“I AM AN AMERICAN”: MIKE TUPA’S FINAL TRIBUTE TO FREEDOM
Editor’s Note: My partner and co-founder of the Bartlesville Area Sports Report, Mike Tupa, penned this column in January before passing away in April. While we previously shared his column detailing his health battles, I have intentionally held this specific piece until after the Fourth of July. I wanted Mike's reflections on country and liberty to be read without the noise and rush of the holiday itself. In honor of his legacy and patriotism, it is presented here exactly as he wrote it. — Becky Burch
By Mike Tupa
Written: January 2026/Published Posthumously July 2026
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
I am an American.
I have seen the panorama of this great nation from coast to coast and across the ocean.
I have waded into the Atlantic Ocean off a gray coast in South Carolina, I have jumped into a rolling blue wave spawned by the Pacific Ocean near a beach in Southern California.
I have run through an Hawaiian sunrise on Oahu; I have stood on the edge of a plunging mine pit — hundreds of feet deep and several football fields wide — in the beautiful rugged mountains and high desert of Northern Nevada.
I have surveyed the Oroville Dam in North Central California and marveled at man’s architectural miracles;
I have been close enough to the power of a spectacular Oklahoma thunder-ripping storm — that seemed to convulse the ground — to almost be able to touch an electrifying spider web of night-gashing lightning bolts.
I have stood on the sidelines of colossal stadiums, including Candlestick Park, Jack Murphy Stadium, the Oakland Coliseum and others, just a few feet from the action while I took photos at my own risk.
I am an American.
I have seen overwhelming tears of happiness in my mom’s eyes after a couple of bikers in her apartment complex taped American flags on their choppers for the Fourth of July.
I have stood still at attention — with no one else around — in the complete darkness on a seawall around the Marine Corps base in Iwakuni, Japan, to honor the playing of “Retreat” or “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
I have interviewed Marines sitting on the March Air Force Base tarmac as they waited to board giant jets to fly to Iraq to rescue the nation of Kuwait and to fight tyranny; I have stood on the same tarmac when they returned several months later as triumphal warriors. I have seen them hug their wives and children and absorb the adulation of others there to greet them.
I have driven 1,200 miles nonstop through Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, the desert plains and hills of Wyoming and into Utah.
I am an American.
I have sat in Mr. Yorgason’s eighth-grade history class while he taught us about the valiant soldiers of the Revolution; I have felt inspiration during Mr. Gadd’s A.P. History class.
I am an American.
On a geographical basis, God has guided me on a journey that has included being a resident of 10-months-or-longer in eight states, ranging from Beaufort, S.C. to Oroville, Calif., to Kanehoe, Hawaii — and places in between.
I have a mail address in at least 18 different U.S. cities — not counting two years for missionary service in Italy and more than seven months on a Marine Corps deployment to Iwakuni, Japan.
But America is more than just a lot of places or history or patriotic observations. It is more than a symbol.
It is a vibrant reality of the ethereal element known as liberty. The liberty to create a destiny, to make our dreams come true without government oversight. It is our legacy to worship God — the fount of all true blessings — in our own way.
I appreciate a couple of related quotes from T.V. shows:
— “You figure a man can begin about sundown and make a new life for hisself.” (“Gunsmoke” 1974)
— “You can’t set your watch by a dream. They operate on schedules all on their own.” (“Perfect Strangers” 1986)
That’s what Americans do. That’s what liberty is all about.
Unlike socialism, communism, feudalism or absolutism, in which are squashed the creative yearnings to be different or better, work choices or education choices and almost every bit of individualism is forbidden — kind of like a cow herd — a state of liberty allows people to extend their talents, their desires, their hard work into ultimate self-fulfillment.
People set their own timetables.
I didn’t get my first full-time newspaper job until I was 31 going on 32. Prior to that, I fulfilled religious service for two years in Italy, attended college for four-plus years, joined the Marine Corps when I was 25, and worked for virtually minimum wage for two years until a newspaper in Nevada took a chance on me.
It wasn’t an ideal plan — it wasn’t even a plan.
I am an American.
It took a while — and a lot of persistence and determination — for me to figure it out.
The point is, America gave me the freedom to work out my fate and to make my dream come true.
America has given you all the freedom to choose for yourselves.
I know from my experience and observations of others that there are often challenges that seem overwhelming, roadblocks, hardships and unfairness that we have to overcome.
During my search for a newspaper job, I had to drive 600 miles one way to interview for a job and 600 miles back — at my expense. And, I didn’t get it.
But my legacy of liberty allowed me to keep knocking on other doors until someone finally answered.
I am an American.
The “open” sign is always out the door of opportunity.
There are so many well-known examples.
— A troubled young lad named Babe Ruth rising to be a baseball superstar and beloved icon for millions.
— A poor little Italian immigrant named Frank Capra that developed into a movie maker that created the all-time classic “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
— An incredible athlete named Jackie Robinson who was raised by a single mother in an extremely large family and went on to break Major League Baseball’s racial barrier.
— A Kansas boy named Glenn Cunningham, with nearly useless legs as a result of a fire, developed himself into one of America’s greatest mile runners of all time.
— An actor named Ronald Reagan who transformed himself into a great political leader and became the oldest man to win a presidential election.
— A son of German immigrants named Lawrence Welk who came off a farm in North Dakota to eventually become one of the greatest entertainers in history and made — and continues to make — millions of people happy.
— A young actor named Sidney Poitier who worked exhaustively to overcome a thick Bahamian accent in order to speak English with a precise diction and to become the first male Black Academy Best Actor Award winner.
What’s more amazing is the countless numbers of celebrities or non-celebrities that have quietly and doggedly built lives of happiness and meaning because of the tools they found or forged in the workshop of liberty.
I can’t help but think of my partner in this website venture, Becky Burch. She had a dream to make her living as a professional photographer - specializing in sports.
She fought the odds, made the sacrifices and put in the hard work to do it and become one of the finest sports action photographers you’ll find anywhere.
And she’s still doing it.
As for my journey, I credit my Heavenly Father for guiding me and opening doors and helping me to succeed as reporter and writer, even if not the greatest at either. The other experiences he blessed me in are amazing to me — as the son of my parents and brother of my sister, as a very good distance runner for five years in my 20’s and 30’s (I ran a 5K in 16:50), as a missionary in Italy, as an honorably-discharged four-ear active duty Marine, as a college graduate, as a public speaker, as a member of the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame, and so many other privileges and wonderful people, observations, protections and epiphanies.
I don’t know how much longer my final chapter will extend. My arms, wrists and hands are stiffening up, especially on the left side and I’m dealing with a variety of other life-affecting health issues, including mobility.
But whatever remains — and whatever follows — I thank God that I am an American and for the amazing tour He’s taken me on.
Thank you, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman of the Declaration of Independence committee.
Thank you Continental Congress for approving it and signing it.
Thank you George Washington and incredibly Revolutionary War soldiers for winning our freedom.
Thank you to the millions of soldiers who have died or endured crippling injuries — and those who came home with the honor of having served in the uniform — to preserve our liberty, peace and prosperity.
America has not been without its flaws. But it has never shed its ideals. It has never stopped trying to get better and to live up to the ideals stated in the Declaration: “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Mike Tupa, 1956-2026