Bud Wilkinson
Biographical details | |
---|---|
Born | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. | April 23, 1916
Died | February 9, 1994 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 77)
Playing career | |
1934–1936 | Minnesota |
Position(s) | Quarterback |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
1938–1941 | Syracuse (line) |
1942 | Minnesota (assistant) |
1943–1944 | Iowa Pre-Flight (assistant) |
1946 | Oklahoma (assistant) |
1947–1963 | Oklahoma |
1978–1979 | St. Louis Cardinals |
Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
1947–1964 | Oklahoma |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 145–29–4 (college) 9–20 (NFL) |
Bowls | 6–2 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
As coach:
As player: | |
Awards | |
| |
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1969 (profile) |
Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of 145–29–4. His Oklahoma Sooners won three national championships (1950, 1955, and 1956) and 14 conference titles. Between 1953 and 1957, Wilkinson's Oklahoma squads won 47 straight games, a record that still stands at the highest level of college football. After retiring from coaching following the 1963 season, Wilkinson entered into politics and, in 1965, became a broadcaster with ABC Sports. He returned to coaching in 1978, as head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons. Wilkinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1969.
Early life and playing career
Wilkinson's mother died when he was seven, and his father sent him to the
Coaching career
Wilkinson briefly worked for his father's mortgage company, then he became an assistant coach at Syracuse University and later at his alma mater, Minnesota. In 1943, he joined the U.S. Navy, where he was an assistant to Don Faurot with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football team. He served as a hangar deck officer on the USS Enterprise. Following World War II, Jim Tatum, the new head coach at the University of Oklahoma, persuaded Wilkinson to join his staff in 1946. After one season in Norman, Tatum left the Sooners for the University of Maryland. The 31-year-old Wilkinson was named head football coach and athletic director of the Sooners.
Head coach at Oklahoma
In his first season as head coach in 1947, Wilkinson led Oklahoma to a 7–2–1 record and a share of the conference championship, the first of 13 consecutive Big Six/Seven/Eight Conference titles. Ultimately, Wilkinson became one of the most celebrated college coaches of all time. His teams captured national championships in 1950, 1955, and 1956, and they amassed a 145–29–4 (.826) overall record. Twice Minnesota attempted to hire him away from Oklahoma, in 1950 and 1953, but both times Wilkinson rebuffed his alma mater.[2] He got OU football placed on major NCAA probation twice in a five-year span (1955 and 1960) for illegally paying players out of a $125,000 slush fund for a decade and a half after World War II ended.[3]
The centerpiece of his time in Norman was a 47-game winning streak from 1953 to 1957, an NCAA Division I record that still stands. It has been moderately threatened only four times: by North Dakota State in Division I FCS (39 wins, 2017–2021), Toledo (35 wins, 1969–1971), Miami (FL) (34 wins, 2000–2003), and USC (34 wins, 2003–2005). Earlier, the Sooners ran off 31 consecutive wins from 1948 to 1950. Apart from two losses in 1951, Wilkinson's Sooners did not lose more than one game per season for 11 years between 1948 and 1958, going 107–8–2 over that period. His teams also went 12 consecutive seasons (1947–1958) without a loss in conference play, a streak which has never been seriously threatened. Wilkinson did not suffer his first conference loss until 1959 against Nebraska, his 79th conference game.
Wilkinson suffered only one losing season, in 1960. However, that season saw him pass Bennie Owen to become the winningest coach in Sooner history. He has since been passed by Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops.
While coaching at OU, Wilkinson began writing a weekly newsletter to alumni during the season, to keep them interested in Sooner football. He also became the first football coach to host his own television show. He and Michigan State University coach Duffy Daugherty partnered to sponsor a series of clinics for high school coaches nationwide. Later, they turned their clinics into a profitable business.[4]
Following the 1963 season, his 17th at Oklahoma, Wilkinson retired from coaching at the age of 47.
President's Council on Physical Fitness
While at Oklahoma, Wilkinson served on the
Later life and career
Politics
In February, 1964, Wilkinson announced that he would enter a special election to replace his friend, the late
In the 1964 General Election, Wilkinson lost by a narrow 51% to 49% and could not overcome Republican
Broadcasting and NFL coaching
In 1965, Wilkinson joined
Wilkinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
In 1975, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[11]
In 1978, Wilkinson returned to coaching with the St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL. After less than two disappointing seasons, he was fired, and returned to broadcasting with ESPN.
Death
Wilkinson suffered a series of minor strokes and, on February 9, 1994, he died of
Personal life
Wilkinson was married to the former Mary Schifflet in 1938, with whom he had two sons, Pat and Jay. They divorced in 1975. A year later, he married Donna O'Donnahue, 33 years his junior, who survived him in death.
Head coaching record
College
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oklahoma Sooners (Big Six / Big Seven / Big Eight Conference) (1947–1963) | |||||||||
1947 | Oklahoma | 7–2–1 | 4–0–1 | 1st | 16 | ||||
1948 | Oklahoma | 10–1 | 5–0 | 1st | W Sugar | 5 | |||
1949 | Oklahoma | 11–0 | 5–0 | 1st | W Sugar | 2 | |||
1950 | Oklahoma | 10–1 | 6–0 | 1st | L Sugar | 1 | 1 | ||
1951 | Oklahoma | 8–2 | 6–0 | 1st | 11 | 10 | |||
1952 | Oklahoma | 8–1–1 | 5–0–1 | 1st | 4 | 4 | |||
1953 | Oklahoma | 9–1–1 | 6–0 | 1st | W Orange | 5 | 4 | ||
1954 | Oklahoma | 10–0 | 6–0 | 1st | 3 | 3 | |||
1955 | Oklahoma | 11–0 | 6–0 | 1st | W Orange | 1 | 1 | ||
1956 | Oklahoma | 10–0 | 6–0 | 1st | 1 | 1 | |||
1957 | Oklahoma | 10–1 | 6–0 | 1st | W Orange | 4 | 4 | ||
1958 | Oklahoma | 10–1 | 7–0 | 1st | W Orange | 5 | 5 | ||
1959 | Oklahoma | 7–3 | 6–1 | 1st | 15 | 15 | |||
1960 | Oklahoma | 3–6–1 | 2–4–1 | 5th | |||||
1961 | Oklahoma | 5–5 | 4–3 | 4th | |||||
1962 | Oklahoma | 8–3 | 7–0 | 1st | L Orange | 7 | 8 | ||
1963 | Oklahoma | 8–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | 8 | 9 | |||
Oklahoma: | 145–29–4 | 93–9–3 | |||||||
Total: | 145–29–4 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
|
NFL
Team | Year | Regular season[13] | Post season | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
SLC | 1978 | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 4th in NFC East | – | – | – | – |
SLC | 1979 | 3 | 10 | 0 | .231 | Fired Mid-Season | – | – | – | – |
SLC Total | 9 | 20 | 0 | .310 | – | |||||
Total | 9 | 20 | 0 | .310 | – |
Notes
See also
References
- ^ "1937 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
- ^ Madsen, Rob (Spring 2023). "The Cost of Conservatism: The University of Minnesota's Lofted Ideals and Fallen Football Teams". Journal of Sport History. 50 (1): 85–100.
- ^ "Fourth Time Hits Sooners Hardest". amp.oklahoman.com. 1988-12-19.
- ^ McGregor, Andrew."Wilkinson, Bud". American National Biography Online. February 2000. Accessed October 6, 2016.
- ^ Yagoda, Ben (June 13, 2014). "The Strange 1960s Gym-Class Anthem in Apple's New iPhone Commercial". Slate. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
- ^ "The Federal Government Takes on Physical Fitness". John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. p. 2. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ Riis, Richard (June 9, 2014). "Apple's "Chicken Fat" Ad Harks Back to a Political Era Long Gone". Daily Kos. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ^ McGregor, Andrew. "Beyond Football: The Political Career of Bud Wilkinson (Part 2)." Sport in American History. November 24, 2014. Accessed October 6, 2016
- ^ "Fred R. Harris: His political career". Carl Albert Center Archives at the University of Oklahoma. April 3, 2009. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2011.
- ^ #1 Nebraska at #2 Oklahoma - 1971. SoonersVideo.com: #1 Nebraska at #2 Oklahoma - 1971
- American Academy of Achievement.
- ^ Nichols, Max. "Wilkinson, Charles Burnham (1916–1994)". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
- ^ "Bud Wilkinson Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
External links
- Bud Wilkinson at the College Football Hall of Fame
- Bud Wilkinson at IMDb
- Bud Wilkinson at Find a Grave
- Voices of Oklahoma interview with Jay Wilkinson First person interview conducted on February 9, 2012, with Jay Wilkinson about his father, Bud Wilkinson.