The Undefeated by Jim Dent (2001, Hardcover, Illustrated)

The Undefeated is the story of phenomenal winning. From the third game of the 1953 season till the eighth game of '57, the Oklahoma Sooners never lost, compiling a forty-seven game winning streak that likely will never be matched in big-time college football. It is often compared to Joe DiMaggio's fifty-six game hitting streak.

During this tremendous runk, the Sooners cleared every hurdle known in the world of competitive sports. They never wilted in the face of pressure, nor were stifled by the attention inspired by the streak. Coached by the legendary Bud Wilkinson, the Sooners came from behind in the second half on numerous occasions. Dent presents an absorbing character study of Wilkinson, the brilliant, complex coach who engineered the string of victories and whose starched-shirt public persona hid a man of many secrets.

More than a football book, The Undefeated is the saga of how Oklahomans were was able to rebound from the Dust Bowl years and The Grapes of Wrath image. Over a million people left the state in the 1930s as the agrarian economy was battered by the drought and high winds. When World War II ended, the OU board of regents were compelled to rebuild the morale of the state by investing their faith in the football program. From this effort emerged Wilkinson who, during a nine-year stretch, compiled a record of 94-4-2. The Sooners football program became the model from which others were built, even surpassing Notre Dame in both reputation and winning tradition.

The players who compiled the streak were also children of The Depression, raising themselves from their own bootstraps and winning games the old fashioned way - through grit and blind faith. Through it all, the young men who accomplished this amazing feat shine in vivid life.
Dent has crafted a book that goes far beyond merely college football. Indeed, he has crafted a work that is a classic piece of Americana for the book joins together such things as friendship, America in the fifties, the hopes and dreams of these men, and the driving passion of one coach. Possibly it is the greatest story in the history of college football and certainly one of the most glorious in the history of sport.