FORTY-SEVEN STRAIGHT

Football tradition at the University of Oklahoma still runs strong, as does the record of forty-seven consecutive victories that legendary coach Bud Wilkinson and his players set in the 1950s. Approached but never equaled by teams such as Washington, Miami, and Texas, the streak contributed to the acclaim Wilkinson garnered by amassing an impressive three national championships (1950, 1955, and 1956), twelve consecutive conference titles, twenty-three straight wins on opposing fields, Top Ten rankings for eleven successive years, and a thirty-one game winning streak before the unforgettable forty-seven straight.Forty-seven Straight details how the record grew, season by season, as told by sixty-one of Wilkinsons players during interviews with Harold Keith, the universitys sports publicist who witnessed all 178 football games during the Wilkinson era at OU. The players recall Wilkinsons and his staffs style, methods, and strategies while vividly recalling their most dramatic games. The scholastic integrity of Wilkinsons program, which included high academic standards and graduation rates, produced a successful group of career-minded players.Harold Keith (1903-1998) was the University of Oklahoma Director of Sports Information and the author of Oklahoma Kickoff, also published by the University of Oklahoma PressBerry Tramel is Sports Editor and Columnist for The Daily Oklahoman.