Former Lieutenant Governor, Wishbone Supermaniac Jack Mildren Passes Away

The state of Oklahoma bows its head today as Jack Mildren, he of the first wishbone attack at Oklahoma, died yesterday at the age of 58.

Under Mildren, the Oklahoma offense racked up numbers you can't even reach on NCAA Football 08, even if you put it on, like, Varsity. The 1971 Sooners scored 44.5 points a game and rushed for 472 yards per game; the latter statistic still stands as an NCAA record.

Mildren's life, though unnaturally short, was still prosperous beyond belief. He was a Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma, served as vice chairman of Arvest Bank, and hosted a daily sports talk show even after his diagnosis of stomach cancer two years ago. As Orson puts it in his obit at EDSBS, "you haven't even returned all your emails today, have you?"

This is, of course, a sports site, so we'll leave you with highlights of Oklahoma's other huge game of 1971. Much attention is given, and rightly so, to the Official Game of the Century between the Sooners and Nebraska, in which the Huskers prevailed 35-31. (because of that game, anybody who utters the name "Johnny Rodgers" inside state limits may be murdered without penalty). But six weeks prior, the annual Red River Shootout pitted a #4 Oklahoma against #3 Texas in each team's fourth game of the year. Texas had surrendered only 17 points on the season, a number that would rise quite drastically on that October afternoon.

The final score was 48-27, Sooners, and we like to think that Mildren crossed those pearly gates as he did in the final play of the highlight reel: knees high, untouched, and victorious. Godspeed, #11.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-23-2008 @ 7:38PM

Ryan Ferguson said...

Really beautiful piece of writing, Jacobi.

5-24-2008 @ 2:57PM

cfb expert said...

1st college game i remember ever watching was the game of the century at the age of 7. it would be 2 years later when i started following college football religiously so i missed the mildren ran version of the wishbone. ive heard alot of stories about him. i believe he was the top rated qb in hs and had people like johnny unitas telling him which college he should select. he chose ou of course. ou would change the offense during his time there but he adapted and ran it to perfection. god bless jack mildren.

5-24-2008 @ 2:04PM

BRAD HILL said...

AS A HUSKER,FELT VERY SAD AND OLD WHEN I GOT THE NEWS.WE'RE ALL SOONERS TODAY.

5-25-2008 @ 4:28PM

Phil Ferguson said...

I was lucky enough to be a 14 year old teenager with a mother that worked for the University of Oklahoma that loved OU Football & had season tickets to all the home games during the Fairbanks & Switzer years. I never missed a home game & I attended several OU-Texas games as well.I saw all the great QBs & running backs of the wishbone era on & off the field.
Jack Mildren was always a class act & a good role model for everyone who watched his special talents on the gridiron & off.He may have been born in Texas but he was a proud & devoted "Okie" for the majority of his extrodinary life & career.The world is a better place because Jack was in it for a short while with us.Thanks,Jack for all the memories & your public service to the great state of Oklahoma. You will be missed alot. Godspeed Jack.

5-28-2008 @ 9:32AM

Mark Leibold said...

My dad, a University of Missouri alumnus, was nevertheless a dyed-in-the-wool Sooner football fanatic for fifty years, and he never accepted a Sooner loss with even an iota of grace. When Nebraska edged OU in the "Game of the Century," on Thanksgiving Day '71, the man hurled his plate of turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce through the air at his brother's house, frightening everyone in the crowded dining room. Warily, a well-meaning dinner guest softly offered condolences to dad: "Don't take it so hard, Lowell--it's only a football game." Replied dad: "The hell it is. It's a matter of life and death every time these two teams get within a mile of one another." Dad had seen the greatest of the Sooner dynasties first-hand during the early postwar Wilkinson years, and yet he went to his grave believing the sun rose and set in young Jack Mildren and those '70-'71 Sooners.