1956 Frederick High School

Team of Legend

The 1956 Frederick High School Bombers football team was the first integrated high school football team to win a state championship. The ’56 Bombers went 14-0 and won their games by combined score of 553-26. The Bombers won the Class B Championship by defeating Okmulgee Dunbar, a black school, 33-0, in Capitol Hill Stadium. Frederick was so defensive minded that Okmulgee made only one first down in four quarters and posed no serious threat at any time in the game. Okmulgee is total net offensive yards were less than 10 yards. Frederick rolled up 229 rushing yards and 96 passing yards.

The team was coached by Dean Wild. He’s best known as Darrell Royal’s high school coach at Hollis, OK. Coach Wild meshed 12 black players and 27 white players and taught them to play together. They routed most all the big names of high school football in western Oklahoma. It was the second state championship for a team coached by Wild.

Running back Danny Griffin stated, "We were just young, strong, church-going boys who loved football and each other and our coaches. We didn’t know we were doing anything unusual when the football team was integrated." He went on to say, "We were just glad to win the 1956 Class B football championship."

The 1956 Bombers landed five players on the All-Area Southern Oklahoma team – Pete Clewis, Bill Brown, Charles Shaw, Daniel Miller and Danny Griffin. Bill Brown was the lone player selected for All-State honors in 1956.