Chasing, catching, making history

About seven or eight years ago, Barry Schwarz was in a random gym as his son was getting ready to play a youth basketball game.

As the game was about to begin, Schwarz noticed some familiar faces in the crowd for the opposing team.

They were from his hometown of Okarche.

One of those parents was Jarrod Mueggenborg whose son, Jett, was on the court and about to play against Schwarz’s son.

“I remember watching Jett play,” Schwarz said. “And you could tell at that age there was…something.

“Like, he wanted to score.”

Fast forward to Tuesday night and Schwarz found himself on the court with the high school version of Jett Mueggenborg.

In their quest for a third consecutive Class A state championship, the Warriors had just finished off Turpin 98-52 in a regional semifinal on their home floor.

Mueggenborg entered the game needing just 14 points to surpass the school’s alltime scoring record that’s been held by Schwarz for more than 35 years.

That scoring mark has been 2,674 points since Schwarz played his final game in an Okarche uniform in 1991.

After scoring a modest 4 points in the first quarter, Mueggenborg began to heat up in the second.

He scored a succession of three straight buckets to reach 10 points for the game, then tied Schwarz’s mark with a 3-pointer.

Then, with 3:45 remaining in the first half, Mueggenborg lined up a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

It found nothing but net and put his name atop Okarche’s all-time scoring list.

Mueggenborg ended the half with 20 points and went on to score 34.

He now has 2,695 career points as Okarche’s trek through the playoffs continue. Next up is the regional championship at home on Saturday night.

After the game, the crowd stuck around for a brief ceremony.

Okarche Superintendent Josh Sumrall introduced Schwarz and his high school coach, Tom Arms, who made their way to center court.

And then he introduced Mueggenborg, who was presented a banner by Schwarz.

In part it read, “school record of 2,675 points… and counting.”

Schwarz thought he saw something that random day in a middle school gym… and he was right.

•••

Tom Arms has vowed for decades that Barry Schwarz is the best player to don an Okarche uniform.

His production - and team results - did little to refute that.

With Arms on the bench and Schwarz leading the way on the court, the Warriors reached the Class A state tournament in 1989 for the first time since winning state in 1979.

The Warriors got all the way to the title game before losing to Preston, 63-61, in overtime.

That was Schwarz’s sophomore year.

His junior year saw the Warriors get back to the championship. They were defeated 61-59 by Strother.

“That was the year I missed the 3-pointer that would have won it,” Schwarz recalled. “I still have nightmares of that ball going in and out.”

Okarche reached state for a third straight year in Schwarz’s senior campaign, but were defeated by Eagletown in the quarterfinals.

Although falling short of a state championship was disappointing, Schwarz has fond memories of playing in State Fair Arena, aka “The Big House,” which was torn down after last year’s state tournaments to make way for the new arena.

“Just experiencing the Big House and what it felt like to play in that arena was just such a cool experience,” Schwarz said. “I remember going out the first game that we played and walking on the court and they didn’t have the big lights on and it was dingy and you’re like, ‘what in the world is this? This is the biggest dump.’” Then Schwarz recalls that ring of lights that hovered over the court being flipped on.

“The big lights came on and you hear the hum and it’s like, ‘Alright, this is what it is.’

“To be able to get on those runs that sophomore year and then to go back and be equally successful that junior year, those are fond memories with some great teammates,” Schwarz said.

For all four years at Okarche, Schwarz was a force. He amassed numbers like no Warrior before him and none after…at least not for nearly four decades.

After Okarche, Schwarz went on to a stellar career at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.

He picked up an accounting degree along the way and worked in public accounting for about five years and then ventured into the banking world.

He is now the chief financial officer for Great Plains National Bank in Oklahoma City.

He and his wife, Bonnie, have two children.

Their daughter, Blayne, is a junior at Notre Dame while their son, Bryce, is a freshman at Oklahoma State.

“We live in Oklahoma City and now we are empty nesters,” Schwarz said. “So we hang out in Okarche on Tuesday nights for basketball games.”

•••

When he saw Mueggenborg that day in the gym and recognized a knack for scoring, Schwarz knew the feeling.

“I look back and just seeing the ball go through the hoop, for whatever reason, there’s just something about it,” Schwarz said.

Schwarz witnessed something in the youngest Mueggenborg whose dad sits very high on Okarche’s all-time scoring list and also went on to play at SWOSU.

“Not that I ever would have said, ‘hey, that kid’s gonna break my record,’ but you could tell that he kind of had it,” Schwarz said.

Mueggenborg has started all four years.

He helped lead the Warriors to the Class A state tournament during his freshman year in 2023, but the Warriors were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Rattan.

Then came the 2024 championship and the undefeated repeat title season of 2025.

Like Schwarz, Mueggenborg was racking up the points as those seasons wore on.

As Schwarz watched and took note, he knew Mueggenborg was the one who could eclipse his mark.

“He started as a freshman and then each year it just grew and grew,” Schwarz said. “And I thought, ‘you know, I’d put even money down that he gets there.’” Okarche’s style of play certainly lended to the possibility.

The Warriors are relentless from end to end. They press on makes. They press on misses. They trap. They run.

And they shoot. A lot. It’s not uncommon for the Warriors to take more than twice as many shots a game as their opponent.

“The style they play, it’s awesome,” Schwarz said. “They have found a niche and it really sets them apart.”

Schwarz was asked if he would have excelled in a similar style.

“The number of shots getting up? Sure,” he said, laughing. “I would love that. But the constant pressing? I don’t know. I wasn’t known for my defense; definitely not in high school.”

•••

The name “Barry Schwarz” has always had a certain regality to it over the years.

“Growing up, especially at Okarche, you always hear about Barry and all the things he did and how great a player he was,” said Mueggenborg.

His pursuit began in the 2022-23 season when Okarche reached the state quarterfinals.

By February of his sophomore year, Mueggenborg had surpassed 1,000 career points.

The 1,500-point milestone was passed up less than a year later.

In November of this season, it was 2,000 points and about two months after that he climbed past 2,500.

“I wasn’t really focused on it,” Mueggenborg said of the scoring record. “It was more about just playing the game however it comes to you and taking it one game at a time.

“But to be able to have your name up there with someone like Barry does mean a lot.”

Along the way, Mueggenborg jumped some Okarche greats who were in attendance on Tuesday…some because it was their job.

That includes his own coach Aaron West as well as Tyler Karr, a former Okarche standout who is now the head coach at Turpin.

And it includes his father, who not only is among Okarche’s all-time leaders in scoring, but also in rebounding.

Jett Mueggenborg joked after the game that he probably passed Jarrod’s scoring mark “sometime during my sophomore year…he tried; he was a good player.”

When the two were talking after the game, Jarrod told Jett he didn’t believe his son would catch him in rebounding totals.

“That’s ok,” Jett said. “I try to make my shot the first time.”

Joking aside, Schwarz noticed Mueggenborg isn’t only a scorer.

“He’s not out there shooting the ball when there’s an open teammate,” Schwarz said. “He’s making the extra pass. On defense, he’s deflecting passes and rebounding.”

Off the court, he’s a well-rounded student-athlete.

“I’ve only heard great things about him, his character and who he is,” Schwarz said. “He definitely plays the game the right way and, you know, if your record’s going to get broken, hey, there couldn’t be a better kid who plays the way you’d want your own kid to play and an Okarche kid to play.”

With the scoring record behind him, Mueggenborg knows there’s only one thing left to do.

“That gold ball,” he said. “One more.” Mueggenborg hasn’t only been a part of the two basketball state title teams, but also was the starting centerfielder on the Warrior baseball squad that won the Class A state championship last fall, the first in the program’s history. He’ll get one more shot at baseball in the spring, but Mueggenborg, who recently committed to continue his basketball career at the University of Central Oklahoma, knows this is it for basketball in a purple and gold uniform.

“We’re focused,” he said of the team on the threepeat. “A lot of us are seniors and we know this is our last go-around. This is it playing for Okarche.

“It’s an honor being able to play here and the tradition this program has and to be able to bring another gold ball home would be awesome.”