TUPATALK: 70 years since Vessels tore up gridiron for Oklahoma
This year marks the 70th Anniversary of Billy Vessels winning the Heisman Trophy — the first University of Oklahoma gridder to claim that honor.
He was the first of seven Sooner to collect the Heisman honor, the others being Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Jason White, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
A native of Cleveland (Okla.) — about an hour southwest of Bartlesville — Vessels grew up as an Oklahoma State fan.
But, by the time he came of college age, Oklahoma football coach Bud Wilkinson convinced Vessels to become a Sooner.
Of such decisions are destiny made.
Unable to play as a freshman, due to the NCAA rules back then, Vessels erupted onto the college landscape with 870 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns as a sophomore (1950). The Sooners seized the national title that season.
He missed a good chunk of his junior year — due to injury.
Vessels made history in 1952 by rumbling for 1,072 yards and 18 touchdowns. Notre Dame felt the full impact of the bruising ballcarrier — 17 rushes for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a scoring strike to score all of the Sooners’ touchdowns in the 27-21 loss — in which his fumble helped the Irish hold on.
At the end of the ’52 season, Vessels took home the Heisman Trophy. But, back then, there was really no Heisman Hype compared to smothering coverage the award has drawn for the past few decades, starting with the campaigning and forecasting even prior to the season’s start.
Vessels went on to make history in pro football as the first Heisman winner to play in the Canadian Football League.
In fact, he spurned the Baltimore Colts — who drafted him No. 1 in 1953 — in order to migrate north to play for Edmonton. The CFL named him the Most Outstanding Player for 1953.
Vessels eventually played for the Colts — but not until he had served as an officer — and also played football — in the military during a frosty stretch in the early Cold War era.
Following his military service, Vessels found the directions to the NFL, joining the Baltimore Colts. During his only NFL season, he scored three touchdowns and rushed for 215 yards on 44 carries (4.9 ypa) and hauled in 11 passes for 177 yards.
Vessels found his life’s work as a developer and part of the horse racing establishment in Florida. He passed away in 2001, 49 years after his historic Heisman achievement, and past his 70th birthday.
Posthumous tributes followed, including renaming the Cleveland football stadium in his honor. His original Heisman statue at Oklahoma now sits near Cleveland High and a new statue graces the Oklahoma campus in Heisman Park.
Hard to believe how time seems to serve as both a separator of happening and yet a connecting link at the same time.
In the case of Vessels and Sooner football, the tradition ties together the decades into one continuing story — and his is one of the most memorable.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: TupaTalk column
