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History of the Theta Burger?
The Theta is indeed an Oklahoma original and probably attributable to the late great Split T (or the T Bar to afficianados), but it has certainly entered the Okie culinary vernacular and decent examples abound. I grew up in Tulsa and we used to get pretty good Thetas at Charlie Mitchell's (eponymous pub of the great Scottish footballer/hooligan) but my favorite was probably the one served at JP Sousa's. The buns were nice and toasty (essential from an engineering standpoint to keep your theta a hand sandwich) and they gave you extra hickory sauce for your curly fries. The fact that you ordered by phone from your table was a bonus.
It should be noted that an according to hoyle Theta is an all or nothing proposition. The pickles, mayo (not miracle whip), and shredded chedar (not sliced american) are what make it what it is and are as essential to the outcome as the hickory sauce. Just as a Martini with an onion is a Gibson so too is a Theta minus one of it's contituants an altogether different thing. It may sound like an odd combination, but people eat special mushrooms hunted by trained pigs so...try to be open minded.
As far as the name is concerned, I had always heard that it was after the sorority. Seems likely. Burgers are pub grub. Not hard to find a sorority girl in a bar (especially not in OKC area). If you run the phrase "I ate a theta" together, it sounds greek. Back when I was at OU, there was a bar called Denko's that used to advertise "Eat a Theta @ Denko's". They also had a chili 5way that they called the Darlin'. You used to see people sporting tshirts that said "I ate my Darlin' at Denko's". Good stuff.
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I grew up in Oklahoma and think that we often get overlooked in regionaist culinary scene. BBQ is a perfect example. I know of no other place where you can get equally good pork and beef barbeque or ANY place that does beef ribs as well. When I lived in North Carolina I had a hard time convincing anyone that it was even possibe to barbeque a beef rib. I still remember Elliots Original on Brookside. Best beef ribs ever. Hickory sauce came warm on the side in one of those diner style metal creamers. And what about bologna? I love bbq'd bologna (as do a lot of folks in Oklahoma) but I've never seen it available outside of the Sooner State.