Within 10 steps out of Jack Trice Stadium, Larry Reece no longer cared about the result of a football game.
The Oklahoma State football team had lost to Iowa State on Nov. 18, 2011, ending its perfect season and easy road to the national championship game, but Reece, the Cowboys’ public address announcer for home games, had more on his mind.
That morning, Reece and his wife, Renee, stayed with a friend in Iowa. They didn’t have phone service until about 8 a.m., when they got back on the road for Ames.
Texts buzzed in on Reece's phone, delivering the news that OSU women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke, assistant coach Miranda Serna, and donors Olin and Paula Branstetter died in a plane crash the afternoon before.