Renowned Oklahoma artist Wayne Cooper’s depiction of Comanche Native Charles Chibitty and the Comanche Codetalkers at Utah Beach during the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Courtesy Cooper and the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc.

The action-packed OKLAHOMA GOLD! podcast saga of Oklahoma's Code Talkers—soldiers from the Choctaw, Comanche, Pawnee, Osage, and many other tribes—and how their frontline genius and daring helped win both World Wars.

Join John and KTOK/iHeartRadio star Gwin Faulconer-Lippert and learn about the Oklahoma Natives whom neither snipers, small arms fire, artillery, bombs from the skies, or death all around them could stop from leading the Allies as they stormed into Nazi Germany and liberated Europe. This is the 84th episode of our original OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program! Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible! Go HERE to listen to them all! Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History. Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible!

Joseph Oklahombi, Choctaw Indian and World War I code talker from McCurtain County. These Oklahoma Codetalkers sub­stituted their Choctaw words “big gun” for artillery, “little gun shoot fast” for machine guns, and one, two, and three “grains of corn” for battalion numbers. The Germans never deciphered the Choctaw language or codes, and it cost them dearly on the battlefield in the war’s climactic stages. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

Medicine Park, Oklahoma native Charles Chibitty, winner of the Bronze Star, wounded in action, and one of 16 World War II Comanche Codetalkers who comprised the U.S. Army’s 4th Signal Company. Their many fields of service included Normandy (D-Day) and the Battle of the Bulge. Courtesy Carol Bradshaw.

The Comanche Codetalkers, Oklahomans whose World War II Eu­ropean battlefront military code was never broken by the enemy. Courtesy Comanche Nation.

Many thanks to Atwoods Stores, a farm and ranch supply company based in Enid, Oklahoma, for their support of the Red River Institute of History and OKLAHOMA GOLD! Please support them as you are able! Wherever you are, you can order online from thousands of quality products on their terrific website HERE. Atwoods also has 66 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition to farm and ranch supplies, Atwoods stores sell clothing, lawn and garden items, tools, hardware, automotive supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, firearms, and seasonal items.

Samuel Worcester, The Cherokee Messenger, a humble giant of a man it took two OKLAHOMA GOLD! podcasts to chronicle—and they are both contained in this podcast. The white Presbyterian missionary guided the founding and operation of the first Native publication, the CHEROKEE PHOENIX newspaper. He translated most of the New Testament into Cherokee. He suffered persecution and imprisonment for defending the tribe’s rights all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And he and his family accompanied them on their Trail of Tears to modern-day Oklahoma, where he served them virtually until the moment of his death.

Join John and KTOK/iHeartRadio star Gwin Faulconer-Lippert for the inspiring saga of the white missionary whose decades-long service to the Cherokees only death could stop. These are the 87th and 88th episodes of our original OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program and podcast. Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible! Go HERE to listen to them all! Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History. Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible!

Southeastern homelands, removal dates and routes, and Western destinations of the Cherokees and other Indian republics who traveled the Trail of Tears.

The cover of an early CHEROKEE PHOENIX, the first Indigenous American newspaper,

founded in 1828 by white Presbyterian missionary Samuel Worcester. With Worcester’s aid, Cherokee and eventual Indian Territory immigrant Elias Boudinot edited it and translated the Cherokee text into English, the two versions appearing in alternating columns.

Presbyterian missionary and pastor Sam Worcester mounted a Herculean assault against the liquor use among the Cherokees and other Natives, stemming from white peddlers, that was ravaging them.

Many thanks to Atwoods Stores, a farm and ranch supply company based in Enid, Oklahoma, for their support of the Red River Institute of History and OKLAHOMA GOLD! Please support them as you are able! Wherever you are, you can order online from thousands of quality products on their terrific website HERE. Atwoods also has 66 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition to farm and ranch supplies, Atwoods stores sell clothing, lawn and garden items, tools, hardware, automotive supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, firearms, and seasonal items.

Great, even iconic athletic teams, players, and coaches have brought Oklahomans thrills, inspiration, and, yes, heartbreak that run from generation to generation through our family histories just as they do our state history. Here is one of the most legendary chapters of them all—the 1977 OU-Ohio State showdown in The Horseshoe, a titanic contest best remembered simply as “The Kick.”

Join John and KTOK/iHeartRadio star Gwin Faulconer-Lippert for the tale of a legendary game, but also of the revered role that sports and our sports “heroes” play in the hearts of Oklahomans. This is the 85th episode of our original OKLAHOMA GOLD! radio program and podcast. Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible! Go HERE to listen to them all! Future episodes explore more great heroes, events, and movements of Oklahoma History. Thank you Atwoods Stores for making it possible!

Uwe von Schamann and perhaps the single most famous play in Oklahoma Sooner football history, at Ohio State in 1977.

With the Sooners trailing Ohio State, OU quarterback Dean Blevins leads them downfield on their climactic drive against Ohio State in the game's final seconds.

“The Horseshoe”

OU Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims on the cover of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED the week after the 1977 OU-Ohio State game.

Many thanks to Atwoods Stores, a farm and ranch supply company based in Enid, Oklahoma, for their support of the Red River Institute of History and OKLAHOMA GOLD! Please support them as you are able! Wherever you are, you can order online from thousands of quality products on their terrific website HERE. Atwoods also has 66 stores in 5 states: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. In addition to farm and ranch supplies, Atwoods stores sell clothing, lawn and garden items, tools, hardware, automotive supplies, sporting goods, pet supplies, firearms, and seasonal items.