NFL · Pro Bowl
John Shirk
End · 1 selection · deceased · OU 1937-1939
The first former Sooner on OU's Pro Bowl list, an all-star in his only NFL season
John Shirk, from Oklahoma City, played end for the Sooners from 1937 to 1939 and was a third-team All-American in 1938. The Chicago Cardinals took him in the fourth round of the 1940 draft, 26th overall.
He played one NFL season, 1940, and was selected for the NFL All-Star Game played in December 1940. That game was part of the NFL's early all-star series from 1938 to 1942, before the modern Pro Bowl began after the 1950 season. Pro-Football-Reference counts it as a Pro Bowl, and OU's Pro Bowl page lists it as the earliest selection by a former Sooner.
During World War II he served as a captain in the field artillery.
This is an early-era selection, and sources are thin.