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To uncover the origins of this Oklahoma appellation, we traveled to the front page of Yahoo! and typed "what is a sooner" (using the quotation marks) into the Yahoo! search box. Soon enough, we had an answer. Here's what we learned... In the 1800s before Oklahoma was a state, it was officially designated Indian Territory and was settled by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes who had been forced to give up their lands and move west. Giving in to pressure from eager expansionists, the U.S. government opened up 2 million acres of the land to homesteaders in 1889. To claim a lot of land, prospective settlers had to participate in a land run. They lined up and waited for the blast
of a shotgun to signal the beginning of the run, at which point they would race eagerly to claim a homestead. A "Sooner" was someone who snuck past the territory markers ahead of the gunshot to get an early start. Today Oklahoma is known as the Sooner State, and the various athletic teams of the University of Oklahoma are called the Sooners. The official mascot of the University of Oklahoma is the Sooner Schooner, a covered wagon drawn by two horses named Sooner and Boomer, and the school fight song is "Boomer Sooner." So what is a Boomer, you ask? According to the school's web site, "Boomers where those who by constant agitation tried to bring about the
opening of Oklahoma to settlers before 1889." And with that we'll leave you with these inspirational words: Iżm a Sooner-born and Sooner-bred
and when I die, Iżll be Sooner-dead
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