The James C. Nance Memorial Bridge runs between the two local towns of Purcell and Lexington. This bridge is part of U.S. 77 and crosses over the South Canadian river. It was originally built in 1938, making it one of the oldest bridges in Oklahoma. However, due to welding issues, the metal beams began to crack in recent years. The short-term solution was to place support brackets around the welds, but the bridge still needed to be replaced.

Being raised in Purcell, I have a little more personal attachment to this bridge than most. Like OU’s Red River Rivalry with Texas, we also battled Lexington for “ownership” of the bridge. Our team mascot is a dragon, while theirs is a bulldog, but what makes this even more similar to OU is that we are red, and they are orange. This being said, the bridge was under construction for the majority of my high school career.However, this summer the new bridge was officially opened. The coolest part was that my dad got to cut the ribbon alongside the mayor of Lexington. To make it better, he worked with OU to get the RUF/NEKS there to shoot our ceremonial shotguns. The goal was that I would be standing beside him as the ribbon was cut, but unfortunately, I was stuck in Paris due to issues with the plane. Luckily, other RUF/NEKS were able to be there.