Oklahoma football family mourns the loss of ex-Sooner Tom Carroll
By Chip Rouse
Seven decades as one of the most recognized and revered programs in college football has given Oklahoma football fans much to celebrate over a very long period of time. But there also is sadness associated with those 70 years, because it means the periodic loss of members of the extended Sooner football family.
Tom Carroll, one of the unsung Sooner heroes who played for the late, great Bud Wilkinson in the early 1950s, died last week in Stillwater. He was 85 years old.
Baseball historians and fanatics of the game will recall the story of Wally Pipp of New York Yankee fame. According to popular legend. Pipp, the starting Yankee first baseman in 1925, sat out a game that season because of a headache. His replacement was Lou Gehrig. Gehrig went on to play the next 2,130 consecutive games at first base for the Yankees and become one of the greatest major league players of all-time.
The reason for the aforementioned anecdote is because Carroll’s Oklahoma football story followed a similar, yet less notorious, path.
Carroll grew up in the small town of Okemah, Okla., located about 80 miles due east of Norman. After high school, he enrolled at Oklahoma and was a halfback on the 1950 Sooner team.
He was called to military duty that same year during the Korean War. With Carroll away from the team, Wilkinson moved a promising sophomore named Billy Vessels to offense. Vessels helped lead Oklahoma to its first national championship in 1950. In 1952 Vessels became the first of five Oklahoma Sooners to be awarded the Heisman Trophy, following a season in which he ran for 1,072 yards, including seven 100-yard games, and scored 17 touchdowns.
Carroll returned to the Oklahoma football team in 1952, but saw only limited playing time. He may best be remembered for his starring role in the Sooners win over Red River rival Texas the following season.
In the 1953 OU-Texas game, Carroll intercepted a pass on defense and scored on a 48-yard touchdown run. The Sooners went on to win the game 19-14. That was the second of six consecutive Oklahoma wins over the Longhorns under Wilkinson between 1952-57.
Carroll graduated from the University of Oklahoma with two engineering degrees. After college, he worked in the oil business until his retirement.