Inductees

The grainy videos – the ones of the Mizzou Tigers’ 1966 Sugar Bowl team – are simply beautiful nostalgia archived on YouTube. See the black jerseys, gold pants and the helmets with the player’s number? And No. 16? That’s quarterback Gary Lane. Plus, one news reel shows Johnny Roland tossing a touchdown pass to Earl Denny.

Says the narrator, “So a team loaded with unity and talent went all the way in 1965 – all the way to New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl.”

What a team. What a season. And now, all these years later, Mizzou’s 1966 Sugar Bowl winners are in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, inducted among the Class of 2016. Those Tigers finished with a No. 6 national ranking and 8-2-1 record. They won their final five games – including the bowl game, 20-18, against the Florida Gators and future Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier.

In one YouTube video, it shows Mizzou’s famed power sweep and a post-game locker room shot that defines the season and era: Players hoisting coach Dan Devine on their shoulders, with Devine himself wearing a black-and-yellow stripe tie and vintage, nondescript collared office shirt.

The Tigers weathered Florida’s late rally after building a 20-0 advantage thanks to Charlie Brown’s 10-yard touchdown run, Denny’s 11-yard TD catch from Johnny Roland and two Bill Bates field goals.

Each time the Gators scored, they went for two points. However, Mizzou’s defense, which ranked eighth nationally that season in fewest points allowed, stopped Florida to hold off the comeback attempt. Future Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee Skip Grossnickle, a safety, had the game-sealing interception.

“Dan Devine had a press conference that season and one of the reporters asked, ‘Coach, how do you make winners out of your ballplayers,” Grossnickle said. “His response was, ‘The young men that we recruit are already winners. Our coaching staff just helps them be successful in the game of football.”

As Roland described it, “It wasn’t a bunch of ‘me’ guys. It was a bunch of ‘we’ guys – things that winning teams generally have.”

Roland was a consensus All-American by seven publications, including the Associated Press and United Press International. Offensive lineman Francis Peay also was an All-American.

Brown, Lane and Carl “Bull” Reese combined to rush for 1,894 yards – with Brown’s 924 yards rushing ranking second in the conference. Lane led the Big Eight Conference in total touchdowns (13), and was third in total yards (1,004). Brown led the conference in yards from scrimmage (1,036).

The offense also featured Earl Denny, leading pass receiver Monroe Phelps, halfback Ray Thorpe, backup quarterback Gary Kombrink, end Jim Waller, tackle and Baltimore Colts and Oakland Raiders second-round draft pick Butch Allison, guard Mike Eader and Gary Frieders, and center Dick Kistner. Ray West was the punter.

Roland played on both sides of the ball. The defense included Big Eight Defensive Lineman of the Year Russell Washington, defensive back Ken Boston, safety Skip Grossnickle, linebackers Rich Bernsen, Bob Ziegler, interior linemen Bruce VanDyke, Bill Powell, Don Nelson and Ron Snyder; defensive ends Tom Lynn and Dan Schuppan.

“These players,” Phelps said, “are only a portion of our total team unity. All the substitutes and underclassmen that were ready to play – and did play – made our Sugar Bowl team truly successful.”

The Tigers overcame several obstacles in the fall of 1965. For one, they opened with a 7-0 loss to Kentucky but regrouped to beat Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Kansas State, tied UCLA and beat Iowa State. Mizzou narrowly lost to Nebraska 16-14, but then the Tigers set off on a five-game, mad dash. Among their victims were the Oklahoma Sooners, thrashed 30-0, and the Kansas Jayhawks, 44-20. Along the way, key players suffered injuries, only to see reserves fill in admirably.

“It was a combination of a building block for three or four years that Coach Devine put together,” Roland said. “That ’65 team was the culmination of great recruiting of ’61 and ’62.”

The roster included Jack Alton, Conrad Deneault, Bob Powell, Brian Murphy, Barry Lischner, Dave Grana, Mike Ewing, Jim Whitaker, Bill Whalen, Jim Weber, Allan Chettle, Jim Jost, Jim Willsey, Carl Garber, Alan Pepper, Roger Boyd, Butch Allison, Michael Wempe, Keith Scott, Roger Short, Lee Mungai, Martain Berg, Bryant Darnaby and Dan Wetmore.

Camaraderie was the key to the season. “The atmosphere in practices was really good. I think everybody realized what potential we had,” said West, a Springfield native. “Beating Florida in the Sugar Bowl was really good because all the Sugar Bowl people could say was how good Steve Spurrier was. They gave him Most Valuable Player, but they couldn’t give him the W.”