J.V. Haney Obituary, J.V. Haney, who has died at 89

J.V. Haney Obituary, Death –  J.V. Haney became well-known on both sides of sports: as a player and then as a member of the media. Longtime friend and broadcaster Don King said on Wednesday that Haney had died earlier that day, two weeks after his 89th birthday. Haney had been dealing with a number of health problems. After he stopped coaching high school sports, Jerome Vance Haney became a regular on radio and TV stations in Tulsa. Haney has co-hosted sports talk shows with Bill Land and worked with King to show hundreds of live events on Cox cable. From 1994 to 2003, he was a football sideline reporter for the University of Tulsa and from 1994 to 2006, he was a basketball analyst for the Golden Hurricane.

Longtime TU play-by-play announcer Bruce Howard said of Haney, “He was my coworker, my friend, and in many ways, my mentor.” “He reminded us that what we were talking about was just a game, and his happiness spread. People might forget how good of a coach he was. He was also a good analyst because of it. He helped me see the game and figure it out.” At the first commercial break, I would complain about a 12–5 basketball deficit, and he would say, “No, we’re fine.” The other team can’t keep making 7-of-7 shots from the field for the rest of the game, and TU is getting good looks. Sure enough, Tulsa would have a 30-27 lead at the half.

Don Tomkalski, a senior associate athletic director at TU and the school’s director of media relations for almost 40 years, called Haney “a legend and a great person.” Tomkalski said, “He was so pleasant and fun to be around, and he had such a good heart.” “No matter what was going on, he made you feel at ease, and his stories and experiences are well-known. “Oklahoma has lost a great representative for sports who will be missed.” Haney grew up in Big Cabin, and there were only 12 people in his senior class. He went to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M in Miami and played baseball there. He got his degree from Northeastern State in Tahlequah and then had a successful 30-year career coaching high school basketball, football, golf, and baseball in the Tulsa area (313 career wins). In 1964, Haney was named the Tulsa World Coach of the Year for his work with the Owasso basketball team.

King says that Haney was a big reason why Cox and other local stations showed high school football and basketball games in the Tulsa area in the 1980s. “Every school year, we had 50 events, like football, basketball, softball, and baseball,” King said. “We did dirt-track racing shows together in Owasso from 1988 to 1992. I told what was going on during the race, and J.V. talked to the drivers and owners in the pits. J.V. was great at every sport he played. Haney once got Cox to let him broadcast a dog show from the Tulsa State Fairgrounds. He was inspired by the famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. But this show was a competition between mixed-breed dogs. While King and Haney were in charge of the coverage, the winning mutt got enough dog food to last a year.

Land got Haney interested in everyday radio at KRMG in 1981. Land and Haney were co-hosts of the cable show “Tulsa World of Sports” for a number of years. Land, who is now the TV voice of the San Antonio Spurs, said, “It’s hard for me to explain how much J.V. has meant to me and my family.” “He had a big effect on not only my life but also the lives of my wife Gayle and my sons Taylor and Cooper. “J.V. was so much more to me than just a co-host on my radio and TV shows. I felt like I could talk to him like he was my dad. I treated him like an older brother a lot of the time, and he was always the best friend anyone could have.

“I don’t think you could count how many people’s lives he changed for the better. It’s a very sad day, but knowing he’s in a better place and at peace makes it better. Haney kept his connection with Northeastern A&M going. He was on the board of directors for the school’s Development Foundation, spoke at the graduation ceremony, and was in charge of the Puddin’ Haney Classic NEO Alumni Golf Tournament from 2002 to 2010. Haney was also inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003. He was already in the NEO Hall of Fame. He was the head of the Oklahoma Coaches Association at one point. Haney’s sons Mike and Pat are still alive. Kathy, Haney’s wife, died in 2021.

Howard said that Haney was “an example of being a humble servant.” “Not a month would go by without hearing about something nice J.V. did for someone else,” Howard said, “whether it was helping out an old coach or a former player or putting together a charity golf tournament for a good cause. “In the last few weeks and months, he mostly said, ‘We had a lot of fun.’ I’ll never forget the great times I had with J.V. Haney and the lessons I learned from him.

J.V. Haney Obituary, Death –  J.V. Haney became well-known on both sides of sports: as a player and then as a member of the media. Longtime friend and broadcaster Don King said on Wednesday that Haney had died earlier that day, two weeks after his 89th birthday. Haney had been dealing with a number of…