New Book on OU football

[Luke]

I just noticed that the OU Press has released a new book on OU football, entitled An Autumn Remembered, Bud Wilkinson's Legendary '56 Sooners. Barry Switzer said in the foreword he wrote for it, "“If you can remember sitting in Memorial Stadium and watching Tommy McDonald snag passes from Jimmy Harris and Billy Pricer opening big holes for Clendon Thomas to run through and Jerry Tubbs and Bob Harrison smashing ball carriers to the turf, then certainly you will enjoy reliving this memorable season once more. If you are too young to have seen the team in person, then I know you will definitely enjoy learning about it through the pages of this book. In fact, I do not think one has to be a football fan at all to appreciate An Autumn Remembered. The images and emotions evoked here and the inspiration that can be taken extend far beyond the boundaries of the gridiron.”

Sounds good to me!

Looks like you can order direct from the press at www.oupress.com

[Legendarybud]

This is a reprint of a book that was originally published in 1988. The author is Gary King, who I think is a graduate of Norman High School. Each chapter is about a different player with information about their playing days at OU as well as what they were doing at the time the book was first written. The following players each has a chapter: David Baker, Bill Krisher, Tommy McDonald, Benton Ladd, Billy Pricer, Clendon Thomas, Jerry Tubbs, Byron Searcy, Bob Harrison, Jimmy Harris, and Prentice Gautt in addition to a chapter about Bud. It is a very readable book, and I am delighted that it is being reprinted. I have a collection of OU books and this is one of my favorites.

[AllAboutThe'O']

I need to get that book as well as "Forty-Seven Straight" by Harold Keith to add to my collection. Also, my boss had an old copy of George Cross' "Presidents Can't Punt" lying around one day so I skimmed through it. How he had that book, I have no clue, since he's not an OU fan.

[Legendarybud]

It is a shame more books were never written about Bud Wilkinson and his players. One time I was at my hometown library in Texas, and noticed all the books about Paul 'Bear' Bryant. Then I looked at the pitifuuly small collection of OU books of that period which consisted of PRESIDENTS CAN'T PUNT, 47 STRAIGHT (the most detailed and accurate about the Wilkinson era), AN AUTUMN REMEMBERED, I REMEMBER BUD WILKINSON, AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF AN AMERICAN LEGEND (Jay's memoir of his dad) and THE UNDEFEATED (highly entertaining but not always accurate). And that's about it. The library did not have even a fraction of these since most of them are in my private collection. I find it sad that there has never been a true biography of Bud.

If any of you have PRESIDENTS CAN'T PUNT in its original printing, hang on to it. It is out of print and very pricey.

[Octavian]

I've had a couple conversations on here and many more non-innerweb discussions w/ other Sooner fans about this....and its always the same.

I'll say The Undefeated sounds more realistic than Keith's work and responses always come back like:

-Dent is really a crook who made things up....he was in prison, ya know?

-The players themselves (who are now elderly men in their 70s) disagree w/ Dent's depiction of young college athletes partying and chasing girls. They'd never do that...

-Bud Wilkinson was a human being...but just barely...he wasn't a drinker or a ladies man like it was depicted in Dent's piece.

I'm not sayin that 47 Straight is just a piece on hero worship, but it doesn't seem as real-life as Dent's work.

I'd like someone to help me out on this...specifically, why is Dent's account so far off?

TIA.

[stoopified]

Personally I have never heard anyone dispute the facts of the boo,at least not point by point.The biggest flap seems to be that it paints THE LEGEND Bud Wilkinson in an unflattering light.To me the biggest shock is how vociferous Barry Switzer is in his defense of Bud and condemnation of Dent.I would have thought Barry would say SEE I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO LIKED TO party AND RUN AROUND.

I have a friend who contributed to the book and attended OU at the time of THE STREAK..He says it was commonly known by players that Bud drank and kept company with women who were not his wife.In my book that doesn't make Bud anything other than human.

One of the things I thought was noteworthy in THEUNDEFEATED is that Dent does give more depth to Bud's war record in the Navy than most Sooner books I have.Apparently as a deck officer on a carrier(Enterprise?) he saw a great deal of action and acquitted himself gallantly.IF You can get past the negative shadow cast on Bud there are a lot of great stories.

In addition to the other books mentioned,I have SOONER (follows Tinker through the '73 season) THE SOONERS(history of OU football from 1895 to the early70's)Sooner Century(OU football from 1895-1995)inIMHO the best book on OU football history.The one thing they all have in common (aside from the Undefeated)is that there is NOTHING negative in them.

Whether Bennie ,Bud,Barry or Bob are sinners or saints is immatterial to me.What I care most about is that they were all great coaches and SOONERS.

[Jay C. Upchurch]

Harold Keith had been working on a biography on Wilkinson for over 25 years prior to his death in the late 1990s. It is a shame the book never got published.

Keith previously worked 17 years to write "Oklahoma Kickoff," and over 20 years to pen "Forty-Seven Straight."

And having read both "Forty-Seven Straight" and Dent's book, there is no doubt Keith's book is by far more accurate and to the point. It was written more from a football perspective rather than a personal one like Dent's, which sensationalizes parts of Wilkinson's private life and get a good number of facts absolutely wrong.

No, Wilkinson was no saint. But Dent's depiction is quite a distortion of the truth, according to a number of people who knew the man personally.

[Legendarybud]

I think one has to understand that the two books in question: THE UNDEFEATED and 47 STRAIGHT really need to be read in two different ways. THE UNDEFEATED is highly entertaining and very readable. It reads much like a novel and is a real page turner. Dent also wrote the book about Paul 'Bear' Bryant - THE JUNCTION BOYS. One can see the similarity in them. They are fast-paced and can really hook the reader. 47 STRAIGHT is written as an actual game by game account of all of the Wilkinson games. It is primarily designed as a historical document for those who want to know the real history of that era. I don't think it was ever designed as a quick read. They are two entirely different books - each written with a different perspective and for different purposes and audiences.

I also own SOONER CENTURY which is a really fine book about the history of OU football from 1895 to 1995. It is written by J. Brent Clark who also wrote THIRD DOWN AND FOREVER, a historical perspective of the life of Joe Don Looney. I found one of the most intriguing features of SOONER CENTURY to be the outstanding collection of pictures of so many past games and history. I find it a great reference tool. WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SOONER is another book which takes a long view of OU football and relates personal memories of various players from each of the different coaching eras. It is the most recent of all the books.

It is a shame that Keith's biography of Bud was never finished. An interesting fact about Keith is that in addition to being an SID he was also a prolific writer of young people's books. I remember when I first found his books on the shelf at the school where I was teaching. I couldn't believe it was the same person. His books for young readers are outstanding and one of them won the Newberry award for fiction which is like the Oscar for children's authors. These books covered a variety of topics and were not especially sports books.

I remember Jay Wilkinson telling me that when he was making publicity tours at the time his own book was published that Harold Keith was very helpful to him.

While two entirely different men, I never think of Keith without also remembering Port Robertson. I guess it is because both men were so instrumental in the history of OU football.

For those of you who like to read about OU football, I hope these titles will become part of your library.

[HarrisTubbsFan]

Nobody is perfect. And Bud wasn't perfect as a person. But neither was Barry. Neither is Bob probably. Bennie was too long ago to really know about. But I'm sure he wasn't perfect. There's no such thing as a perfect person. But in the end these were all 4 good ambassadors for the game and great coaches.

There are a lot of pretty good OU books out there. Even some of the newer one's by Jay Smith and Josh Heupel and of course Tale's from the Sooner Sideline by Mr. Upchurch. I'm sure you could probably find about 3 or 4 books full of those type of stories with the long history of OU football.

[Legendarybud]

I am delighted to know about some of the newer OU football books. I had, of course, heard about Mr. Upchurch's book, and it is on my reading list. When I said there was a shortage of OU football books, I was referring specifically to those that dealt only with the Wilkinson era and lamenting that there were not more of them, and also that there had never been a specific biography of Bud. Jay's book is about his dad and can't really be classified as one relating to his football days at OU because while it covers those years to some extent, it is really an account of his entire life.

I think it is interesting that two of the books about the Wilkinson era are being reprinted. I wonder if it because it has been 50 years since that long ago stretch of victories. I would not be surprised to see PRESIDENTS CAN'T PUNT also reprinted in the near future. It is a fascinating book because it is written from an entirely different perspective than any of the others. I wonder if any other college or university president has ever written a book specifically about the football team during his tenure in office? Probably not.

In my quest for books about the Wilkinson era, my research indicated that at least a couple of his players had written books about their playing days - Tommy McDonald and Jakie Sandefer. However, I was unable to locate either of them even after searching rare book collections. Maybe with the current interest in this era, they might consider reprinting them.

[HarrisTubbsFan]

There's also another pretty good book that I need to read. What it Means to Be a Sooner. I've heard good reviews about it.

[MamaMia]

I dont believe that I've yet had the pleasure.

Welcome to the board Legendarybud. :)

http://www.gifs.cc/welcome1.gif

[olevetonahill]

I dont believe that I've yet had the pleasure.

Welcome to the board Legendarybud. :)

http://www.gifs.cc/welcome1.gif
Yep
Now who in hell Negged ?
Come on folks lets get out the green for him

[Legendarybud]

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SOONER is by Jeff Snook who interestingly graduated from Ohio State University! It takes each decade from the forties to the present and has various players of each era discuss what it meant to them to be a Sooner. Some of the choices are obvious and some are not. Over forty players are quoted.

Thanks to those who welcomed me to this board. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.