Which six Oklahoma football greats would you invite to the ideal dinner party?
By Chip Rouse
Billy Sims
Billy Sims was one of the best college running backs I have ever seen. He was fast, he was elusive, and when he got up a head of steam he was practically unstoppable. He reminded a lot of the great Gayle Sayers, who I got to see in person when I was a freshman at the University of Kansas.
Sims played at Oklahoma for four seasons (1976-79), but it was his junior and senior seasons in which he made his mark. Up until last season, Sims was the career rushing leader at Oklahoma (Samaje Perine topped Sims’ record of 4,118 yards by four yards).
A two-time consensus All-American (1978-79) while at Oklahoma, Sims rushed for a combined 457 yards as a redshirt-freshman and sophomore, but he exploded for a combined 3,566 rushing yards in his final two seasons as a Sooner. He ran for 1,896 yards in his junior year in 1978 and was awarded the Heisman Trophy, Oklahoma’s third Heisman winner at the time. He followed that up with 1,670 rushing yards in his final college season.
Sims finished second to Charles White of USC in the 1979 Heisman voting, just missing out becoming only the second person ever to win the Heisman Trophy in back to back years.
The former Oklahoma running back was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1980 NFL Draft, selected by the Detroit Lions. Sims played five seasons in the NFL, all with Detroit, before suffering a career-ending knee injury.
A bronze statue of Sims is one of five OU Heisman winners that appears in Heisman Park on the east side of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.