NORMAN — It started with a simple shutout of a high school team. More than a century ago, the University of Oklahoma’s football program notched its first win in the record books with a 12-0 victory over Norman High in 1896.
The win wasn’t big news around the state. It was little more than a footnote in most newspapers around the country.
However, that single victory has led to one of the most impressive runs by a football program the nation has ever seen. With their 31-24 victory over Utah State on Saturday, No. 7 Oklahoma has reached the 800-win plateau quicker than any Division-I program.
“When you say 800 wins, that’s a lot of wins,” former Sooner Joe Washington said. “It’s a unbelievable program we have here. A lot of tradition. Basically, what is taking place now is based on the history and record that we’ve had from the earliest of times.”
Washington was on hand Saturday before the game to watch as several former Sooners had plaques unveiled on the National Award Winners Honor Wall. He watched as players such as J.D. Roberts, Jerry Tubbs, Derrick Strait, Rocky Calmus and Ricky Dixon were honored.
Each of the honorees earned a place on the wall by winning individual national honors during their time at Oklahoma. But it was the program’s success in reaching 800 that brought them the most pride.
“It’s always an honor to come back and be with the guys that all played here,” Roberts said. “We are all on the same team. It’s great for this program.”
In 1895, OU fielded its first football team. Their first and only game that season was Nov. 7 against Oklahoma City University. The Sooners were trounced 34-0.
If school officials had decided to scrap the team, not many people would have noticed at the time. However, Oklahoma gave the sport another chance. Oct. 28, 1896, the Sooners won the first game of their career when they beat Norman High. Two weeks later they beat the Tigers again 16-4 to run their record to 2-1 in two years.
Oklahoma now sits in eighth place on the all-time wins list with 800. Heading into the first week of the season, they were 12 wins behind No. 7 Penn State and 78 behind No. 1 Michigan.
Yet, the Sooners believe those schools are behind Oklahoma when it comes to tradition and success.
“When I walk through our halls every day and I look at coach (Barry) Switzer and coach (Bud) Wilkinson’s record, I am humbled daily,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “It’s a good thing. I tell the recruits constantly ... I just open our books and I just start rattling off all the All-Americans, the national champions. And I look at all the championships that span decades. Our history goes on forever. No one had won more football games in this country after WWII than the University of Oklahoma.”
Of the Sooners 800 victories, 561 have come since 1945. That is No. 1 in college football, with Texas a distant second with 538.
“Everybody has always known Oklahoma as a winning-caliber program,” Strait said.
Tubbs, who was a consensus All-America in 1956, wasn’t worried about reaching a milestone such as 800 when he played. But decades later, he can now appreciate it all.
“We didn’t think too much about it,” Tubbs said. “We were just thinking about right then and there. And that’s what we did. It’s really a tremendous thing to win 800 games.”
Why Oklahoma has reached 800 wins in a short amount of time is no secret to the players and coaches who have worn the crimson uniforms.
“Being able to get this 800th win is quite historic and always good to be part of something like that,” Washington said. “You are talking about a small state in the Midwest with not the greatest of population. A history, of course, playing the black athletes before some of the other schools, especially in Texas and the Southwestern conference. It’s a little unique.”
