The 1985 Oklahoma Sooners had an unorthodox path to a national championship—it isn’t often a team loses its starting quarterback and the injury turns out best for all parties, but this was a unique case, as a great defense carried the way.
This is part of a series of sports history articles aimed at preserving the best moments of the modern sports era, from 1976 to the present. The focus is team sports—college & pro basketball and football, major league baseball and hockey. This article offers a snapshot of 1985 sports, a year highlighted by a college basketball shocker, a fabulous baseball season, and more.
If you go into the northeastern part of Oklahoma, from Tulsa to the Missouri border, you don’t find a lot in terms of major sports. But you have Oklahoma University football and Kansas City is a 270-mile drive from Tulsa. And in 1985 that would have been all you needed as a sports fan to watch a national football champion and a World Series winner. The last part of ’85 in particular was a fine one for people in this neck of the woods, as they watched the Royals come down the stretch and the Sooner Schooner look to add another title to the great tradition that is Oklahoma football history.