How a military accident changed the course of Bartlesville football DL coach's life

"I took the path less traveled by,

and that has made all the difference."

— Robert Frost

Fate has many aliases.

One of them could be crossroads — those times when one's life journey forks in two different directions, forcing a choice of which way to go.

Bartlesville High assistant football coach Otis Crane faced such a moment after a severe injury during his military service realigned his future.

"I broke my neck," he said, noting it is still stabilized by rods and screws.

He received a medical honorable mention discharge from the U.S. Army, in which he had worked as a combat engineer.

Prior to his time with Army (2001-05), Crane graduated from Catoosa High. Following his military experience, Crane attended college at Northeastern State (Tahlequah) and East Central University (Ada), to obtain his bachelor's and master's degrees, respectively.

After Crane tumbled back into civilian life, he obtained a job, "but my issue got worse. I couldn't really work my job. I had to go back to school to find something I wanted to do to have that sense of fulfillment. … I had to find something I could do that could me that same joy."

He thought back on the coaches in his life who had made an impact on his life for the better.

"I felt that (coaching) was the path to explore. I fell in love with it and I can't see myself doing anything else," he said.

Since 2010, Crane has devoted a big part of his life to that pursuit — serving as head football coach and offensive coordinator for four seasons at Foyil High (2011-14), filling the defensive coordinator's role for two seasons at Chelsea High (2015-16), helping bolster the Dewey High team as defensive coordinator for three seasons (2017-2019), and settling down at Bartlesville High as the defensive line coach (2020-current).

Crane also served as a defensive coordinator for two semipro teams, the Oklahoma Knights and the Oklahoma Gunslingers.

By the time the Bartlesville opportunity came open, Crane was ready to give up the stressful and time-consuming pressure commitment of a coordinator's role and become a position coach.

He explained his reasoning in a few words: "I wanted to spend more time with my family," including his wife Lena. After their sons Myles and Malachi grow older, he might consider later in his career to be a head coach again.

"We'll look into that later," he said. "I'm enjoying this right now."

Not that Crane isn't putting in significant hours and energy already. In addition to coaching the defensive linemen, he also breaks down opponents' running games, Bartlesville defensive coordinator Travis Burkhalter said.

"I love everything he's doing with our guys," Burkhalter added. "The guys really respect him and also listen to him. ... They want to work for him. ... He's just a technical guy. He wants things done right and to the best of their ability. He does a tremendous job of getting those guys ready."

Bruin fans have enjoyed the impact Crane has had in forging a powerful defensive line unit over the past couple of seasons. The Bruins made numerous fourth-down stands last season, some of them in the shadow of the goalposts.

Crane's main focus is to put together a six-man rotation for the three-man defensive front. His reasoning is to keep fresh legs on the field — not only on the defensive side but for those defensive linemen that also are part of the offensive pit crew.

Five returning defensive linemen likely to play major roles are Cooper Wood, Lucas Wilson, Colton Hainzinger, Avery Hitchings and Justin Phelps. Wood and Wilson also will likely be forces on the offensive line while Phelps is being looked at as nose tackle.

"We're looking at him to be more of a plugger guy, on short-down-and-distance, such as a goal-line stand," Crane said.

Crane looks forward to assessing Wood's progress in Crane's third year with him on the defensive side.

"The difference between year two to year three was exciting," Crane said.

Crane has been part of two of the greatest seasons in the past 10 years or more at Dewey and Bartlesville. During his last year at Dewey (2019), the Doggers stormed to a 7-3 regular season record -- the program's best mark since 1994. Crane felt most rewarded that season "just seeing the joy they had from turning a 2-8 record to flip those numbers," he said. "It was huge to see the excitement."

He singled out linebacker Hunter Rumsey as a vital component of his 2019 defense.

"He was huge on the defensive side," Crane said. "I enjoyed just the relationship with him and the growth I saw with him. He was like an extension of myself on the field."

After that break-through 2019 season, Crane filled an opening on the defensive staff for then-Bartlesville High head coach Jason Sport.

Crane is on the verge of beginning his fourth training camp, in a very few weeks, at Bartlesville.

By returning a nucleus of battled-hardened veterans and nurturing a young talented crop of defensive linemen, Crane will help put together what could be a stingy, hard-nosed, drive-stuffing defense this coming season.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: An accident altered path of Bartlesville DL coach Otis Crane's life