Nick Gribnau

Happy birthday to former Hall of Fame Harrah and Choctaw head football and baseball coach Bill Jensen, born on this day in 1926 in Davenport. Jensen was a standout football player at Norman High School and at East Central University, where he was a second-team All-Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference end and won East Central's Frank Crider Award as a senior. Just months after graduating from East Central, Jensen was named assistant coach at Sulphur in the summer of 1953 and a year later, he became a head coach for the first time at Harrah. In his second season at Harrah, Jensen led the Panthers to a 9-2 mark and an appearance in the Class C playoffs. In 1958, Jensen was named head coach at Choctaw. After a tough first season, Jensen's Yellowjackets went 8-2 and won the District B-3 championship in 1959. A year later, after suffering a 14-8 loss to Casady in the season opener, Choctaw ripped off 13 consecutive victories, including Choctaw's first state championship -- the Class B title -- 32-6 over Stigler. From 1960 to 1962, Jensen's teams won 36 games, which are some of the school's most successful periods in its football history. Jensen was also a baseball coach at Choctaw, leading the Yellowjackets to the 1974 3A championship. In a 20-year head coaching career in football, Jensen won 127 games. He added 521 wins as Choctaw baseball coach. In 1980, Jensen was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was inducted into the East Central Athletics Hall of Fame. Jensen passed away in 2001 at the age of 74 and is laid to rest at Choctaw's Elmwood Cemetery. Today, the Choctaw football team plays its games at Bill Jensen Stadium, named in his honor and the baseball team at Bill Jensen Field. Happy birthday Bill! #tdfn #okpreps @HarrahPantherFB @YellowjacketsFB