Larry Jack Mildren (October 10, 1949 – May 22, 2008), was an All-American

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

, and professional

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

with the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. A native Texan, he was later an oil company owner, elected as the 13th

lieutenant governor of Oklahoma The lieutenant governor of Oklahoma is the second-highest executive official of the state government of Oklahoma. As first in the gubernatorial line of succession, the lieutenant governor becomes the new governor of Oklahoma upon the death, res ...

, and enjoyed a career as a successful bank executive in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Early years

Born in

Kingsville, Texas Kingsville is a city in the southern region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Kleberg County. Located on the U.S. Route 77 corridor between Corpus Christi and Harlingen, Kingsville is the principal city of the Kingsville Micr ...

, Mildren played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

at Cooper High School in Abilene, set passing records, and graduated

College football

Mildren is perhaps best known as the "Godfather of the

Wishbone Wishbone commonly refers to: * Furcula, a fork-shaped bone in birds and some dinosaurs Wishbone may also refer to: * Wish-Bone, an American salad dressing and condiment company * Wishbone formation, a type of offense in American football * Wishb ...

" going back to his days as quarterback at the

Introduced at OU in October 1970 by head coach

Chuck Fairbanks Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...

, the success of "The Bone" depended on a

with a rare combination of quickness, strength, and intelligence. Posting a mediocre 6–4 record in Mildren's sophomore year in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and off to a lackluster 2–1 start in 1970, Fairbanks'

Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...

installed the option offense during the two-week period between a home loss to and the annual

Red River Rivalry The Oklahoma–Texas football rivalry is a college football rivalry game between border rivals Oklahoma and Texas. The two teams first played each other in 1900, and the rivalry has been renewed annually and uninterrupted since 1929 for a tot ...

clash against arch-rival

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Despite losing to the Longhorns (who had run the wishbone to a national title the Oklahoma quickly turned their season around, going in their final eight games, and also ushered in a period of rushing dominance seldom seen before Mildren set records in his senior season in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

that have since been exceeded. The Sooners posted an record, with the wishbone averaging over 472 yards rushing per game. Mildren set records for most rushing yards in a season (1,140), most career touchdown passes (25), and season passing efficiency (209.0) record. OU won its first nine games and fell just short of a national championship, losing at home in Norman on Thanksgiving to eventual champ

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

, billed as the Game of the Century. The defending national champion Cornhuskers gambled defensively by taking halfback

Greg Pruitt Gregory Donald Pruitt (born August 18, 1951) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) from 1973 through 1984. He was selected to five Pro Bowls, four as a member of the Cleveland Browns and one as a member o ...

out of the action and forced Mildren to defeat them virtually on his own; he threw for two touchdowns and ran for Mildren was named both All-American and Academic All-American his senior season. He was also named the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

MVP after the Sooners' victory over #5 Auburn in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...

, a game OU led Mildren's 1971 single-season record for yards rushing by a quarterback (1,140) was broken three seasons later by

Freddie Solomon Freddie Solomon (January 11, 1953 – February 13, 2012) was a professional American football player who was selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 2nd round of the 1975 NFL Draft. A native of Sumter, South Carolina, he was a graduate of Sumt ...

Pro football

Mildren was selected in the

second round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

of the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

(46th overall) by the

and joined the ranks of the pros for three seasons, playing

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

for the Colts and

Political career

In 1990, Mildren was elected the 22nd

Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma The lieutenant governor of Oklahoma is the second-highest executive official of the state government of Oklahoma. As first in the gubernatorial line of succession, the lieutenant governor becomes the new governor of Oklahoma upon the death, res ...

. In 1994, Mildren was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Oklahoma, losing to Republican

Frank Keating Francis Anthony Keating II (initially born as David Rowland Keating) (born February 10, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 25th governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003. , Keating is one of only five governors in Okl ...

by approximately 17% of the popular vote (in a three-way race; narrowly coming in second place against independent gubernatorial candidate

Wes Watkins Wesley Wade Watkins (born December 15, 1938) is an American politician from the state of Oklahoma. Watkins is a retired member of the United States House of Representatives where he had represented for 14 years as a Democrat and then for six ye ...

, a former Democratic Congressman who later become a GOP Congressman). Although Mildren was at first the frontrunner in the Governor's race,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

was a strong year for the

Republican party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

while President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

was controversial nationally and unpopular in Oklahoma. The Republican congressional landslide of 1994 included the historic takeover of both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Career in banking

Mildren served as the Vice-Chairman for the Arvest Bank Group, and as an announcer for Jox 930

WKY WKY (930 AM) is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, owned by Cumulus Media. It is the oldest radio station in Oklahoma and among the oldest in the nation. WKY airs a sports format which is simulcast with its sister statio ...

– Oklahoma's oldest radio station – which is an all-sports radio station in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

. He was also a regular contributor on WWLS The Sports Animal, having a regular segment with Al and Jim (The Total Dominance Hour).

Personal life

Mildren had three children; Leigh Woody (married to Russell Woody), Lauren Buchanan (married to Brad Buchanan) and Andrew Mildren (married to Caroline Mildren). His lineage now includes grandsons: Jacob Mildren Woody, Christopher Russell Woody, Jack Culver Mildren and Lucas Taylor Buchanan; and he had two granddaughters Elizabeth Grace Mildren and Olivia Claire Mildren. He is survived as well by his wife Janis.

Death

Mildren died of

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a cancer that develops from the lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a number of subtypes, including gastric adenocarcinomas. Ly ...

at age 58 in 2008.

References

External links

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mildren, Jack 1949 births 2008 deaths American athlete-politicians American football quarterbacks Baltimore Colts players Deaths from stomach cancer Lieutenant Governors of Oklahoma New England Patriots players Oklahoma Sooners football players People from Kingsville, Texas Sportspeople from Abilene, Texas Sportspeople from Oklahoma City 20th-century American politicians Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma