Oklahoma Football: Top 10 Quarterbacks in Modern Sooners History

Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cheerleader performs during a timeout from the game against the Texas Longhorns during Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

No. 6 Jimmy Harris (1954-56)

The lead paragraph in an article by Berry Tramel in the Oklahoma City Oklahoman on Aug. 9, 2011, read: “Jimmy Harris finally lost one.”

The article was a tribute to former Oklahoma quarterback Jimmy Harris, who had died of lung cancer the evening before. The reference was to the fact that the Sooners never lost a game in three seasons with Harris at quarterback.

Oklahoma was 31-0 while Harris was at quarterback from 1954-56, 18-0 in Big Seven Conference games, and won back-to-back national championships in 1955 and 1956. Harris was the quarterback during much of the Sooners’ record-setting 47-game winning streak under Bud Wilkinson, which has yet to be broken and is one of those incredible achievements that may stand forever.

In his three seasons as a player at Oklahoma, Harris was more prolific with his feet than his arm. He rushed for 1,237 yards in his Sooner career, averaging right at five yards per carry, and 11 rushing touchdowns. When he did throw a pass, which was 80 times total while at OU, he completed 39 for 745 passing yards and 10 touchdowns.

Harris was a fifth-round selection of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1957 NFL Draft. He was drafted as a defensive back. He played one season with the Eagles, one season (1958) with the Los Angeles Rams, one season with the Dallas Texans (now the Kansas City Chiefs) in the American Football League (1960), and his final season of professional football was with the Dallas Cowboys (1961).

Harris was 76 years old when he died.

Next: No. 5 - Jamelle Holieway (1985-88)