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Oklahoma football: Mount Rushmore 10 of Sooner GOATS of modern era

By Chip Rouse

KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA - JULY 02: The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Monument on July 02, 2020 near Keystone, South Dakota. President Donald Trump is expected to visit the monument and speak before the start of a fireworks display on July 3. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
KEYSTONE, SOUTH DAKOTA - JULY 02: The busts of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln tower over the Black Hills at Mount Rushmore National Monument on July 02, 2020 near Keystone, South Dakota. President Donald Trump is expected to visit the monument and speak before the start of a fireworks display on July 3. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) /
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An Oklahoma Sooners helmet sits in the end zone before the team’s game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
An Oklahoma Sooners helmet sits in the end zone before the team’s game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

No. 5 — HB Tommy McDonald

Tommy McDonald was part of the greatest three-year run in Oklahoma football history. McDonald played on the Oklahoma teams of 1954, ’55 and ’56 under the legendary Bud Wilkinson. The Sooners went 31-0 during that three-year stretch as part of Oklahoma’s NCAA-record 47-game winning streak.

Oklahoma won back-to-back national championships in 1955 and 1956 and McDonald was named a consensus All-American in both seasons and was awarded the Maxwell Award in the 1956 season as the most outstanding college football player.

McDonald was third in the Heisman voting in 1956. Teammate Jerry Tubbs was fourth in the Heisman balloting that year, and there is a good possibility that the two OU players took votes away from each other. Paul Hornung of Notre Dame was the Heisman winner that year, despite the fact the OU hammered the Irish 40-0 that season.

Bruce Drake, the OU basketball coach during the time McDonald was at OU, saw McDonald in a high school all-star game in New Mexico and recommended to Wilkinson that he invite the young New Mexico prospect to visit the Oklahoma campus. The visit took place and Wilkinson offered McDonald a scholarship shortly thereafter.

McDonald played on the OU freshman team in 1953 and made his varsity debut in 1954 as a backup running back. Small for a running back by today’s college standard, the 5-foot, 9-inch, 175-pound McDonald played with great toughness for his size.

He became a starter in 1955 and produced 1,568 rushing yards in 1955 and ’56 combined, leading the team both seasons and averaging 6.3 yards per carry. He also was used as a passer on the option play, completing 26 of 40 passes for 467 yards and three touchdowns in the ’55-’56 seasons.

McDonald turned pro after his college career. He was drafted in the third round of the 1957 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1961, he led the NFL in receiving with 1,144 yards and 13 touchdowns.

The two-time Sooner All-American died in 2018 at the age of 84.

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