Bud Wilkinson

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Bud Wilkinson
Bud Wilkinson (right) with President John F. Kennedy, during a 1961 visit to the White House.
Sport	Football
Born	April 23, 1916
Place of birth	Minneapolis, MN
Died	February 9, 1994 (aged 77)
Place of death	Saint Louis, Missouri
Career highlights
Overall	145-29-4
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Championships
3 National Championships (1950, 1955, 1956) 14 Conference Championships
Playing career
1934-36	Minnesota
Position	QB
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1947-63 1978-79	Oklahoma St. Louis Cardinals
College Football Hall of Fame, 1969 (Bio)

Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was a Hall of Fame American football coach for the University of Oklahoma.[1]. He was also an American football player, broadcaster, and politician.

Early years

Wilkinson's mother died when he was seven, and his father sent him to the Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, Minnesota, where he excelled in five sports and graduated in 1933. He enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where, as a guard and quarterback for head coach Bernie Bierman, Wilkinson helped lead the Golden Gophers to three consecutive national championships from 1934-36. He also played hockey for the University of Minnesota. Following his graduation in 1937 with a degree in English, he led the College All-Stars to a 6-0 victory over the defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers in Chicago on August 31.

Coaching

Wilkinson briefly worked for his father's mortgage company, then became an assistant coach at Syracuse and later back at 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 and served as a hangar deck officer on the USS Enterprise. Following World War II, new Oklahoma head coach Jim Tatum persuaded Wilkinson to join his staff in 1946. (In fact, the OU Board of Regents stipulated that Tatum make Wilkinson his top assistant, or else their offer was null and void.) After one season in Norman, Tatum left the Sooners before the 1947 season for Maryland. The 31-year-old Wilkinson was named head coach of the Sooners (and athletic director) and would soon make history. [2]

Head Coach

In his first season of 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 would become one of the most celebrated college coaches of all time. His teams captured national championships in 1950, 1955, and 1956, and amassed a 145-29-4 (82.6%) overall record. An ultra-organized innovator, Wilkinson would post practice schedules that were broken down to the minute.

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 today and has only been seriously threatened thrice: by Toledo (35 wins, 1969-71), Miami (Fl.) (34 wins, 2000-03) and USC (34 wins, 2003-05). Earlier, the Sooners ran off 31 consecutive wins from 1948 to 1950. Except for two losses in 1951, the Wilkinson-coached Sooners did not lose more than one game per season for 11 years from 1948 to 1958, going 107-8-2 over that period. His teams also went 12 consecutive seasons totaling 74 games (1947-58) without a loss in conference play — a streak which has never been seriously threatened. Wilkinson did not suffer his first conference loss until Halloween 1959 against Nebraska — his 79th conference game at Oklahoma.

His 1955 Oklahoma team is widely considered to be one of the greatest teams in college football history, regardless of era. He was also the first collegiate football coach to host a television show, aptly named "The Bud Wilkinson Show."

Wilkinson was also remarkable for compiling this record while showing a genuine interest and concern for the performance of his players in the classroom. Following the 1963 season, his 17th at Oklahoma, Wilkinson retired from coaching at the young age of 47. His overall record was 145-29-4. Along with Bennie Owen, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops, he is one of four coaches to win over 100 games at the University of Oklahoma. No other college football program has more than 3 coaches to accomplish such a feat.

While still at Oklahoma, Wilkinson served on the President's Council on Physical Fitness from 1961 to 1964, by which time he'd left the Sooners.

Head coaching record

After Oklahoma

Wilkinson with Darrell Royal.

Wilkinson ran as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in 1964, at which point he legally changed his first name to Bud, but lost to Democrat Fred R. Harris. He served as Republican National Committeeman from Oklahoma, and was considered by Richard Nixon as chairman of the Committee, but was not selected.

In 1965, Wilkinson joined ABC Sports as their lead color commentator on college football telecasts (teaming with Chris Schenkel and, later, Keith Jackson). Wilkinson was the color analyst for three of the greatest games in college football history, each commonly referred to as a "Game of the Century": Notre Dame vs. Michigan State in 1966, Texas vs. Arkansas in 1969, and Nebraska vs. Oklahoma in 1971. Wilkinson is still considered one of the best color commentators of all time because of his solid analysis and in-depth insight.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.

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.

Bud Wilkinson suffered a series of minor strokes and in early 1994, he died of congestive heart failure in St.Louis, at the age of 77.

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.

External links

• ESPN Classic biography - Bud Wilkinson
• College Football Hall of Fame - Bud Wilkinson
• College Football Data Warehouse - Bud Wilkinson's coaching record 1947-63
• Pro coaching record - Bud Wilkinson 1978-79