Ribs, ritual and rivalry: Red River Showdown brings Texas, OU fans together for food and football

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This wasn’t a typical tailgate.

Stacey Walker had a Sooner to beat, and it wouldn’t be on the football field.

Every year, the East Dallas native faces off against University of Oklahoma fans in a cooking competition. At stake: Who can make the best ribs.

On a corner just outside of Fair Park in South Dallas, Walker, 55, set up a wood smoker at his friend’s house about four hours before the 11 a.m. kickoff between the University of Texas Longhorns and their Oklahoma rival.

He had bought about 75 pounds of brisket and ribs at Costco — enough to feed 100 people.

Walker, who grew up going to tailgates, mixed his own seasoning and made his own rub — he’ll only reveal he used a little mustard.

He had started cooking brisket and ribs almost 24 hours earlier. The morning of the game, the aluminum foil-wrapped meat was ready for the smoker. He timed them so they would both be ready by kickoff.

“Nice, soft and slow,” he said. “The meat comes out real tender.”

The Red River Showdown has been a State Fair of Texas tradition since 1929. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year was the first time since World War I that the fair was canceled.

Until last week, many fans weren’t sure if the famed football face-off would suffer the same fate. And even with fewer fans allowed at the game, many were unsure whether they’d make it to a tailgate tradition of more than 15 years.

But Walker had decided that game or no game, he’d be cooking what he had perfected over 28 years: ribs.

‘It’s 2020′

About an hour before kickoff, Walker looked up from his RiverGrille — a smaller version of the smoker he normally pulls with his Ford F-150 — to an empty patch of grass across Lawhon Street.

Marc Brockhaus, his rib rival from Oklahoma City, should have been in his parking space.

Walker shrugged it off; the Brockhaus crew was probably somewhere drinking or recovering from last night’s Sooner festivities.

When another 20 minutes passed, Walker checked his phone. Where were they?

After what seemed like an eternity, four familiar faces appeared from down the street. But by the time the Brockhauses arrived, their normal parking spot had been taken.

They typically drive a remolded school bus decorated with OU colors and decked out with grilling tools.

But it was in Oklahoma.

“What happened to you guys?” Walker asked.

“It’s 2020,” Brockhaus said.

Brockhaus and his wife, Barbara, had downsized their normal crew of about 20 people. Only a couple whom they’d known for more than two decades, Fred and Bethany Neighbors, decided to make the trip this year.

The Neighbors couple both had recently recovered from mild cases of COVID-19.

And one of their friends who normally rides with them stayed home after being hospitalized for the virus.

The party they always attend the night before in Ardmore, Okla., halfway between Dallas and Oklahoma City, was canceled, too.

But even without their annual traditions, they drove down to see their favorite Longhorns.

“You gotta have somewhere to drink beer, right?” Fred Neighbors joked.

And that’s what they did. Under the shade of a tent and a couple of crape myrtle trees, the Oklahoma crew popped bottles and can tabs with a handful of Walker’s family members and other friends.

Around the second quarter, people migrated from their lawn chairs and makeshift seats to the spread Walker and his sous-chef — his daughter Ariel — had prepared. The aroma of turkey legs, Boudin sausage and brisket drifted up the block, along with the smell of potato salad and baked beans. This year, Walker even tried his hand at something new: smoked queso.