphone and turned it into a party. Not like at the club or nothin’ like that, but like, he was on the microphone getting children and parents and wives and players, everybody up dancing. Ten minutes later, everybody was having the time of their lives.”
While any publicity about Blackmon during his playing days most often centered on his on-field successes or off-field struggles, the person that fans rarely got to know had a softer side.
The most well-known example was his friendship with Olivia Hamilton, who back in 2010 was battling leukemia. Blackmon met her at a Coaches vs. Cancer event at OSU, and remained in touch, making multiple visits to see her in the hospital the following year.
That relationship was a special one, but far from the only situation where Blackmon made time for others.
“It was Stillwater, Tulsa, Oklahoma City — we went to a bunch of different places going to visit children in hospitals and stuff like that,” Moore recalled. “Most people had no clue at all that he was doing that kind of stuff.
“If you actually get to know him away from football, he’s very humble. There’s a lot about him that people never get to see.”
Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on X at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
OSU vs. Kansas State
KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater (ESPNU)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Justin Blackmon joins OSU football Ring of Honor as an all-time great
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