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Play Like a Champion Today is a saying written on a sign created by Coach Bud Wilkinson of the University of Oklahoma Sooners in the 1940s to inspire the players as they entered Owen Field. It is located overhead in the tunnel leading out to the field in the south end zone at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program later began using the saying as well. [1]
The University of Oklahoma has used a sign with the phrase since the late 1940s, under coach Bud Wilkinson. [1] Traditional during home games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Oklahoma players and coaches touch the "Play Like a Champion Today" sign posted above the locker room doors as they head into the tunnel that leads to the field before every home game. [1] For away games a travel version is posted by equipment staff for the players to touch as they depart the locker room for the field.
As the team enters the field, the Sooners run under a crimson banner that displays 'Play Like a Champion' that is flanked by flags representing each of Oklahoma's seven national championships.
The term has been used by Notre Dame since at least 1986 when Lou Holtz came across a photo in a Notre Dame book with the sign “Play Like A Champion Today.” After asking around and coming up with no one remembering the sign and what had happened to it, he had a new sign painted and placed in a stairwell between the home team locker room and the tunnel to the field of Notre Dame Stadium. [1] This original sign was painted by Laurie Wenger in the fall of 1986. [2]
It is a tradition by players to touch it on their way out of the locker room. Above the sign is a listing of Notre Dame's eleven national championships.
In 1991, the University granted Wenger exclusive marketing rights to the phrase. In 2004, with the support of the University the sign became the registered trademark of Play Like a Champion Today, Inc. Since that time, the University and PLACT, Inc. jointly license companies to produce co-branded products.
Francis William Leahy was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He served as the head football coach at Boston College from 1939 to 1940 and at the University of Notre Dame from 1941 to 1943 and again from 1946 to 1953, compiling a career college football record of 107–13–9. His winning percentage of .864 is the second best in NCAA Division I football history, trailing only that of fellow Notre Dame Fighting Irish coach Knute Rockne, for whom Leahy played from 1928 to 1930. Leahy played on two Notre Dame teams that won national championships, in 1929 and 1930, and coached four more, in 1943, 1946, 1947, 1949. Leahy was also the athletic director at Notre Dame from 1947 until 1949 when he passed the role to the Fighting Irish basketball coach Moose Krause so that he could focus on football coaching. Leahy served as the general manager for the Los Angeles Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) during their inaugural season in 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1970.
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run of 1889, which initially opened the Unassigned Lands in the future state of Oklahoma to non-native settlement. The university's athletic teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I in the Big 12 Conference. The university's current athletic director is Joe Castiglione.
Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team.
Historic Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds up to 69,250 people, making it the 7th largest stadium in the Big Ten, and one of the 20 largest university owned stadiums in the nation. Primarily used for college football, the stadium is named for Nile Kinnick, the Iowa player who won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and died in service during World War II. Historic Kinnick Stadium is the only college football stadium named after a Heisman Trophy winner.
Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of 145–29–4. His Oklahoma Sooners won three national championships and 14 conference titles. Between 1953 and 1957, Wilkinson's Oklahoma squads won 47 straight games, a record that still stands at the highest level of college football. After retiring from coaching following the 1963 season, Wilkinson entered into politics and, in 1965, became a broadcaster with ABC Sports. He returned to coaching in 1978, as head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL) for two seasons. Wilkinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1969.
The 1988 Notre Dame vs. Miami football game was a college football game played between the Miami Hurricanes of the University of Miami and the Fighting Irish of the University of Notre Dame on October 15, 1988, at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.
The phrase "Game of the Century" is a superlative that was applied to several college football contests played in the 20th century, the first full century of college football in the United States. It is a subjective term applied by sportswriters to describe the most notable games of the period.
The split-T is an offensive formation in American football that was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Developed by Missouri Tigers head coach Don Faurot as a variation on the T formation, the split-T was first used in the 1941 season and allowed the Tigers to win all but their season-opening match against the Ohio State Buckeyes and the 1942 Sugar Bowl versus Fordham. Jim Tatum and Bud Wilkinson, who coached under Faurot with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks during World War II, brought the split-T to the Oklahoma Sooners in 1946. After Tatum left for Maryland in 1947, Wilkinson became the head coach and went on to win a record-setting 47 straight games and two national titles between 1953 and 1957.
The Oklahoma Sooners football team represents the University of Oklahoma in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in the Big 12 Conference. The program began in 1895 and is one of the most successful in history, having won 944 games and possessing a .725 winning percentage, both sixth all-time. Oklahoma has appeared in the AP poll 897 times, including 101 No. 1 rankings, both third all-time. The program claims seven national championships, 50 conference championships, 167 first-team All-Americans, and a record-tying seven Heisman Trophy winners. The school has had 29 former players and coaches inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and holds the record for the longest winning streak in Division I history with 47 straight victories. Oklahoma is also the only program with which four coaches have won more than 100 games each.
Jerry Schmidt is the strength and conditioning coach for the University of Oklahoma Sooners' football team. He was previously the strength and conditioning coach for the Texas A&M University Aggies' football team. The Sooners' football Head coach Brent Venables announced the addition of Jerry Schmidt to his staff in a press release on December 17, 2021.
The 1956 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma in the 1956 NCAA University Division football season. It was the 62nd season of play for the Sooners and they repeated as consensus national champions. They were led by hall of fame head coach Bud Wilkinson, in his tenth season. On the field, the Sooners were led on offense by quarterback Jim Harris, and played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
The 1974 NCAA Division I football season finished with two national champions. The Associated Press (AP) writers' poll ranked the University of Oklahoma, which was on probation and barred by the NCAA from postseason play, No. 1 at season's end. The United Press International (UPI) coaches' poll did not rank teams on probation, by unanimous agreement of the 25 member coaches' board. The UPI trophy went to USC.
A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best college football team. Division I FBS football is the only National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sport for which the NCAA does not sanction a yearly championship event. As such, it is sometimes referred to as a "mythical national championship".
The 1954 Orange Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game between the first-ranked Maryland Terrapins and the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. It was the twentieth edition of the Orange Bowl and took place at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami, Florida on January 1, 1954.
The 1922 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1922 college football season. In its second season under head coach Fred Dawson, the team compiled a 7–1 record, tied for the MVC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 276 to 28. The team played its home games at Nebraska Field in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The 1924 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team was an American football team that represented the University of Nebraska in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) during the 1924 college football season. In its fourth and final season under head coach Fred Dawson, the team compiled a 5–3 record, finished second in the MVC, and outscored opponents by a total of 118 to 77. The team played its home games at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team is the intercollegiate baseball team representing the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Notre Dame competes as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the NCAA Division 1 college baseball league. The team is currently coached by Shawn Stiffler and plays its home games at Frank Eck Baseball Stadium, which has a capacity of 1,825. The school has appeared in three College World Series, in 1957, 2002, and 2022 and has won 6 conference titles.
The 1953 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1953 college football season. Led by seventh-year head coach Bud Wilkinson, they played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, and were members of the Big Seven Conference.
The 1957 Oklahoma Sooners football team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 1957 NCAA University Division football season. They played their home games at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, and were members of the Big Seven Conference. They were two-time defending national champions, led by head coach Bud Wilkinson, in his eleventh season.
Carl Allison was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He was a four-year starter for coach Bud Wilkinson at the University of Oklahoma from 1951 to 1954, finishing his career as the team captain of the undefeated 1954 Oklahoma Sooners football team. He also played four years for the baseball program from 1952 to 1955.