A Slice of History on Thursday: Oklahoma State has Part of the Wishbone History

STILLWATER – The SEC Network is debuting a new documentary in their SEC Storied series on Thursday, July 17 at 7 p.m. with “The Wishbone”. Now, I have no illusions of grandeur for Oklahoma State. Yes, Oklahoma State adopted the wishbone and ran it successfully during the early to mid 70s. We’ll get back to that here in a paragraph or two.

Texas A&M Athletics

Emory Ballard, later head coach at Texas A&M invented the wishbone.

The wishbone was invented by Texas high school coach Emory Ballard in the late 50s and early 60s. Ballard was coaching powerful teams at Breckenridge High School and then at San Angelo Central in the high school district (2-4A) known as the little Southwest Conference, which featured Abilene Odessa Permian, Midland, and San Angelo Central. 

The wishbone featured the quarterback with a fullback directly behind him and then two halfbacks slightly behind the fullback on either side. The offense was triple option with the fullback on the dive, the quarterback on a keeper, then the backside halfback trailing as a pitch option to go wide. The frontside halfback would serve as a lead blocker for either the quarterback on the keeper or the halfback on the pitch.  

It worked so well, the University of Texas head coach Darrell Royal, desperate as his Longhorns offense was struggling brought Ballard in to teach the offense and Texas enjoyed a huge surge running in for many years. Royal was more than generous and when rival Oklahoma was looking for a new offense, he let them come in and learn it and take it back to Norman. 

ABC Television

Texas on offense, started the wishbone in this region. Oklahoma, on defense here, soon copied.

“I never worried about it being a gamble. I just figured I would be on my knees (unemployed) if we didn’t do it,” then Oklahoma offensive coordinator said of converting to the wishbone.

Royal also passed the wishbone material to his good friend at Alabama in Bear Bryant, and the bone buoyed Bryant’s coaching career late in his tenure.

At Oklahoma State in 1972 head coach Dave Smith in his first season as the Cowboys coach brought in Pug Gabriel as the offensive coordinator. Gabriel had been at Texas and brought the wishbone with him. With Blackman, a quick and effective runner and passer at quarterback and the perfect backfield with George Palmer as the fullback and halfbacks like Fountain Smith, Alton Gerard and Alfred Nelms, the wishbone took off quickly. 

Oklahoma State Athletics

Dave Smith had OC Pug Gabriel teach the wishbone at OSU.

On Sept. 30 that season, unbeaten and No. 3-ranked Colorado came to Lewis Field and the Cowboys scored an upset that rocked the nation. Blackman led the Pokes to a 21-0 halftime lead and they closed out the game winning 31-6.

Gerard ran for three touchdowns and Blackman finished an 80-yard drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Steve Pettes. Dave Rosenthal, a good friend, told me he caught a couple of passes in the contest. 

“I was covered by a defensive back from Colorado, Cullen Bryant. He went on to a long NFL career playing running back for the Los Angeles Rams,” Rosenthal remembered. He also remembered that Colorado had a big defensive end by the name of Bud Mangum, Mangum had come back from Vietnam and was in his late 20’s playing for the Buffs. 

Oklahoma State Athletics

Blackman (10) and guard Mike Clendennon celebrate the win over Colorado.

Oklahoma State outrushed Colorado 307-yards-to-205 and outgained them overall 369-yards-to-254. Oklahoma State went on to a 6-5 record and at the end of the season Smith left and took the head coach job at SMU. 

His defensive coordinator, Jim Stanley was elevated to the head coach position at Oklahoma State, where he would eventually lead OSU to a Big 12 tri-championship in 1976. The Cowboys went to bowl games in 1974 and 1976, beating BYU in both, 16-6 in the 1974 Fiesta Bowl and 49-21 in the 1976 Tangerine Bowl. 

The wishbone really lasted through the 1976 season and Oklahoma State posted some impressive numbers with it.

During this time, Oklahoma State switched from a bright orange and black to a burnt orange almost brown. Head coach Jim Stanley liked it because the ball blended into the color of the jersey and in the wishbone made it hard to tell which player had the football.