NORMAN, Okla. - On Sunday night, nearly 500 Oklahoma student-athletes will make history when they become the first group to recite the Sooner Oath, a ceremony that appears destined for a long run at a school already rich in tradition.

A little more than one year ago, OU Athletics Director Joe Castiglione approached the executive branch of the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Council with the charge of writing a pledge that might remind Sooner athletes of their standing in the community and responsibility to others.

Our greatest asset and priority is the student athletes we mentor," Castiglione said. "We continually look for ways to help them develop excellent leadership traits and skills and responsible ways in which they can be applied. The Student Athlete Advisory Council members represent their teammates in each of the sports we sponsor.

"This project gave them even more ownership and accountability in what they do with the special responsibility that comes with being a Sooner. They responded beautifully and have produced a creed and symbolic ceremony which accomplish the goals we set before them."

Brittney Koncak-Schumann, a former gymnast at Oklahoma and the 2006-07 SAAC President, said the request gave added purpose to the organization.

"It was empowering that the administration was asking us to write something," she said. "Our code of conduct was written by the administration, so with this request there was a feeling that we had some say over the actions we are to follow.

"That was the most important thing, taking charge of our own actions."

So Koncak-Schumann and her fellow SAAC members set about the business of researching oaths and pledges for structure. They looked at the Boy Scouts oath and another student-athlete oath that is in place at the University of North Carolina.

"We spent a good month just researching structure," said Koncak-Schumann.

From there it was on to wording, a process that was refined several times over the course of the year. Later, SAAC concentrated on values and the interpretation of what it means to be a Sooner.

When the oath was completed, it was presented last spring at the Weitzenhoffer Scholar-Athletes Breakfast. This Sunday, it will actually be recited en masse for the first time.

The ceremony will take place at the Carl B. Anderson All-American Plaza, just east of the Switzer Center. OU President David L. Boren and former Sooner football coach Barry Switzer are scheduled to speak at the event, which begins at 6 p.m.

Current SAAC president Jaclyn Stelzer, a member of the women's golf team, will have the distinction of leading OU Student-Athletes through the oath for the first time.

"It's an honor (to lead the oath for the first time)," Stelzer said. "I am really proud of last year's SAAC. A lot of effort went into this project. It's something that is coming straight from the student-athletes."

Stelzer hopes the oath reminds student-athletes of a responsibility that transcends games and practices.

It's important for us to remember that we are student-athletes 24/7, not just while we're playing our sport," she said. "We represent the university all of the time. Both the university and athletics department are so great and we want to be good ambassadors no matter where we are or what we are doing.

"President Boren has said that we are the face of the university that the public sees and we want the oath to be a reminder that we carry that responsibility."

Each student-athlete will receive the oath on a laminated card and larger copies will be placed in team locker rooms and meeting spaces.