Services pending for former OU quarterback
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By ROCHELLE HINES / The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — He survived battles with football powerhouses like Nebraska and Texas and weathered a few political skirmishes in Oklahoma government’s second-highest office, but Jack Mildren couldn’t beat his toughest opponent: stomach cancer.
The former lieutenant governor and pilot of the University of Oklahoma’s vaunted wishbone offense died from complications of the disease at an Oklahoma City hospital on Thursday. He was 58.
Mildren was diagnosed two years ago with cancer but had continued to serve as a vice chairman for Arvest Bank and host a daily sports radio show on WKY 930-AM.
“It had gone into remission and then they did tests sometime in the middle of last summer, and unfortunately it came back,” his brother, Richard Mildren, said by telephone early Friday. “Then they went through another round of chemotherapy and that didn’t work. He went to (University of Texas) M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and I don’t know what became of that.
“He kind of just didn’t make through the day, you know? He was going through a bad time. It didn’t look good for the home team,” his brother said.
Legislators at the state Capitol observed a moment of silence for Mildren, a Democrat who walked the halls there in the 1990s. Mildren was elected lieutenant governor in 1990 and decided to run for governor, drawing Republican Frank Keating and independent Wes Watkins as opponents in 1994. Keating was the eventual winner.
Mildren came to Oklahoma from Abilene, Texas, where he set passing records at Cooper High School. After a record-setting sophomore year, the Sooners got off to a sluggish start during his junior year in 1970, prompting coach Chuck Fairbanks to switch to the wishbone offense.
The Sooners racked up 5,196 yards on 813 rushes that season, finishing 11-1 by defeating Auburn in the Sugar Bowl.
Oklahoma’s only loss came in the so-called “Game of the Century,” when top-ranked Nebraska beat the No. 2 Sooners 35-31 despite four touchdowns from Mildren — two rushing and two passing. Nebraska went on to win the 1971 national championship, and OU finished No. 2.
Mildren completed the season with 1,289 yards rushing — the most in school history for a quarterback — and 20 touchdowns before being drafted by the Baltimore Colts. He worked in the oil and gas industry before trying his hand at politics.
“He was more than just a great athlete. He was a great political mind, and he will be sorely missed,” former state House Speaker Pro Tempore Danny Hilliard told The Oklahoman.
Hilliard, director of government relations for the University of Oklahoma, heard about Mildren’s death while he was at the state Capitol on Thursday.
“He called me last month to tell me he wanted me to know he was going through a radical procedure at M.D. Anderson. He was positive and upbeat,” Hilliard said.
Although his family had roots in Texas, Richard Mildren said they decided to move to Oklahoma after his brother’s successful college career.
“I followed him, then our parents moved up here after that. That’s how we became Oklahomans.”
Services are pending for Mildren, who is survived by his wife, Janis, three children, two brothers and his mother, Mary, Richard Mildren said.
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