Inductees

The old video footage found on YouTube will make almost anyone smile. In fact, it’s easy to wonder if quarterback Terry McMillan, receiver Mel Gray and teammates ever thought they should be charged admission for their own weekly film sessions.

Talk about a fun team to watch. The 1969 Missouri Tigers football team seemed to have it all. McMillan at QB, Gray at receiver, Joe Moore, Ron McBride and Jon Staggers in the backfield, All-American Mike Carroll on the line and Henry Brown as the place kicker.

The defense featured Nic Weisenfels at linebacker, Mark Kuhlman and Rocky Wallace at the tackles, Sam Adams at a guard, Mike Bennett and Joe Hauptmann on the ends and Dennis Poppe as safety.

“It was the dream season,” narrator Jack Buck says on the YouTube video, “that had been brewing ever since Don Farout and Dan Devine ran out of gas on a back road near Columbia.”

The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct the 1969 Mizzou Tigers football team with its Enshrinement Class of 2015.

The Tigers scored a whopping 365 points, won the Big Eight Conference co-championship and came oh-so-close to beating undefeated and No. 2 Penn State in the Orange Bowl. The Tigers finished No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Before that season, only two Mizzou teams, in 1948 and in 1968, had scored more than 300 points in a single season. The 365 remained a school single-season record until Warren Powers’ 1978 team eclipsed the mark by only three points, albeit by playing a 12^th game, and the 368 was matched in 1997. Most of Gary Pinkel’s teams since 2003 have filled the Top 10.

However, the 1969 team was far more than numbers alone. Those Tigers further raised expectations. Coach Devine arrived on the scene 11 years earlier and finished 11-0 in his third season. No team had won more than eight games since then.

Mizzou finished 9-2, losing a pair of heartbreakers – 31-24 at No 5 Colorado and 10-3 to Penn State.

Like many successful campaigns, 1969 had its roots a year earlier. The Tigers beat Alabama in the Gator Bowl 35-10, the worst loss in Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide career.

The Tigers had many pieces to contend for a national title, despite defensive back Roger Wehrli turning pro after the 1968 season. Wehrli went on to NFL Hall of Fame career.

Not that everything went according to plan. The Tigers survived a scare from Air Force in the season-opener, rallying to win 19-17 on Brown’s fourth field goal. Air Force scored the go-ahead TD with only 32 seconds left. McMillan responded with a 56-yard pass to John Henley, and Brown kicked the game-winner two plays later.

The victory set up the rest of the season.

The Tigers routed No. 9 Michigan 40-17 in Ann Arbor two weeks later, and scored impressive victories against No. 7 Nebraska (17-7) and No. 9 Oklahoma (44-10).

The win at Michigan came in coach Bo Schembechler’s third game with the Wolverines. Mizzou forced four second-quarter turnovers alone and reached No. 7 in the AP poll the next week.

Mizzou kept its foot on the gas pedal. In beating Nebraska the following week, the defense yielded only 36 yards on 38 attempts and allowed a 77-yard TD on a quirk run by the Huskers.

McMillan threw two TD passes, including a 69-yard strike to Gray on the second play of the game.

Moore ran for 121 yards in the mud in a 31-21 win against Oklahoma State, moving the Tigers up to No. 5 in the poll.

Unfortunately, the Tigers hit a speed bump the next week in a loss at Colorado. McMillan’s 1-yard run and his 13-yard TD pass to Henley forged a late tie before the Buffaloes eked out the win.

The Tigers survived quarterback Lynn Dickey-led Kansas State 41-38 the following week in a shootout. The Wildcats overcame a 21-6 halftime deficit to take a 31-28 advantage, in part thanks to recovering an onside kick, before the Tigers responded. McMillan’s long pass to Henley set up the go-ahead score, and McMillan later scored on a 1-yard, fourth-and-goal run to give the Tigers a 41-31 lead.

Dickey threw for 411 yards, a conference record, and Mizzou generated 464 yards. Staggers was everywhere. He threw a TD pass, caught a TD pass, scored on a kickoff return and almost returned a punt for a touchdown.

The Tigers rallied from 10-0 deficit to rout the Steve Owens-led Oklahoma Sooners the following week and had no trouble against Iowa State and Kansas in the final two regular-season games.

With the 9-2 record and No. 6 AP national ranking, Mizzou ended the 1960s with a .650 winning percentage and ranked in the Top 10 in six seasons.