Oklahoma football: Sooners mourn loss of former All-American J.D. Roberts

Sooner fans are mourning the loss of another outstanding member of the Oklahoma football family.

Former consensus All-American J.D. Roberts, a guard on the Oklahoma team from 1951 to 1953, died on Monday in Oklahoma City at the age of 88. He was born in Oklahoma City, but moved to Dallas when he was six-years-old.

Roberts played under legendary head coach Bud Wilkinson and during an era when players played on both offense and defense. He was awarded the Outland Trophy his senior season in 1953 as college football’s most outstanding lineman. That was also the season that the Sooners began their NCAA-record 47-game winning streak.

As an offensive lineman on Sooner teams in 1951 and 1952, Roberts blocked for Billy Vessels, who in 1952 became the first Oklahoma player to win the Heisman Trophy. Oklahoma was 25-4-2 during the time Roberts played for the Sooners.

Wilkinson once said of his outstanding two-way lineman:

"“(He had) extraordinary ability, speed and tremendous desire.”"

Roberts was selected in the 17th round of the 1954 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers, but never played in an NFL game. Instead, he joined the Marine Corps after graduation from OU and served as a second lieutenant in the Korean War.

After leaving the armed forces, Roberts went into coaching and served as an assistant at Denver, Houston, the U.S. Naval Academy and at Oklahoma.

In 1967, he became part of the coaching staff of the new NFL expansion team the New Orleans Saints. Three years later, he became head coach of the Saints and served in that capacity for three seasons.

After leaving the Saints, Roberts left football and embarked on a successful career in the oil and gas industry.

In 1993, Roberts was inducted into the National Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame.