With Saturday marking what could be the final Bedlam, former University of Oklahoma band members recalled a game 40 years ago when they played their instruments until they couldn't anymore. OU's marching band is full of history, and one of the Pride of Oklahoma's crowing moments still sits in the band director's office at the university. It is the game ball from 40 years ago, marking "the day The Pride won Bedlam." | MORE | Coworkers at Stillwater business embrace Bedlam rivalry by supporting opposing teams“I was down on the field," said Rick Brought, a former drum major and OU regent. "It was my first Bedlam. It was exciting, with the exception of the fact that we were behind," said Brian Britt, the director of the Pride of Oklahoma. The score at halftime of the 1983 Bedlam matchup was 20-3, with Oklahoma State leading the game. But the Sooners' luck changed when OSU police took the wrong guy out of the game. "I noticed a little bit of a commotion down on the field, and, evidently, our director had been told that the staff didn’t need passes to be on the sideline at the game," Britt said. "It escalated pretty quickly. He was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere. If you want me off the sideline, you’re going to have to take me out of here.' So, they escorted him and staff out of the stadium."Anyone who was on the field with the director had to leave, too, including Brought, who was the drum major at the time. "We left the stadium. We could hear the band because we were right behind that end of the stadium," Brought said. It was then that Gene Thrailkill, the Pride of Oklahoma's director at the time, told the band something that they took to heart. “Hey, start playing. Don’t quit until the team is ahead," Britt said. Britt was a member of the band that day. He said he felt the moment shift as "Boomer Sooner" played on repeat. | THE FIRST BEDLAM | Sooners, Cowboys face off for bragging rights after 119 years of tradition"We weren’t going to sit there and take that. We were going to take up for our director," Britt said.Outside the stadium, those who were forced to leave the game could only listen to the screams from the crowd. "We couldn’t really see what was going on. That was before the age of smartphones, and we didn’t have radio because we’d been in the stadium," Brought said. The band played until they couldn't anymore. OU beat the Cowboys 21-20. "It helps to have a big band, because people could rotate in and out a little bit," Britt said. "As soon as the game was over and the first OSU fans came out, it was obvious just by their expression and what they were saying among themselves. I just remember running back down the ramp and back in the stadium as quick as I could get down there, and I think the rest of the staff was right behind me," Brought said. The Monday after the game, OU head coach Barry Switzer showed up to the band's practice. "There were flyers around campus, ‘Pride meet in the stadium today.' We’d never meet in the stadium unless it was raining," Britt said. "Somebody did something they weren’t supposed to do, and we’re in trouble."| MORE | Sooners, Cowboys to meet in final Bedlam as Big 12 foesThey soon realized Switzer wanted to thank the band for the part they played in their comeback victory. He gave them the game ball. "Everyone was flabbergasted. Number one, that coach would take the time and come up and address the band, with or without a ball, like that, but to just come up and say, 'Thank you for what all the band members had done,'" Brought said. "Everyone also received a poster of that game ball that, my guess is, probably everyone in the band I would imagine probably still has it. I know I do at the house." In some ways, they believe it changed college football. "Probably has a lot to do with the rule now that once the huddle breaks or the center is over the ball, the playing has to stop," Britt said. Now, the ball sits in the band director's office, serving as a reminder of that day decades back. "I’ll take it and the case out to practice," Britt said, "to remind the students the importance of the Bedlam rivalry and our role in it in the past."Top Headlines OU wide receiver Jalil Farooq arrested after traffic stop in Norman Words of support, love for Lewiston, Maine shared during emotional in-flight announcement Video shows mail carrier pepper-spraying dog inside gate Oklahoma law regarding electric vehicle charging stations is praised as model for other states