Bud pictured with President John F. Kennedy,. Meeting with Charles “Bud” Wilkinson, Director of the Youth Physical Fitness Program, 10:27AM, March 23, 1961
BROTHER CHARLES BURNHAM “BUD” WILKINSON Mu ‘37, University of Minnesota
By Chrisopher Lawrance Tang ESQ, Gamma Tau ‘01 (Georgia Tech) Brother Charles Burnham “Bud” Wilkinson, Mu ‘37, (Minnesota) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 23 April, 1916. He was known throughout his academic career as an outstanding student and athlete. Brother Wilkinson attended Shattuck Military Academy as a teen, where he was the only four-sport letterman in his graduating class. He graduated cum laude and was awarded for his commitment to academics, as well as for being the school’s best all-around athlete.
carrier USS Enterprise, where he was lieutenant commander and saw intense action in the battles of Iwo Jima, Kyushu and Okinawa. In 1946, Brother Wilkinson took a job as chief assistant to the head coach of University of Oklahoma’s Sooners football team. Within a year, he had taken over as head coach and athletic director himself at University of Oklahoma. This was the beginning of his most successful coaching endeavor. He first led the Sooners on a 31-game winning streak, including two undefeated seasons, two bowl victories, 14 conference titles and the 1950 national championship. In 1957, he coached a 47-game winning streak, a college football record that still has never been broken to this day. Bud was also responsible for racially integrating his football team during this time, when he played an African American running back named Prentice Gautt. Wilkinson won Coach of the Year in 1949 and remained in his station as head coach of the Sooners for 17 years, until 1963. His overall University of Oklahoma football record was 145-29-4.
Brother Wilkinson went on to play more sports at University of Minnesota starting in 1933, and played in three national football championships during his varsity years. He won the Big Ten Medal at graduation for his performance in academics, football, golf, and ice hockey. He also quarterbacked the 1937 College All-Star team in Chicago to its first victory. After college graduation, Bud began his illustrious sports coaching career at Syracuse University, where he coached football, golf and ice hockey while obtaining his master’s degree in English. In 1943, Bud enlisted in the U.S. Navy’s pre-flight program at the University of Iowa, where he assistant-coached the Seahawk’s service team. By 1944, he had received his assignment to serve as a hangar-deck officer on the aircraft
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In the year 1960, Wilkinson was appointed as head of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness by President John F. Kennedy. This is around when he started spending a lot of time
