TOP ATHLETE OF THE PAST 30 YEARS: DEVIN RANDALL (BARTLESVILLE)

By Mike Tupa

Jan. 8, 2026

BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT

During his nearly 30 years of covering area high school sports for either the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise or the Bartlesville Area Sports Report, Mike Tupa has enjoyed the opportunity to observe some incredible athletes.

This is an ongoing series highlighting, each few days, one of those athletes from the 1996-97 school year through the present. The list is not in chronological order. The athletes are presented in random sequence.

Today's Spotlight

DEVIN RANDALL (Bartlesville)

Multiple sports (Class of 2011)

Let’s put it simply — Devin Randall exuded winning energy.

Football?

Bartlesville finished 16-7 his junior and senior year — a cumulative mark that remains the most successful-ever back-to-back Bruin grid seasons. (The 2008-09 teams amassed a 15-7 record, the 2014-15 teams combined for 15-8 and the 1987-88 teams came in at 15-10.)

Not only that, but Randall and the rest of the Class of 2011 are the only Bruin football players to have achieved winning records as sophomores, juniors and seniors. The combined win total for the 2008-10 campaigns was 22-11.

Randall played a crunching role on those teams as a defensive and offensive lineman.

But he displayed his greatest winning touch in track and field. Randall won multiple state championships as a thrower — and would excel in Division I college track.

Randall’s combination of height, muscular build, cat-like grace, leather toughness and unconquerable determination make him one of the area’s all-time area prep elites.

He drew the biggest individual spotlight in track.

Randall won a state medal — including a state championship — in the discus throw from his sophomore through senior seasons — 2009, 4th (167-3); 2010, 1st (182-1); and 2011, 3rd (175-7).

As a sophomore, Randall powered to fourth place in the shot put at state (53-3.5) and won the state championship in 2010 (57-7.25).

That adds up to five state medals, including two golds — a stellar accomplishment for anyone’s high school track career.

But Randall also performed some mighty throwing feats in non-state meet competition.

During a regular season competition at Muskogee, Randall uncorked a shot put heave of 61-feet-5-inches — shattering the Bartlesville school record. The shot landed in the mud just beyond the 60-foot length of the pit.

He also spun the discus platter 186 feet in regular-season competition — another school record.

On the football field, Randall and fellow lineman Mitch Tate formed a bookend tandem as two imposing defensive ends, both towering at about 6-foot-4, both long, lean and muscular, both with a motor that ran without stoppage inside the out-of-bounds lines. Tate would go on to successfully walk-on the University of Oklahoma football team.

The Bruin defense during these years was legendary.

In a 28-0 drubbing in 2009 of Claremore, Randall & Co. shut down Claremore’s offense to 52 yards — and 44 of those were gained on one play.

Late in the first half, Randall administered a nine-yard sack (assisted by Justin Butterfield). During the third quarter, Randall deflected a third-down pass, leading to a punt.

Randall also helped block up front for one of the most prolific Bruin offenses in team history.

In the two seasons (2006-07) prior to the arrival of Randall, Tate and others from the class of 2011, Bartlesville’s football team had dipped to a 4-16 record.

He also played a pivotal role in one of the most significant goal-line stands in Custer Stadium history. It took place in the season opener in 2008, also the first game played on artificial turf in the stadium. In the nailbiter, Stillwater was facing fourth-and-goal at the one-yard line. The Bruin front seven — including sophomore Randall at defensive end —  made the stop and Bartlesville won, 28-21. Just as importantly, the victory set the momentum that would result in three-straight winning seasons.

When the Class of 2011 warriors ran out on Nov. 5, 2010, onto the Custer Stadium turf for their Senior Night game, they wore the mantle of the group that turned Bruin football from mediocre to magnificent.

Randall was quoted by the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise on that Senior Night as characterizing what he and his teammates had accomplished as “just incredible.”

The E-E also noted about Randall’s career that: “Randall crashed into opposing backfields like a redwood tree given the gift of legs.

More than once, he wrapped up opposing ball carriers like a whale swallowing a shark, making them disappear inside the breath of his grasp. The same could be said about Tate.”

As mentioned, Randall went on to flex his muscles in college at the University of Arkansas after deciding not to play football at the University of Tulsa.

Among his track highlights for Arkansas was winning the discus and finishing second in the shot put at the McDonnell Invitational in 2014.

About a decade since he competed, Randall still owns the school’s fourth-longest indoor weight throw (59-5.75) and the eighth-deepest indoor shot put (58-9.5).

In outdoor competition, Randall still holds the school’s fifth-best hammer throw (162-10) and the seventh-longest discus throw (181-6), 

It’s been more than a dozen years since Randall last pulled on his Bruin football helmet. But those who watched him roam and romp on the grid plains of Custer Stadium as one in a sleuth of growling bears that clawed out a lasting legacy in area prep sports.

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Devin Randall

Devin Randall

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This series has featured the following athletes, listed in no particular order.

-Jena’ Williams, Bartlesville

-Eric Rolfs, Bartlesville

-Chris Smith, Caney Valley

-Jill Bryan, Copan

-Barron Tanner Jr, Bartlesville

-Hailey Tucker, Bartlesville

-Jeremy Dunkle, Dewey

-Whitney Metcalf, Bartlesville

-Tim Hamilton, Bartlesville

-Danielle Koster, Bartlesville

-Carson LaRue, Dewey

-John Hamman, Wesleyan Christian

-Jamie Elam, Caney Valley

-Sam Mitchell, Bartlesville

-Karissa Jones, Dewey

-Noah Hartsock, Bartlesville

-Tiffany Paper, Copan

-AJ Parker, Bartlesville

-Tiffany Eden, Caney Valley

-Henry Williams, Bartlesville

-Markell Carter, Bartlesville

-Rebecca Schluter, Wesleyan Christian

-Adam Hibdon, Barnsdall

-Tishuana Hunter, Nowata

-Nate Alleman, Bartlesville

-Jessie Burch, Dewey

-Joey McNair, Caney Valley/Bartlesville

-Michael Thompson, Bartlesville

-Kate Steward, Bartlesville

-Jarrett Rouse, Community

-Amanda Warehime, Bartlesville

-Trey Osborne, Dewey

-Heather Lanphear, Barnsdall

-Erin Epperson, Bartlesville

-Levi Wyrick, Caney Valley (Kan.)

-Spencer Magana, Dewey

-Jackie Jo Chaney, Copan

-Haley Downey, Bartlesville

-Cooper Fogle, Caney Valley

-Amanda Brown, Copan 

-Rachel Smith, Pawhuska

-Casey Cassity, Barnsdall

-Stacy Cornforth, Bartlesville

-Gabby Higbee, Dewey

-Kirby Schoenthaler, Bartlesville

-Tyler Kay, Barnsdall

-Colton Penrod, Bartlesville

-Erin Herchock, Dewey

-Lindsey Collins, Caney Valley

-Nathan Hughes, Bartlesville

-Aaron Hunt, Copan

-Calan Crowder, Bartlesville

-Colby Kohlmeyer, Caney Valley

-Allison Hunt, Copan

-Stephen Garrett, Dewey

-Brett Turowski, Bartlesville

-Hayley Bryan, Copan

-Kaitlyn Ritchie, Bartlesville

-Caroline Courtney, Bartlesville

-Preston Bartley, Copan

-Chris Turner, Bartlesville

-Michael Wolfe, Bartlesville

-Caleb Hawes, Barnsdall