The O’Collegian

Courtesy: okstate.com

Sam Aubrey, a member of the 1946 Oklahoma State NCAA Champion basketball team and the head coach for the Cowboys from 1970 until 1973, died Monday afternoon in his home. He was 85.

Aubrey was born June 15, 1922, in Sapulpa, Okla., and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1940. He entered Oklahoma A&M College in the fall of 1940 and was the starting center on the 1941 freshman team. He was the only sophomore to letter on the 1942 squad which finished with a 20-6 record and won the Missouri Valley Conference title.

After his junior year in which he garnered another varsity letter, Aubrey entered the United States Army in the spring of 1943. He was ranked a First Lieutenant upon his discharge and was awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star for service in the Arno-Po campaign in Italy. He was wounded on Sept. 18, 1944, when a German bullet shattered his hip and was told he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was 35.

Aubrey returned to Oklahoma A&M in September of 1945 and was a starting forward on the 1946 team that went 31-2 and won its second-consecutive national championship. All five starters of that squad, including Aubrey, were named first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference.

He graduated from OAMC the following summer with a degree in education with minors in mathematics and physical sciences. The next school year, he coached at Pryor High School for three seasons, compiling a 46-29 record.

Aubrey took over as the head coach at Okmulgee Tech Junior College for four seasons from 1950-53. In 1953, he moved to Oklahoma A&M as the freshman coach and served in that capacity for 10 years, accumulating 62 wins and just 18 losses. He assumed the assistant coaching position in 1964 and took over as head coach at Oklahoma State upon Coach Henry Iba’s retirement in 1970. He was head coach of the Cowboys from 1970-73.

Aubrey retired from OSU in 1983 after serving several years in various administrative roles within the athletic department.

Funeral arrangements will be handled by Strode Funeral Home in Stillwater and are pending.