JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers.

During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more.

In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide.

John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools.

Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national “Beat Writer of the Year” from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma’s “Best Sports Column” from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two “Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting” Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association.

John holds a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK.

Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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Longtime rivals Texas and Oklahoma are primed to go out in style in their final Big 12 seasons before joining the Southeastern Conference.

Texas (47-7) claimed the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament on Sunday, despite losing to Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game 5-1 on Saturday. The Longhorns open regional play Friday at home against Siena.

Oklahoma (49-6), the three-time defending national champion, is the No. 2 overall seed. The Sooners will start their path toward what would be an unprecedented fourth straight national title when they open at home against Cleveland State on Friday.

Oklahoma defeated Texas in the best-of-three championship series in 2022 to claim the national title.

All the regionals are double elimination, with the winners advancing to Super Regionals. The Super Regional winners will advance to the Women’s College World Series starting May 30 and ending June 6 or 7 in Oklahoma City.

The top 16 seeds are hosts in regional play. Tennessee is No. 3, followed by No 4 Florida, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Missouri, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 LSU and No. 10 Duke.

Oklahoma State’s No. 5 seed means the Big 12 as it stands gained three of the top five seeds. Oklahoma State might have been seeded higher had it not lost to BYU 7-2 in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday.

With Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Florida claiming the top four seeds, teams that will be in the SEC next year claimed the top four overall seeds.

Oklahomans impacted by recent severe weather can utilize free legal help.

Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma and Oklahoma Indian Legal Services partner together to create a disaster recovery network in the state for civil legal issues stemming from disaster.

“There are so many disaster survivors who end up having legal problems,” said Christa Figgins, director of mission advancement for LAOK. “And those are legal problems, which if they are not addressed, can really frustrate and really prevent someone from being able to recover from a disaster event.”

Common issues that legal assistance can help with include: recovering lost documents, processing insurance claims, tenant rights, contractor scams, and FEMA applications.

“I think we’re very fortunate in Oklahoma,” Figgins said. “The disaster community in Oklahoma is, sadly, very experienced.”

More information about the free legal services is available at oklahomadisasterlegalhelp.org or by calling 888-602-8494.