© 2001 By Contributing Editor Darl DeVault

The University of Oklahoma’s Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is putting together a special exhibit saluting OU’s national champions through the years. The exhibit "Sooner Football: The Championship Years" will celebrate the 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985 and 2000 teams. One athlete who deserves attention in the new display is OU's most complete football player of the century, Tommy McDonald.

Who would have thought that the most complete University of Oklahoma football player of the 20^th century would be one of its smallest. The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Tommy Franklin McDonald, the only player to ever lead in all four offensive categories as a Sooner, also enjoyed success as a defensive halfback.

His 12-year NFL career was also successful. McDonald became a wide receiver after being drafted No. 33 in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles. He went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Atlanta Falcons, and the Cleveland Browns. He was enshrined in 1998 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A running back, receiver, halfback passer, punt and kick-off returner from Bud Wilkinson's glory days in Norman, McDonald is arguably the most complete player ever to set foot on Owen Field.

After achieving the pinnacle in the NFL, he is thankful for his start at OU. Foremost, McDonald appreciates the opportunity Wilkinson offered by recruiting him. "I'm just glad I got a scholarship here," McDonald said. He said he believes, as small as he was, he was only properly evaluated by NFL scouts because of his play on two national championship teams ('55 and '56) at OU during Wilkinson's historic 47-game winning streak.

Remembered as No. 25, he was one of the smallest, fastest, and most complete football players to wear Crimson and Cream. Perhaps complete is not descriptive enough in McDonald's case.

By throwing an accurate halfback pass, he provided the Sooners with a potent triple threat. He is still, 44 seasons later, the only Sooner to lead the team for a season in all four offensive categories: rushing, passing, receiving and scoring.

"You sure can't argue with McDonald's statistics," said Bill Connors recently, retired sports editor of the Tulsa World. "He was also the most enthusiastic player they ever had at OU-- that always impressed me about him."

In '55 and '56, McDonald was the top rusher on the country's best rushing team. In '55 he led in passing and scoring to become the first Sooner to score a TD in every game of a season, as OU led the nation in scoring with 36.5 points a game. He led OU in receiving in '56. McDonald averaged kick-off returns of 25 yards and punt returns of 15.8 yards.

As a junior in '55, he gained 702 yards in 103 carries for a 6.8 yard-per-carry average. He scored 16 TDs, caught six passes for 104 yards and completed 17 of 24 passes for 265 yards.

As a senior in '56, he gained 853 yards in 119 carries for a 7.2 yard-per-carry average. He scored 17 TDs, caught 12 passes for 282 yards and passed for 183 yards resulting in 3 TDs.

McDonald says he liked to play defensive halfback at OU. He is proud of his fourth-in-the-nation and team-leading six interceptions his senior year, many of which he returned for long gains. Only four teams scored on OU that year. That team still owns the OU defensive record for the least passing yardage given up in a season with 555 yards.

His 91-yard punt runback against Iowa State and his blocking a point-after attempt against Kansas his junior year also emphasize his versatility.

His natural track-star speed was his ticket to greatness, both at OU and in his NFL career. As Oklahoma's split-T formation left halfback, McDonald was fast.

In the state track meet as a senior at Albuquerque, N.Mex., Highland High, he earned five gold medals (100, 220, low-hurdles and two relays). His 100-yard dash time was 10 seconds flat. Sports historians consider that a fast time, noting the quality of the spikes and track surfaces of that era.

McDonald's athletic ability was fostered by his sports-loving father, Clyde McDonald, who encouraged him to run the half-mile to school in Roy, N.Mex. McDonald expanded that to a life-long habit of running everywhere on the football field.

Wilkinson credited McDonald's competitiveness and hustle in establishing the up-tempo, fast-break OU offense-- quick to return to the huddle and quick to the line.

"Tommy McDonald figures that any play that doesn't go for a touchdown is a failure," Wilkinson said in his hyperactive halfback's heyday. "When he carries the ball and doesn't score, he's mad and wants to hurry up and take another crack at it. His desire is tremendous. When he is tackled, he jumps up and tears back to the huddle. It's nothing we taught him. It's something God gave him, or his parents, or somebody. The other boys picked it up from him and that's how our fast break started."

"I saw him play all three years and he just kept getting better," Connors said recently. "He was a fearless receiver, sacrificing his body to make the catch. He would just get creamed and jump up and act like it didn't bother him."

One of the reasons McDonald's name does not readily come to mind as OU’s most complete football player of the 20^th century was Wilkinson's coaching style. There was not much difference in talent between his first and second teams.

Ahead of his time, Wilkinson platooned his first and second teams. The first team played the first quarter and rested while the second team played the second. The first team started the third quarter, and then the second team finished the game.

An exception to Wilkinson's platooning strategy adds even more to his mystique. McDonald recently mentioned what he terms the "jersey speech." In his senior year the Sooners fell behind the Colorado Buffaloes when they let down the week after beating national-rival Notre Dame 40-0. The Buffaloes used a single-wing formation, problematic for OU, to score 19 points that day-- the most points scored against OU that ’56 season.

Being behind at half-time was a rare event for OU. Wilkinson gave a motivational speech at half-time and allowed his starters to stay in the game into the fourth quarter until their lead was comfortable. McDonald remembers that speech to this day.

"Coach pointed out that we had a responsibility to the players that had worn those jerseys before us during that unbeaten streak," McDonald said. "He challenged us to keep that streak alive and to not let them down. Not ever hearing anything like this from Wilkinson before, we were anxious to get back out that door and show Colorado we weren't going to let them break that streak. In fact, we were so fired up we could have bypassed the door and run right through the wall."

Wilkinson's great coaching and recruiting had a downside for individual players in that era. OU players could not get enough snaps, carries or receptions to surpass athletes from other national powers for individual honors. All-America status was possible with each position represented, but chances for individual national honors were limited.

McDonald was an exception with his selection as the Maxwell Memorial Award winner, and The Sporting News Player of the Year his senior year. With only half the normal playing time and only 249 career rushes, it was a wonder that McDonald won these awards. To this day he is the only OU athlete to win the Maxwell Memorial Award. Josh Heupel, the 2000 season passing leader, is only the second OU The Sporting News Player of the Year 44 years later.

In the Heisman Trophy voting in '56 the abundance of talented players on the unbeaten Sooners again had a downside. Teammate Jerry Tubbs took fourth in the Heisman voting. "The thing that hurt Jerry and me in not winning the Heisman is we took votes away from each other," McDonald said. "If just one of us had been around, it would have been different."

After close voting, Notre Dame quarterback Paul Hornung won the Heisman. Tennessee quarterback Johnny Majors was second with 994 votes and McDonald third with 973, although he had more first-place votes than Hornung.

McDonald set many records at OU. As a two-time, consensus Associated Press All-American, he set a team record for pass completion percentage for a season and career. His '55 season completion percentage was .708, while he finished with a .636 career record. McDonald still owns the two-year Sooner record for scoring TDs in 19 straight games. He amassed the most rushing yardage and the most TDs of any OU player in a second consecutive national championship season in '56.

Besides being OU's most complete football player of the 20^th century, he also completed his education at OU. He was Academic Big Seven All-Conference in '55 and '56. After his rookie year with the Philadelphia Eagles, he returned to OU in the spring of '58 to complete a bachelor's degree in Industrial Education. He did his student teaching in the Moore, Okla., school system.

Only 5-foot-7 and 148 pounds when recruited by Wilkinson, he played at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds in the NFL. He is the NFL Hall of Fame's shortest member. He was small from birth and made the cover of the July 27, 1964, Sports Illustrated as a Dallas Cowboy, billed as the smallest man in pro football. "I got that my whole life," McDonald said. "Everybody thought you had to be 6-foot-2 and run a 4.4. I tried to show other small players that size is not everything- that they could play as good as the big boys."

He went on to play an amazing-for-a-small-man 12 years in the NFL. A starting wide receiver his second year, McDonald went on an unmatched five-year tear of sustained excellence. During that span ('58-'62), he was a five-time Pro Bowler, gained more receiving yardage (4,450), and scored more TDs (55) than any other receiver in pro ball. McDonald’s 35-yard TD catch helped the Eagles win the '60 NFL Championship Game against the Packers.

His versatility was not limited to the playing field. Always outgoing, McDonald handled the media crush well. He had a natural down-to-earth manner and a quick wit easily communicated to the reader, listener and television viewer.

He published They Pay Me to Catch Footballs in 1961. It followed a year when he caught 64 passes for 1,146 yards and 13 TDs-- the best composite record ever in the NFL at the time. He wrote his own story in a 1964, two-part Sports Illustrated article, just after being traded to the Dallas Cowboys.

Upon retirement in 1968, he ranked sixth in NFL receptions with 495, fourth in yardage gained with 8,410 and second in TD receptions. Overall, his NFL career 84 TDs placed him third all-time behind legendary Cleveland running back Jim Brown with 106, and Green Bay end Don Hutson's 99. Now, 32 seasons later, he still ranks eighth in NFL career TD receptions.

McDonald has developed several business interests and founded a first-of-its-kind oil portrait business. His McDonald Oil Portraits today provides oil portraits to some of the most prestigious sports groups from its Philadelphia-area gallery.

McDonald was enshrined in the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1985, as the fifth of now 13 Sooners in the collegiate hall.