Harold Keith: The Writing Man Who Also Ran

Harold Keith wrote a lot and ran a lot, and it would be impossible to say which he loved more.  He started publishing in a boys’ magazine when he was 14, and he was working on a book when he died, in his nineties.  He lettered in the mile and the half-mile in his senior year at Lambert High School, and he kept running until he fell and broke a leg at the age of 91.         His writing included 16 books and countless stories about University of Oklahoma (OU) athletes and coaches during his 39-year career as sports information director (SID).  Being the SID was a full-time job, yet Keith produced those books by working early and late and between football seasons.  He was the embodiment of energy, not just going places, but hurrying places, always hustling to his next task.  Why plod upstairs when he could bound up them?  And when he got where he was going, he didn’t huff and puff, but breathed easily and smiled.  He had a winning grin that was described as “so warm it could melt butter