Stone Gradens: After football and coaching career, Muskogee native returned home in 1993

Max Ray Boydston was born January 22, 1932, in Ardmore and raised in Muskogee.

He starred at Muskogee Central High School, winning two state football championships with teammates like Bo Bolinger and the Burris brothers.

At the University of Oklahoma, playing end under coach Bud Wilkinson, he earned consensus All-America honors in 1954 and was named the nation’s top lineman by the Washington Touchdown Club.

That year, his interception and 43-yard touchdown return against Oklahoma A&M helped start OU’s NCAA-record 47-game winning streak.

Drafted second overall by the Chicago Cardinals in 1955, Boydston played tight end in the NFL from 1955 to 1958, recording 97 receptions for 1,382 yards and five touchdowns in 60 games.

He later played for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1959, the AFL’s Dallas Texans in 1960-61, contributing to two championships, and the Oakland Raiders in 1962, totaling 83 professional games.

After retiring, he taught and coached for 27 years, mostly at Sherman High School in Texas, until 1991.

He returned to Muskogee in 1993.

Boydston faced personal hardships, including a 1991 heart attack requiring triple bypass surgery, the death of his son Brady Maxwell Boydston (1970–1991) from a brain tumor, and the passing of his wife first wife Karen Kay Cheatham Boydston (1941–1993).

He was also married to Janey Boydston after his move to Muskogee,

In 1997, teammates and friends, including J.D. Roberts and Bo Bolinger, honored him with a “Max Boydston Appreciation Day” in Muskogee.

Boydston died December 12, 1998, at age 66 in Muskogee.

The funeral ervice at Memorial Park Cemetery drew pallbearers like Bolinger and Robert Burris, underscoring the bonds from his Muskogee roots.

Today, as the Sooners chase new glories in the SEC, Boydston's story recalls an Oklahoma football golden age—one of raw talent, unbreakable camaraderie and a quiet fight against life's hardest hits.