POP/ROCK - Dec. 29, 1992

Favorite Son: A magazine in Garth Brooks’ home state has named him Oklahoman of the Year. The editor of Oklahoma Today said Monday that Brooks was chosen because “he personifies the emergence of country music as a serious market force and at the same time he has retained his Oklahoma values.” Brooks lives in Nashville but grew up in Yukon, a suburb of Oklahoma City. “Just to be raised in Oklahoma puts you on the board in the game of life,” Brooks told the magazine in the issue due out this week. “Don’t be afraid to go anywhere in the world. If you were raised in Oklahoma, you were raised with all you need.”