Former Oklahoma All-American, Jimbo Elrod, killed in crash

CHANDLER, Okla. – The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says former Oklahoma All-American James “Jimbo” Elrod, who played on the Sooners’ 1974 and 1975 national championship teams, has died in a car wreck. He was 62.

The highway patrol says the single-vehicle crash happened at about 3:45 a.m. Monday on Interstate 44 near Chandler, about 60 miles southwest of Tulsa. The highway patrol says Elrod was killed after his 2015 Lexus struck a guardrail, ejecting him through the vehicle’s sun roof.

A preliminary report says Elrod was not wearing a seatbelt and that a passenger was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital in serious condition.

It’s the second fatal crash this year in Oklahoma involving a football standout. In October, former NFL defensive lineman Dennis Byrd died in a two-vehicle wreck on an Oklahoma highway.