In 1947, the University of Oklahoma promoted tenderfoot assistant Bud Wilkinson to the lofty mantle of Head Coach following Jim Tatum’s ephemeral stint. In the 40+ years prior to Wilkinson’s hiring, the OU football program was ambitious —including an unofficial National Championship awarded by the Billingsley Report in 1915. However, with Wilkinson at the helm, the program ascended to legendary status in short order.
Officially, Wilkinson’s Sooners won 3 National Championships: 1950, 1955, and 1956. The revered sideline General's powerhouse teams also collected “unofficial” National championships in 1949, 1953, and 1957. However, the defining phenomenon of the Wilkinson era is a piece of Sooner lore known simply as “The Streak.