Oklahoma football: Ranking the the Sooner teams of the past seven decades
By Chip Rouse
#5 — 1960s Oklahoma Sooners football (62-40-2)
Oklahoma football in the 1960s was far from the best in the school’s esteemed football history. In fact, the Sooners’ .606 winning percentage in those 10 years is the fourth worst all-time.
Bud Wilkinson was head coach the first four seasons, compiling a record of 24-16, before stepping down after the 1963 season. In 1960, Wilkinson’s team won just three times while losing six and playing to one tie. Almost unfathomable for a coach who won 93 games and lost just 10 times in the previous decade.
Wilkinson was succeeded by Gomer Jones (1964-65), Jim Mackenzie (1966) and Chuck Fairbanks (1967-72). Oklahoma won 10 consecutive conference championships in the 1950s, but just three (1962, 1967, 1968) in the 10 years beginning in 1960.
While the Oklahoma win total was at a low point sandwiched between the record-breaking decade of the ’50s and the prolific 1970s, the Sooners weren’t without star power during the 1960s.
Ralph Neely was a two-time All-American offensive tackle at Oklahoma (1963-64) and went on to a 13-year all-star career in the National Football League with the Dallas Cowboys. Steve Owens became the Sooners second Heisman Trophy winner after a spectacular season on a 6-4 Sooner team in 1969. There were also two-time All-Americans Granville Liggins, a nose guard, and linebacker Carl McAdams.
And those of us of a certain age will not forget Joe Don Looney, who some will say his last name was a perfect match for his character. Looney virtually flunked out of the University of Texas, was kicked out of TCU and eventually landed at Oklahoma. Although his time as a Sooner also was a brief one. In 1962, Looney gained 852 rushing yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry for the Sooners. He played in only three games in 1963 before being dismissed from the team by Wilkinson for what at the time was described as misconduct.