POMEROY BROTHERS TAKE “FIELD TRIP OF DREAMS”
Bob Pomeroy, left, and his brother his brother David take a “Field Trip of Dreams”.
Photo provided
By Mike Tupa
July 22, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
If they were to make a movie out of Bob Pomeroy’s recent journey of love to Indiana it might well be titled “Field Trip of Dreams.”
To summarize it simply, it was a heavenly experience for the Bartlesville community icon and his older brother David — despite the $90 in parking fines.
The memories began to flow like a warm river of pleasure before they reached Nowata, just 18 miles away from their starting point at Bob’s house in Bartlesville.
For five days the 80-plus-year-olds shared recollections of their blessed mother, some pleasant and not-so-happy moments from their childhood and the stimulation of adventure in visiting several Indiana college campuses, with an emphasis on their sports facilities.
But the highlight didn’t happen during their excursions to Notre Dame, Indiana University, Purdue or Indiana State.
They felt their biggest thrill at a small institution most of you are not aware of — Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
“SMWC is probably the primary reason that over a year ago I had selected Indiana to tour campuses,” explained Bob. “I think it was Dave’s son Tyler that had heard … their ‘mascot’ was the Pomeroys.”
Their visit to the land of the Pomeroys — the school’s namesake Sister Mary Joseph Pomeroy had been a basketball player and coach at SMWC — provided more pleasure than Bob and Dave could have imagined — thanks primarily to college employee Sarah D. Mahady and some other unforgettable good Samaritans.
“This was a very small campus but just beautiful, lots of paths between buildings, wooded areas and many religious statues all around the campus,” Bob said. “We found Pomeroy Avenue and of course took pictures. … We walked all around and ended up in the athletic facility. … We had become somewhat celebrities in our two-hour stay.”
The next morning they started back to Bartlesville, from where Dave would continue to his home in Oklahoma City.
“We drove almost 1700 miles in total on this trip,” Bob said. “One of the main topics on the way home was how Dave and I both felt that it would be a fun trip but it actually had far exceeded our expectations. The stories, the memories, the sharing of feelings were unreal.”
The experience was practically a lifetime in the making.
Bob has been a lifetime adherent of following and volunteering in athletics’ endeavors.
During his career at Phillips 66 Bob became heavily involved in high-level sports promotion in both major colleges and nationwide.
He later served for more than decade in the leadership ranks of the Bartlesville Sports Commission, holding the title for approximately a decade of BSC Board Chairman. During his watch, the BSC helped generate many millions of dollars of economic impact by hosting an annual NCAA-II conference basketball championship and a national youth baseball tourney as well as other projects.
Pomeroy stepped down in the early 2020s as the BSC Board Chairman. Last year the BSC inducted him into the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame.
He has continued to be intensely interested in the local sports scene, particularly in the Bartlesville High teams.
And he’s also interested in continuing to expand his sports horizons.
_____
Bob and David Pomeroy on one of their many visits on their recent “Field Trip of Dreams”.
Photo provided
_____
That motivated him to contact his brother David about the trip to Indiana to visit some of the iconic sports universities in the nation and to stop off to see Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
As the date for the June trip neared, “My anticipation immediately started to grow, not only for seeing these campuses but to have a full week with my brother,” Bob said. “We were just one year apart in school, so we really grew up together.”
But due to living apart throughout most of their adult lives, “we hardly ever had any one-on-one time other than an occasional round of golf,” Bob said. “I was comfortable that this trip was going to be a real treat.”
After motoring across Missouri the brothers arrived in the late afternoon in Bloomington, Ind., for the first stop of their “inspection” tour, the University of Indiana.
After breakfast the next morning, they toured the Indiana campus — after parking in a restricted area because there was nowhere else to put their wheels.
They then sought out some advice by people in the main building as to the best sights to see.
“What a ‘first’ campus it was,” Bob said. “We walked along some nice buildings and then all at once we were in a heavily wooded area. … One of the areas that we were told to visit was what they called ‘Old Campus.’”
Then it was time to see Indiana’s athletic showcases including the football stadium, the legendary basketball fieldhouse and other related facilities.
Fittingly — perhaps — Bob became an “athletic” casualty during this whirlwind tour.
“As we were going up some steps outside the stadium I stumbled, fell and drew the first blood on this trip by two old men with ‘balance problems," Bob said. “It was only a knee scrape but it did bleed just enough to garner some sympathy. However, like the past 80-plus years, that sympathy did not come from my older brother.”
The knee mishap wasn’t Bob’s only jolt of pain. When they got back to the car they discovered a parking ticket for $50.
“I sure hope I remember to send them the money,” Bob said.
Next on the master plan was a visit to the Land of the Irish.
Fortunately, the brothers found a hotel near the Notre Dame campus
Among the main sights Bob and Dave witnessed at Notre Dame were: The Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus (Hesburgh Library), Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes (Bob lit two candles there), the Log Chapel and the football stadium.
“All of them were better than advertised,” Bob summarized, adding they even had the privilege of watching a Fantasy Camp in the football stadium, in which they were allowed to enter and go down to the field.
Even though only 9,000 students attend Notre Dame, the campus looked big enough to support about four times that number, he said.
At least this visit was a tad cheaper than the University of Indiana. Pomeroy’s parking ticket at Notre Dame was only $40.
“I will try to remember to send payment when I send the $50 to I.U.,” he said.
Next on their course was Purdue University.
In comparison with Indiana U. and Notre Dame, the Purdue campus “was a little disappointing,” Bob said, adding “if we had come here first we would have been more impressed.”
At least Bob’s pile of parking tickets stayed unchanged.
He asked a Purdue campus policemen about visitor’s parking.
“I asked him if I got a ticket and did not pay it would they come to Oklahoma, handcuff me and extradite me back to Indiana,” Bob said. “He said ‘No,’ but I could not receive my diploma until all parking tickets had been paid!”
When he and his brother got back to their car there was no ticket in the windshield.
The next day (Wednesday), Bob and Dave stopped at the Domain of Larry Bird, known more familiarly as Indiana State University.
During their walk around campus they encountered several friendly people curious about their visit.
“It was a warm and friendly campus but nothing like the ones we had seen,” Bob said.
Among the campus sights was a large statue of Bird, positioned in front of the basketball arena. They also checked out the Larry Bird Museum in town and visited the university’s football stadium.
“Several of the high schools in Tulsa have better stadiums than this one,” Bob observed. “It was pretty run down and only had seating on one side of the field.”
_____
Bob and David Pomeroy on one of their many visits on their “Field Trip of Dreams”.
Photo provided
_____
The brothers then went to their final stop, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, well more than 100 than a hundred years old. As mentioned above, its sports mascot is The Pomeroys, named for a Sister Mary Joseph Pomeroy who had been there in the early 1900s.
In the office they found Mahady, who became very enthusiastic about their visit.
While Bob and Dave toured the small but lovely campus, she gathered several mementos for them to take back to Oklahoma.
“We left there knowing we have a new friend in Sarah D. Mahady,” Bob said. “Dave told her she was ‘out of control’ with all of her enthusiasm.”
The brothers ended that Wednesday at a local restaurant and their hotel.
Their trip home Thursday to Bartlesville required less than nine hours.
It had, indeed, been a “Field Trip of Dreams.”
In addition to reflecting on their experiences of the week they also pondered their past.
“A topic that came up numerous times on this road trip was our mother,” Bob said. “Although we had talked about mom many times over the years it was on this trip that I realized we both shared many of the same feelings toward her. She kept our family together against all odds. She gave unconditional love to us and she deserved a much better life, but she never complained. I truly hope that she was watching these two 80+ year old brothers as they re-energized each other on this road trip. I think she would be proud of the men we have become and the families we have raised.”
In summing up the journey his brother and him have shared — not only during this illuminating week but in their lives, Bob ended his thoughts with three words:
“Life is good!”