72 Year Old Comanche Veteran Completed Fort Sill Polar Bear Plunge 5k

If you're not familiar with this type of extreme event held worldwide, a Polar Bear Plunge - AKA - Polar Plunge is taking a quick dip in whatever frigid body of water the community has during the coldest month of the year.

While that sounds both exhilarating and miserable, Fort Sill puts a spin on it with a 5k fun run ahead of the freezing dip. The fun outweighs the pain, hundreds usually participate, and it's usually a little blurb on the local news.

What really turned heads at the 2022 Fort Sill MWR Polar Bear Plunge was the Comanche veteran that took that plunge after his 5k at 72 years old.

Odds are, you don't know Darrell. He was once, and will always be part of the Z94 family. He put in years of dedicated work here in the studios, and always had the most fascinating stories about his week, never forgetting to ask you about yours when he saw you.

Even if you don't know him, you may have seen him once in a while running one of the monthly Lawton Chamber 3-Mile Thursday events in and around downtown.

It's honestly amazing that he would hop into a freezing lake regardless of his 5k run beforehand. We always knew Darrell stayed fit, but younger people have died doing exactly this. It's the shock of the cold water on a hot exhausted body that has killed people half his age.

As such, the Comanche Nation bestowed a Coin of Excellence to him in honor of his achievement. A round of applause and an unbelievable conversation only he could imagine took place here at the Downtown Z94 studios. I bet his ears were burning these last few days.

If this kind of craziness sounds like something you'd like to partake in, the Medicine Park Polar Plunge Week begins this Saturday, January 29th. It's an entire week of activities and good eats that culminates next Saturday, February 5th with an icy dip into Medicine Creek.