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Political football
Published: 9/18/2010 8:38 PM
Last Modified: 9/18/2010 8:38 PM

I just finished writing about Oklahoma’s close call against Air Force and what I want to know is who was the most significant politician among the 84,332 fans in attendance?

OU has played six games against the nation’s three football-playing service academies and it’s usually not a surprise to see someone presidential.

OU’s first game against a service academy was a 21-7 loss to Army in 1946 and Harry Truman was in the crowd. Army stretched its winning streak to 20 games that day, even though Felix “Doc” Blanchard did not play due to a leg injury. His tag-team partner, Glenn Davis, played a key role.

The Sooners played against Army again in 1959 and a Massachusetts senator named John Kennedy was in attendance, never mind a 28-degree temperature. Yes, that John Kennedy.

Published reports fail to indicate if any big-time office holders attending OU games against service academies in subsequent years (1961, 1965, 2001), but it’s worth noting that the no-huddle offense isn’t something brand new.

During a 1961 game against Army at Yankees Stadium, OU quickly lined up without huddling on its second possession and the Cadets were still breaking their defensive huddle when Jimmy Carpenter took a hurry-up snap and pitched to Mike McClellan, who ran 74 yards for a touchdown that proved big in a 14-8 win.

Sooner coach Bud Wilkinson said the play wasn’t new in ‘61. He ‘fessed up to stealing it from Minnesota, which used it to go up 6-0 on Northwestern in 1950. Wilkinson once ran for the senate in 1964. Does he count as a politician?


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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