DAVE AUSTIN: REMEMBERING MY FRIEND AND EDITOR, MIKE TUPA
Former Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise sports reporter Dave Austin (left) and sports editor Mike Tupa are pictured in the EE sports department in the late 1990s.
(Editor’s Note: Former Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise sports reporter Dave Austin shares this tribute to his friend and longtime sports editor, Mike Tupa, who passed away April 7.)
By Dave Austin
May 11, 2026
SPECIAL TO BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Mike Tupa has crossed my mind on a daily basis since his passing.
Perhaps he’s still hanging around this area a bit en route to heaven.
There seems to be little rhyme or reason as to what triggers a memory of Mike. It might be a game, a song, a passage in a book or just a random thought that springs from the ether.
Regardless, it’s nice to have the thoughts and memories, which are akin to the briefest of visits with him.
I can’t help but think about Mike when I see or hear anything associated with his favorite teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, the Utah Jazz, Brigham Young University (BYU) and to a lesser degree the Minnesota Twins (Mike never quite forgave Major League Baseball for the strike that resulted in the cancellation of the 1994 World Series).
One of Mike’s favorite squads of all time was the 1969 Minnesota Vikings. Mike turned 13 that year, and the Purple People Eaters became his boyhood idols. Led by swashbuckling quarterback Joe Kapp, they rolled through the regular season with a 12-2 regular season record, dispatched the Rams and Browns in the playoffs, and landed in Super Bowl IV against the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
But for the second straight year, the upstart AFL pulled an upset against the old guard NFL, as the Chiefs beat the Vikings 23-7.
Young Mike was crushed. In later years, he got to meet Kapp and let him know that he had shed some tears after that game. The old quarterback signed an autograph for Mike and noted in it that “I cried, too.”
Mike had nothing but fond memories of the BYU team that won the 1984 national championship. They rolled to a perfect 13-0 record under the leadership of storied head coach LaVell Edwards, capping their sterling season with a 24-17 Holiday Bowl win against Michigan.
Mike looked back fondly at those days of college football. It was a time of multiple bowl games and no playoff system. Mike liked the fact that while not everyone would obviously win a national championship, those who triumphed in a bowl game would close their respective seasons (and sometimes their collegiate careers) on a high note.
Mike liked for athletes to be celebrated for the hard work that they put into their respective crafts. And, he was happy for them when their efforts paid off in victories as well.
The NBA playoffs are now underway, and fans in this area are generally excited about the prospects of the Thunder winning a second straight championship. Mike would no doubt be happy for the Thunder and his adopted state of Oklahoma, but his hoops heart was always with the Jazz. Among his favorite versions of the team were those that involved Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jerry Sloan. In Malone and Stockton, Utah had a lethal power forward/point guard combination, and Sloan was a widely respected and admired head coach. Unfortunately though, like the Vikings, the Jazz never could quite get over the top and win it all.
Despite that fact, Mike’s support of his Jazz – like his support of the Vikes – never wavered. Mike kept believing and was loyal to the end.
I’m appreciative of my memories of Mike. He was a great friend and a great person, and his sports fandom was just the smallest facet of who he ultimately was. But it does make me smile when I hear a reference to the Vikings, Jazz, BYU and even the Twins. And, I can’t help but pull for them a bit because of Mike.
Memorabilia of Mike Tupa, including items from his time in the newsroom and his Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame award, sit on a table at his funeral on April 16 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bartlesville.