Brady Sexton was enjoying a simple night with his family at one of their favorite restaurants.
Sexton has dined at Tarahumara’s in Norman almost weekly for 17 years. On Thursday, as his family congregated around one of their meals of choice, the manager shared a special message to one of the beloved Norman restaurant’s top clients.
“Hey, you guys should stay and stick around because Baker Mayfield is gonna come in,” one of the managers told Sexton.
Sexton’s two sons — Lincoln, 16 and Theodore, 10 — grew up admiring Mayfield, as they were born and raised in town. Mayfield was their favorite athlete as he is for many children. Naturally, Sexton’s first reaction was to call his daughter and ask her to bring a cherished picture of his sons with the former Oklahoma football star. So, she found the picture — taken at a Campus Corner restaurant — printed it off and hustled to pick up Theodore from soccer practice before dropping him at the restaurant.
Despite going No. 1 overall in the NFL draft and playing multiple seasons since then, Mayfield remembered the duo. He even signed the picture while enjoying his dinner.
Baker Mayfield in photo he signed for Theodore and Lincoln Sexton.
Mayfield’s return to watch the unveiling of his Heisman statue at OU’s spring game at 3 p.m. Saturday also gave one of the most beloved players in Sooner history a chance to return to old stomping grounds in the town where he first became famous. Oklahoma’s sixth Heisman Trophy winner, as his visits around Norman demonstrated, still recognizes the community that built him into what he is now.
“It’s a special weekend,” Mayfield said in a Twitter video released by OU football on Friday. “This has always been home for me. It’s good to be back here with people that impacted it. I’m excited. I think there’s no better way to describe it than just pure joy and excitement.”
Alex and Efrain Romero, who own and operate Tarahumara’s, consider themselves a son-father duo with lots of humor.
Mayfield has frequented their restaurant long before he was a household name. It’s one of his go-to spots, and it’s why he appeared there Thursday night.
The Romeros have always loved joking around with Mayfield. Sometimes, the father and son pretended not to recognize his larger-than-life status as perhaps the most famous person in town just to draw a laugh from one of their regulars.
BREAKING: @bakermayfield requests to be traded to Tarahumaras! #ourboy😍 #boomer pic.twitter.com/WgssjWA9xA
— Tarahumaras (@RealTarahumaras) April 22, 2022
“Hey, sign an application as a busboy,” Efrain, Alex’s father, said to Mayfield years ago. “Hey, big shot. Here’s an application for you.”
Of course, Mayfield filled out the form. However, the Romeros forgot about its existence until he returned to their restaurant on Thursday night. So, Alex had an idea.
“As a homecoming, what better way to joke around with him like we did?” Alex remembered saying to Efrain. “So (Baker) came in, ordered his usual margaritas as he does, and before he left we were like, ‘Hey we got another one for you to sign.’”
Mayfield, never afraid to make the most of a moment, earnestly grabbed the pen. After all, his NFL career is in a state of limbo given he requested a trade on March 17, shortly before the Cleveland Browns traded for Deshaun Watson as his replacement.
For the first time since the NFL draft, the former Sooners signal caller has no idea where he’ll suit up next season. He even said as much on a recent podcast with his friend and neighbor, Mike Stud.
Continuing the joke, Alex and Efrain tweeted, “Baker Mayfield requests to be traded to Tarahumara’s.” And according to the document pictured in the message shared with their few hundred followers, he was hired under one condition. He’d be swapping his four-year contract worth over $32 million for … free queso.
The post went viral locally, with over 700 retweets and close to 6,000 likes as of Friday evening.
“We thought it was so fun,” Alex said. “We didn’t expect it to be something that would take such attention to everyone or something like that. We just thought it would be funny to sign the application.”
The light-hearted gesture reminded Alex of when Mayfield used to come into Tarahumara’s with friends, family or even teammates. He always hoped one day Mayfield would return and exchange laughs they once shared.
When the Sooners legend called the store and said he was coming for dinner, Alex whispered to himself “Amen.”
“It sounds so cliche, but he was just like another client,” Alex said. “He just happens to be an OU quarterback who went pro. He will come here and joke just like any of the other OU players do.
“And he has a great sense of humor. And he has not changed. I don’t care what anyone says, he has not changed, which is great. I would think (being pro) would get to his head a little bit, but he’s the same guy. He’s been very chill.”
The next morning after chowing down on quesadillas, Mayfield’s homecoming continued as he spoke to the Sooners team and chatted with Brent Venables ahead of his first spring game as head coach.
Welcome home 6️⃣‼️#PackThePalace #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/p7P7F6ZHpg
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) April 22, 2022
Venables earned Mayfield’s stamp of approval and Mayfield shared his support for a program that recently lost Lincoln Riley, who coached and mentored him during his playing career, and numerous other staff members to Southern California.
Then shortly after, he was off again, this time to give back to Norman’s community in a way he used to as a student.
The Austin, Texas, native gave a “generous donation” to Meals on Wheels of Norman on Friday, a program dedicated to delivering food to the “ill, elderly and disabled,” according to its homepage. Mayfield volunteered with the nonprofit while in college, and even donated to their cause during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Summer McGuire, the associate director of Meals on Wheels of Norman, remembered Mayfield’s generosity during his time as a collegiate athlete, and his helpfulness during the pandemic. When she knew his Heisman statue would be dedicated for the spring game, she always hoped he would come back.
“He made time for all of the volunteers,” McGuire said. “He wanted to make sure every volunteer got time to meet him and shake hands and give hugs. Just truly kind people. It wasn’t just a rushed thing.”
Baker Mayfield with Meals on Wheels associate director Summer McGuire.
McGuire says the program averages 335 meal deliveries per day, and Mayfield's donation covered each meal distributed on Friday. Mayfield also surprised each of the volunteers that gave meals to Normanites with autographed ornaments, gift cards for gas and two tickets each to the spring game.
The act was an additional example of Mayfield paying it forward to the community that molded him.
McGuire asked if Mayfield wanted her to post a picture of them volunteering on social media, but he and his wife, Emily, told her to wait until after they were done because they didn’t want others to think it was a publicity stunt.
“He’s doing it because he wants to do it,” McGuire said. “They made sure that was known from the beginning. He could’ve gone to do something else, but he decided to come here. … They’re just excited to be in Oklahoma I guess, in Norman.”
Mayfield even delivered a meal to a woman on his way back to OU’s stadium for another engagement in his jam-packed day. McGuire told the woman a “special guest” would be appearing, but left it at that. The woman had no idea it would be Mayfield, who her late husband was a huge fan of.
Spending time giving back to the community that helped mold him.@mealsonwheelsok @Phillips66Gas pic.twitter.com/RctZrLwQOr
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) April 22, 2022
“He’s a super nice guy,” McGuire said. “And I foresee that I’ll probably stay in touch in the future. (Baker and Emily) were just such genuine people. We had a lot of people there and they were just happy to see everybody and happy to give up their time.”
Mayfield was a hero to each person he served in his return to the Sooner state. Now he’ll be enshrined with OU’s other heroes in Heisman Park, yet not much has changed since his days playing on Owen Field and first helping the community.
As Venables put it on Tuesday, if you ran into Mayfield in a Wal-Mart, he’d look like, “just a guy.”
“He’s just so personable,” Sexton said. “It’s definitely surprising and unique. But once you get over the surprise, it’s like, ‘yeah, that makes sense.' Because he’s very present in the moment.
“You can just feel comfortable knowing that he’s great.”
