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At the Mizzou Alumni Association, we understand the pride you feel in Mizzou and work hard every day to promote the best interests and tradition of Missouri’s flagship institution. That is why we are happy to help you show your Tiger Pride throughout the year and especially during the oldest collegiate rivalry west of the Mississippi.
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My worst MU-KU memory was the 1960 game at Columbia. Missouri came into the game ranked #1 in the country after beating Oklahoma in Norman the previous week, 42-24. Kansas, with John Hadl at quarterback, upset us, and the game was not even close (the game was later awarded to Mizzou because Kansas used an ineligible player, but that didn't matter).
My best memory was a Saturday afternoon basketball game, also in 1960, that was on national TV. Missouri upset a Kansas team that had Bill Bridges and Wayne Hightower. The only sour note was that both centers -- Hightower and Charlie Henke -- were ejected early in the second half, and there was a nasty fight that involved football players coming out of the stands.
Sandy Josephson
B.J. '63
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My memory involves a basketball game early in 1979, just after my transfer to Mizzou in January. The Kansas coach, Ted Owens, walked on the floor before the tip and stamped on the Tiger emblem on the court. He then turned to the fans with a big smile on his face. The crowd erupted, screaming and bellowing in rage. I'd never seen such visceral disgust/hatred/fury. Welcome to bitter rivalry, Big 8-style!
Jeffry Burden
B.J. '82
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It was Jan., 1990. The KU basketball team was ranked number one, and I traveled to Columbia to watch the rivalry game at Harpos. The place was packed with black and gold, but some crimson and blue interspersed the crowd. As I fanatically cheered on the Tigers, who pulled off the amazing upset, I noticed a cameraman near our corner of the popular watering hole. I told my friends, "I know I made the paper." The next morning before heading back to KC, I stopped to buy a Columbia Tribune. There, on the front page, was yours truly jumping in the air with fists clenched in victory. In the crowd was a dejected Jayhawk fan who just happened to be a high school boyfriend of mine. The picture was priceless, and I didn't waste the opportunity to fax my friend the newspaper photo. Today the picture is framed and hanging in my basement. GO TIGERS-beat KU!
Sara Maybrier Shields
B.S. education 1989
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While there was nothing better than going to a MU-KU basketball game at Hearnes, one of my favorites was a game in 1996 when I couldn't get tickets. I was in Wolpers then, and that was the game that went through two overtimes. I couldn't keep still in that little room. I was climbing on the bed and the chair--the anxiety was killing me. During timeouts, my dad, who was a huge Mizzou fan and came to tons of games with me, would call, and we'd talk about what had just happened, what the KU player got away with, how the ref was blind, etc. Then, when the game came back on, we'd hang up and cross our fingers once again. Once we won, after my dad called me one last time to celebrate, everyone came out of their rooms in Wolpers, and the celebration began. A great night!
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I can remember my first MU/KU game in Nov. 1971. I had gone home to Independence,Mo. for Thanksgiving, then gone back to Columbia for the game. It was FREEZING, and I lived in Lathrop (soon to be torn down I understand). I don't remember the score, but the excitement of it all kept us all warm!
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It could have been Mizzou's 15-13 victory in 1956 (Don Faurot's last game as a coach), but it was probably the game played at Lawrence in November, 1959. Two weeks before, after covering the MU-Colorado game in Boulder, Colo. for the Missourian (MU lost 21-20), I proposed to Penny in the Garden of the Gods; it was Halloween night. She said no. At the time, she was also dating someone else. Dating then meant dinner, a movie and a kiss at the front door. Two weeks and some anguished meetings later, and along with friends (and the other guy), she went to the KU game. She said she wanted to make up her mind. We met again Sunday night at the Student Union. She made up her mind. On April 1, Penny and I will celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary. I can't even recall the score of the game.
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My favorite memory from MU-KU happened before I even started at Mizzou. I had just returned from my campus visit to Mizzou and, despite a horrible ice storm, I decided that MU was the school for me. I was watching the MU-KU Big Monday Hoops game in my bedroom in Chicago, and as a Chicagoan who grew up among the Big Ten, I had no clue just how fierce the MU/KU rivalry was. By the end of the Mizzou win, (which I believe went into overtime) I was screaming and jumping up and down about "my Tigers!'
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At least between 1930 and 1933, maybe earlier, my parents and I regularly had Thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents in the northeastern part of Kansas City, Mo. The big game was always played on Thanksgiving in those days.
After dinner, the men gathered in the living room "around" the tall, floor model radio and tuned in to the game. The women of the family remained in the dining room. I wandered back and forth between the rooms and listened to the men commenting on the players and other usual remarks in those non-tv days.
One uncle had attended KU, the other had been a Mizzou student. I was impartial then but I entered MU in my junior year and graduated in 1944. I made the best choice!
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My favorite MU/KU moment was two years ago. Although I wasn't a student yet ( I'm now a freshman,) my brother was a freshman, and my family came down from Pittsburgh to see him during Homecoming. This was also the inaugural Border War football match up and the 102nd meeting of the Tigers and the Jayhawks, and a win would tie up the series. Well, as we all know, Brad Smith led the team to victory and we won the Indian war drum back. The students were hesitant to go onto the field, but once the players started jumping on the goal post, the crowd soon followed. As the goal post was coming down I grabbed the flag at the top, only to have it snatched away. But the only thing that truly matters is I got a piece of the post.
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Coming from Kentucky, I had never experienced the Border War tradition between the Tigers and the Jayhawks. On my first visit to Mizzou in 2000, I was assured by the admissions office that Kansas was neither a proper noun, nor a proper state, thus, "kU". Now, as a graduate student at Vanderbilt, I plan to extend my holiday travel from a 2-hour drive home from Tennessee to a 14-hour drive via Columbia, Mo., to cheer the Tigers to VICTORY! Go TIGERS! MIZ-Beat KU!
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The 1996 MU-KU game was a favorite of mine. It was my first MU victory over KU as a then future student, and my first in person at Faurot Field. MU won 41-25, and I first saw the ritual of tearing down the goalposts to celebrate a big victory. And this was indeed a big victory, as it marked the beginning of MU returning to prominence as a winning team.
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My favorite games of the year were always the MU-KU games. The atmosphere in the Hearnes Center was amazing. Plus, there was no bad seat. The games were always great and no matter how high KU was ranked, we always seemed to pull off the upset. I blame the energetic crowd and fierce rivalry. It also was the most fulfilling victory of the year. It definitely showed who the boss was.
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Several years ago, (more than 20) I was driving in the heart of St. Louis on I-70 when I saw a billboard sign put up by KU grads in St. Louis. It was a picture of a Jayhawk carrying a blunderbuss calling "Here kitty, kitty". After MU won the game, the MU alums used the same billboard showing a tiger picking its teeth with feathers flying in the air around its head.
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"Several years ago, my sorority was pomping (tissue papering) the Homecoming house decoration. We were play Kansas for the Homecoming game! We got into a fight over who would pomp Truman and who would do the Jayhawk character. Everyone wanted to help build Truman. No one wants to get sticky fingers with red and blue on them! Yuck!"
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One of my favorite memories of Missouri athletics is seeing Missouri defeat KU in old Brewer Field House. During that time (in 1964), basketball crowds weren’t that great, and this game wasn't an exception. But I remember that Theo Franks (who lived in the dorm just a few doors down from me) hit a last minute shot and sent the hated Jayhawks to defeat.
I also remember a very special interview that Jack Harry had with Norm Stewart on KCMO in Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Stewart came out with a poster showing a map of the Kansas City area that had red and blue birds posted all over it. He explained that there way to many of these pesky birds in the area and that a pest control service would have to be hired to eliminate them.
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Growing up in Fremont, Calif., I was oblivious to any states located "somewhere in the middle", let alone any rivalries those states shared. That all changed when I decided to go to Mizzou. Mizzou was everything I was looking for in a college; it had a top notch journalism program, was a great size and of course had a cool marching band. I joined Marching Mizzou and instantly knew I had made the right choice of schools. Through the years, I was taught about football (my high school was so bad that the band only went to one football game a year), and the joys of being a Tiger. I remember one spring break I went to visit my sister in LA. We were at California Adventure when I spotted a man in a Jayhawk shirt. I elbowed my sister and clued her in to where I was looking. Then I shook my head and growled. I wanted to walk by him in my Mizzou apparel just so he would know I was there. She laughed at me and told me she could see I really had pride in my school. That pride was intensified when Marching Mizzou took a trip to Kansas.
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My most enduring memory of the Tigers-Jayhawks rivalry dates back to a time before I became a student at MU. It was probably 1944 or '45. The annual football game was to be played in Blues Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.--my home. Don Faurot was the Tigers' coach at that time and in this particular year, we were not exactly a powerhouse. The Jayhawks were favored.
But Mizzou had a tackle whose name was Jim Kekeris and who weighed about 300 pounds; that was very big for that time. Faurot put him in the backfield, ala Refrigerator Perry of Bears fame, and Kansas couldn't stop him. I was probably a freshman in high school then and I had managed to get a ticket for an end zone seat. It was a memorable sight for a young Tiger fan to see big Jim plow through those helpless Jayhawks.
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I grew up in Columbia, and we did go to all the home games. In fact, I remember the three little kids like all Columbia kids told the ticket takers our parents who were behind us in line had our tickets so we would be let in to the games. I remember I was quite young, and the Oklahoma Sooners used to pour into Columbia, hang out their big Cadillacs and drive down the street. Then, between Nebraska who came in Red and Kansas who also came in Red, whenever there was a KU/MU game, the audience would appear half red.
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Because I grew up in Columbia as a faculty brat kid and football field rug rat, then attended MU in College, I have many memories of games. The first memory is of when I was a Boy Scout usher or selling concessions at the game. I usually found a way to legitimately get in free. The second memory is of being a sophomore and probably an ROTC usher at that game.
The earliest memory was from way back when in the '50s. This might have been Don Faurot's final game as football coach. Anyway, Missouri and Kansas were locked in a tough contest, which, late in the fourth quarter, was tied 13-13. Missouri got fired up toward the end of the game and may have made a touchdown to tie the score. Kansas had the ball deep in their territory, and a tackle who might have been named Lee, tackled the Kansas ball-carrier behind the goal line for a safety and 15-13 victory. Coach Faurot was carried off the field on the shoulders of the players. I believe that picture has been reprinted several times in MU Alumni or sports publications and in the Columbia newspaper whose photographer took the shot.
The saddest tale was when I was perhaps a sophomore at MU and living off campus in the fall of 1960 or '61. Missouri was ranked Number 1 in the nation and KU was ranked about 13th. The spirit in Columbia was intense, and the weather that week perfect as game day approached. The only cloud on the horizon was Coach Dan Devine reporting to the newspapers that he was worried,that practices were looking flat, or something to that effect.
Missouri did not take off during that game and did look flat, but at the halftime, it was tied 7-7 ,and fans still believed Mizzou could pull it off. In the second half, an outstanding KU back led his team to a 23-7 victory, and our dreams of a national championship was smashed.
Later, that KU player was declared ineligible and KU had to forfeit the game, but that did not repair all the damage. Also, Missouri came back in a major bowl game to win and finished about fourth or fifth in the nation: Missouri's best year in post WW II history.
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I am a freshman at Mizzou and I have an MU/KU memory from when I was a freshman in high school. I was having a conversation with my social studies teacher, who is also a Mizzou alumnus, about the rivalry between the Tigers and the Jayhawks.
He asked me if I had heard the KU chant before and of course I had heard that annoying thing, but he asked if I knew the good version of it.
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During the 1946-47, I had season tickets on the 45-yard line. Professor Reed of the Dairy Department poked fun at those of us who wanted to sit in middle of the field. Everyone knows that touchdowns are made in the end zone. One year, when KU played at MU, my brother from KU purchased tickets for that game behind the goal post. I sat with him and his wife sit with my wife at the 45-yard line. Yes, touchdowns are made at the goalpost. There, five touchdowns were made that year, but they were all at the other end of the field. It was fun, even behind the goal post.
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My mother taught me about Kansas before I was old enough to understand what Kansas was. I remember a football game where KU was getting ready to score. They fumbled the ball in the end zone when one of our players recovered it and ran 100 yards for a touchdown! (early '60's) My mother talked often of the year Mizzou was no. 1 in football, till we played KU in the last game of the season. They beat us but later had to forfeit the game. But the loss ended our number 1 status. (late 50's) Mom said you could have heard a pin drop in the stadium that day.
My three granddaughters live in the KC area so I am making sure they are Tigers. In fact, the 2-year-old, while watching the Tour de France last summer yelled: "Go Tigers!!” I've missed just three home football games since Sept. 1963, and hadn't missed any till my oldest got married.
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My favorite MU/KU memory happened my freshman year (1996) in college, back when Norm Stewart was coaching the basketball team. My friends and I had a late start getting to Hearnes for the MU v. KU basketball game and got stuck sitting at the VERY TOP of the Hearnes Center. The game was completely sold out, and the noise from all the fans was INSANE. Of course, the Tigers won, and we girls had a happy climb back down to the ground to go celebrate at College Park.
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WELL, AS A 1964 GRAD, I REMEMBER THE 1960 SEASON FOR SURE! IN 1960, MIZZOU WENT TO THE ORANGE BOWL AND BEAT NAVY AND ROGER STAUBACK. THAT SAME YEAR, KU HAD A GREAT TEAM AND WAS RANKED NO. ONE IN ALL THE POLLS AT THE END OF THE SEASON. MIZZOU ALSO HAD A GREAT TEAM AND WAS RANKED IN THE TOP 5 AS I RECALL.
JUST AFTER THE 1960, THE FOOTBALL SEASON ENDED. IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT KU HAD AN INELIGIBLE PLAYER AND HAD TO FORFEIT SEVERAL GAMES AND THEIR NO. 1 RANKING WAS TAKEN AWAY.
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The big sport at my high school was basketball. When I came to Mizzou, I had never seen a football game, or wanted too. The first fall (1959), I purchased a season ticket to the football games because everyone else was getting them and they didn't cost much. I found that I had never before experienced anything like the excitement that surrounds a major college football stadium on game day!
When it was time for the last home game of the season, I was offered more for my season ticket, with only one game remaining, than I had paid for it before the season started. I turned it down; I was not about to miss that last game. Missouri was playing Kansas for the Big Eight Conference Championship and had the opportunity to go to the Orange Bowl. I was hooked, and have been a football fan ever since.
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It has never ceased to amaze me at how close the football rivalry is for the two schools. With all of the great years of Mizzou football that we've had, one would think that Mizzou would be far and away in the lead for the series.
One irony is that whoever is having the bad season seems to rise up and defeat the other. I remember in the late '70s, we used to beat great teams like Ohio State, Southern Cal, Alabama and Nebraska, only to lose to lowly KU, who hadn't beaten anyone in particular that year. We need a "W" for the game on the 20th! GO TIGERS!
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Here is my favorite KU memory: Mine and Larry's first date was the MU/KU game in Columbia in November of 1983.
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In 1968, the DU (Delta Upsilon) chapter at Mizzou challenged the DU chapter at KU on that year's football game. Our wager included a skin with the fraternity crest and the final score awarded to the winning chapter. Well, in 1968, KU beat MU - 21-18. Holding up our end, we ordered the skin and presented it to the KU chapter.
In 1969 however, Mizzou trounced KU, 69-21....We called the KU chapter about our skin with the new score on it, but our requests fell on deaf ears. So, one night near Spring break four of us road tripped into Lawrence and located the DU chapter house. It was 2:30 AM when we got there, and we told the KU brothers who were awake that we were DUs from Michigan, and needed a place to rest before resuming our ski trip to Boulder, Colorado. We then waited patiently until all the KU brothers went to bed, and began searching for the skin...It was prominently displayed in their chapter room.....
Needless to say the skin with the 1969 score is now proudly displayed in our family room. The Mizzou DUs gave it to my wife and I as a wedding gift in 1970.
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Three fathers rounded up three sons in the neighborhood late that afternoon. We still had enough time to make the one-hour trip to Hearnes. It was my first time ever inside the building.
Fortunately, a few seats were still available. We got six seats up in Section D19: one row from the top. Signs hung on many railings, some promoted the talents of “Las Vegas Willie." Willie Smith did not disappoint.
On the old gray floor, he kept driving through the heart of the KU defense for either layups or assists. His behind-the-back bounce passes were magic and always landed safely in the hands of freshman center Stan Ray. Yes, Missouri and Norm Stewart had a magical team that year--one destined to win the Big Eight championship.
We saw the beginnings of the great conference season. Thank you, Willie and the Tigers, for making my first MU-KU game such a thrill. Tigers: 99, Jayhawks: 69.
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My favorite memory is from my freshman year at Mizzou, when a group of us from Schurz Hall went to Lawrence, Kan. to cheer on the Mizzou swim teams. The rivalry between the two schools was intense, no matter the sport. We showed up with more signs than the home team. We were louder than all the Jayhawk fans.
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I graduated from MU in 1972. My husband is a KU grad from 1971, so we are a mixed family. Our son is a 1997 MU grad and is currently in graduate school there. My son was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and always managed to get us tickets to the football and basketball games. He had a close friend in his fraternity who was president of Marching Mizzou at the time and also in the pep band for basketball--truly an avid MU fan. His room was a "shrine" to MIzzou. He had an MU quilt, framed MU basketball jersey, MU memorabilia, etc.
My husband and my son's friend had a friendly rivalry whenever they got together. When KU was ranked no. 1 nationally in basketball, we were visiting for the game at MU. KU was picked to beat MU handily. My husband printed up about 50 jayhawks. After my son's friend left his room early to go to the game, my husband went in and plastered them all over his room. He put them everywhere. Needless to say, it was all considered fun ONLY after MU beat KU. My son's friend said he was still finding hidden jayhawks in his room months after the game.
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I was a graduate student in 1964 and '65. The Saturday before the KU game was unbearably hot. The day of the game it was so cold, I wore all the cold weather clothing I had with me (I was a NYC resident at that time) and I was still freezing. KU used Gayle Sayers as a wide receiver, and he didn't do squat; MU won the game handily.
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One year, I went to Larry, Kan., with a group of friends to watch the Missouri game. It was in the early '70s, and the headwear of choice for most of us women was a gold felt cowboy hat with a big black "M" on the front.
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I attended my first MU-KU game inside my mother's belly. Several days later, I was born. Being born and raised in Columbia, where ELSE would I think of going to school? One of the first things I was taught to say was "Go Tigers," which I happily passed on to my niece and nephew (their Dad attended Iowa State).
We can't always choose where our lives and careers will take us, so it was with a heavy heart that I headed to Kansas City, Kan. to pursue my HR career. I was the first generation not to live inside the borders of Missouri, and I lived in KANSAS! My parents were like Norm Stewart, they would come up to visit me, but we only shopped and ate on the MISSOURI side! And when I fell in love with a Kansas resident - I made sure he rooted for the Tigers (or else how could I marry him?)
To make matters worse, I ended up taking a promotional opportunity and went to work at KU Medical Center as a recruiter! I thought my dad was going to have a stroke! Not only did I live in Kansas, but also now I was hiring for the Jayhawks? I told him that didn't mean my heart wasn't still with Mizzou, and I still came home for every football and basketball game! His anger softened a bit when he saw my back windshield--the one with the University of Kansas Medical Center parking sticker on it. In the lower left corner, where the ugly chickenhawk appeared, I cut that out and replaced it with a Tiger sticker! And on my bumper was that classis sticker "I brake for all Animals except...." with the mommy Chickenhawk and her chicks trailing behind.
I never got a parking ticket, so I guess my point was made! I left KU Medical a couple of years later for another promotional opportunity, but I never quit being a TIGER! In fact, when I finally ended up getting a Kansas license plate -I tried to get a personalized one that said "IH8KU" - but the Kansas Department of Revenue said I couldn't."Why," I asked, "does someone else already have it?" The woman at the license bureau said "No, but you can't have it" so I opted for "TIGRFAN" instead. Six years ago, I moved back to my beloved Columbia and the home of the Tigers. So all's well that ends well. GO MIZZOU!
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My favorite rivalry memory was the 96-94, double overtime victory at the Hearnes Center on Feb. 4, 1997. It turned out to be Kansas' only loss during the regular season. As a sophomore at Mizzou, it was as sweet from the nosebleeds as anywhere in the building. (Even sweeter than the 77-73 win the year before!)
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I have been waging a whopping $2 annual bet with a Kansan (a former colleague and a retired English department chair) for nearly 20 years. We came up with a trophy (known as the Hollis-Moehn Trophy), which signifies the winner of the annual Mizzou-KU football game. The trophy is mailed back-and-forth between Fredonia, Kan. and Alton, Ill. along with $2 and a letter of humiliation.
No doubt, the trophy belongs in my home's special shrine, but unfortunately, Edna has it right now--until this weekend!
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This is my first year in Tiger Country and, so far, it's been an interesting experience. I earned my undergraduate degree from KU in May 2004, even though I am a lifelong Missouri resident. Then a funny thing happened on the way to graduate school.
I visited Columbia and MU and I fell in love with the school instantly. I was pleading with myself to hate it so I could make the easy choice and stay close to Lawrence. MU's appeal is just too great, and I'd be the first person to admit it! So here I am--a Jayhawk turncoat and a Tiger convert.
My best memories of the MU-KU border war are a living experience for me--I am in the moment. And what turmoil it is! My heart is torn between the crimson & blue and the black & gold. Whatever is a girl to do?
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My favorite memory of the MU/KU rivalry is standing in line outside of Hearnes for about six hours on a cold Sunday morning my junior year to get good seats for the game. Large groups of all of my friends were there with hot chocolate, doughnuts, orange juice and good times. It was in that moment, surrounded by all of my friends, hoping for a victory against our nemesis and irrationally standing in the hope that I might get good seats for the game, that I realized that college wouldn’t last forever, and that I was extremely lucky to call myself a Tiger.
Since graduation, I’ve been in law school at the school upon which MU is modeled, the University of Virginia. UVA’s archrivals are Virginia Tech and, especially, Maryland. Virginia Cavilers just don’t understand what it’s like to really have a border war. At a school steeped in tradition, the week before the Maryland football game felt like any other week on campus. It really depressed me and reinforced the pride I have in MU, knowing that our rivalry with KU is truly one for the books.
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My favorite MU-KU memory is MU scoring a safety in the waning moments of the 1956 game, Don Faurot's last game, to give a 15/13 win to MU.
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When I was a freshman, my roommate was a long-time friend from my hometown. Her boyfriend was a student at KU. The first week we were in school, he sent both of us a box of KU things, sweatshirts, pennants, stuffed birds, and etc. His note explained that he wanted us to be the most popular people on campus. Of course, our entire floor--the 8th floor of Schurz Hall didn't think we were popular at all. Needless to say I didn't keep any of the things that were KU!
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One of my fondest football memories came in the last game of regular season 1969. I was in Lawrence with my best friend, a KU grad, and was attending as her guest. My Tigers won that game with a score of 69 points. Then, a few days later, we got an invite to the Orange Bowl to play Penn State. I attended that Orange Bowl with my KU friend. The results of that game were not as favorable, but we did have a fun time in Miami.
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In the fall of ’61, KU was returning with most of the team that had beaten Mizzou the previous year. John Hadl and Curtis McClinton (I don’t recall if Coan had returned to school) were supposed to run over MU. My uncle got two tickets from co-workers at the Kansas City Star and took his nephew, a MU student, to the game. The seats were great, and they were right in the middle of the KU faithful. With the play of George Seals and Bucky Wegner, Hadl spent quite a bit of time attempting to complete passes while lying on his back. Long before Bill Tobin kicked the field goal to wrap up the game, my uncle had quit trying to make me quiet down. My ability to cheer erased that dark Saturday one year earlier.
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I attended Mizzou for four glorious years. They were some of the greatest of the Dan Devine years: 1967 -1971. I was an engineering major, and my older brother was an architect at KU. Needless to say, the rivalry was at a very high pitch.
During those years, the battle was always a Thanksgiving break ritual. It was KU's turn to host the annual classic in Lawrence, Kan. That particular year, I brought three of my buddies home to Kansas City, Mo. for the holiday. My brother was also home for the holiday and could not understand why we insisted on going down to Lawrence the day before the game. He assured us the campus was dead with nobody to be found and nothing happening in the town due to the holiday break. Like everything else regarding our competitive relationship at the time, just the thought of us going down a day early raised the hair on his neck; but he could not figure out why. Nor did my mother know why I had asked her, weeks earlier, to make several large MU flags so that my friends and I could use them for wall hangings in our dorm rooms. The stage was set!
Around noon the day before the game, we left for Lawrence, Kan. and arrived in the early afternoon with plenty of daylight remaining to scout out the campus. We were in search of construction cranes that could serve effectively as flag poles for mom's flags. After noting all the cranes, the access, lighting, etc.; we departed the campus to let the hours tick by. Needing some food and a place to finalize our plans, we purchased some carryout and sought the comfort of some nice plush carpet in a vacant student apartment complex that was under construction close to the campus. At 1am, all four of us dressed in black with our faces blackened as well; we departed for our targets. Crane number one proved to be the easiest and most productive. It sat perched just beyond the top of the hill at the south end of the stadium. I was elected to climb the crane and hang the first flag while my partners performed security lookout. As one might expect, the campus police were on duty that night and did make their rounds. Our lookout patrol worked to a tee. While high above the campus in the dark night sky, I hugged the crane, upon warning, as the campus police slowly drove beneath me. His trained eye was not looking above his head. After successfully completing crane one, we proceeded to number two and three. Number two was equally easy, but the impact did not turn out to be as great as number one. Crane three posed significant challenges as it was a horizontal crane. After much debate and many failed attempts, our team decided against making a final high risk try. We departed from campus for our apartment with a some brew to celebrate our success.
The next morning came early, and off to the game we went. We had no tickets and had no intention of buying our way into the game. We headed directly to the concession area and asked if we could sell drinks to make a few bucks. As the crowd gathered, we mingled amongst them as they watched my Mom's MU flag flying high above the hill for all to see. After selling our first tray of drinks, we found our seats and watched the game with absolute joy, not yet realizing the hundreds of thousands of Kansas and Missouri citizens who would enjoy the view.
The next morning, my buddies and I awoke, as did my furious brother and surprised mother, to a large above-the-fold photograph of our MU flag flying high above the KU campus on the front page of the Kansas City Star. What a joy! What a memory!
My brother has never gotten over that weekend.
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In November, 1968, I received "Greeting" from Selective Service, inviting me to report for military induction. No RSVP required. After graduating in June, I hid out in Columbia. I spent my days at Max's and my nights at Hofbrau. The draft finally found me and the jungle beckoned: "How do you like wearing camo, son?"
For a final fling, I went to the season's end football game and was hoping for a lift. Pepper Rodgers coached Kansas. I didn't like him; his Jayhawks smacked Tigers around fall before. But this was for the Orange Bowl--the big one. Sprinting into mobbed Memorial Stadium, Rodgers did stupid front flip--a somersault by an old fool. (Years later, I wasshocked to learn that Rodgers was not even 40).
Mizzou staged a furious comeback but fell by two or three. My heart shattered, I left stadium madder than thunder. I cursed Pepper Rodgers, even though I didn't know him; I cursed Kansas, and had never been there; I cursed Vietnam because I thought for sure I was going there.
The Tigers got to Miami the next year for their last, glorious, gridiron run. Soon, Pepper Rodgers moved on. Then, sadly, so did Dan Devine. By some dumb luck, Vietnam didn't happen. Everything evens out, they say. Well, almost everything.
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My most indelible memory of an MU-KU football game came long after I was out of school. 1989 was the first year of Bob Stull's passing offense, and the final game against KU was on a bitter cold day. Only the sunlight made it bearable. As the sun slowly sank in the west, we began moving from the south end of Faurot north into other sections to catch some sun. Finally, we ended up at the north end on the east side. But even that wasn't enough. With the score 44-46 KU, the sun set! The Tigers on-side kick was played in twilight because this was before there were lights at Faurot. As the sparse crowd that stayed to the end walked out of the stadium, we felt a sense of pride as only the hard core fans cheered the Tigers to the end in another losing season. But it was Kansas, so what else could we do? As a prologue, the next season Mizzou moved the regular starting time for football games from 1:30 to 1:00 so the games would finish before sunset. This year, the KU game will have what has become a rare 1:00 start time. Now if we could just have an arctic blast come through.
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My favorite memory of MU-KU rivalry goes back to 1931, when I first attended the University of Missouri. On the night before the game, a rally was held by a big bonfire near Rothwell gym. A number of speakers stimulated the crowd. One of them related the following story:
“The United States Senate heard there was trouble out in the state of Kansas. A committee was sent to investigate the problem. The committee returned to give the report. Every year, Kansas suffers three great calamities: dust storms, tornadoes and the Missouri-Kansas football game.
I probably attended the University of Missouri over a longer period than any other student. I started in 1931. I received a B.S. in education in 1939, an M.A. in history in 1949 and a Ph.D. in sociology in 1962.
During my undergraduate years, I was closely associated with notorious professor Jesse Wrench in an NYA, work study, archaeological program, which he and Professor Brewton Berry headed. When he was introduced to someone, he might say, “just like monkey wrench.” Articles about him emphasized the eccentricities that he exhibited. However, he was a practical, everyday man. He was President of the Missouri Archaeological Society for many years. He probably was involved in the establishment of the coop houses for men and women at the university.
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The tradition of the Missouri and Kansas rivalry goes back to the days of the Civil War, when the Missouri Border Ruffians would attack the Kansas Jayhawkers. I attended Mizzou from 1976 to 1980, and while I enjoyed all the games, as a true Missouri Border Ruffian, I would really get up when we played KU.
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I must admit that as a Mizzou senior in the fall of 1983, I ventured with two other Mizzou students (who are now members of the bar in their respective states) to that junior college on the Kaw for the MU/KU football classic. As the official representatives of ODK, a leadership honorary, we had the unfortunate honor of handing over the tom-tom to the jayhawks because WE LOST the game? What humiliation. All three of us on that "crossing state line" adventure are Kansas City, Mo. natives and hated losing to KU then as much as we do today! Go Tigers!
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Having come from Eastern Missouri to MU in 1965, I did not realize the intense lack of love for people of the KU persuasion. It did not take long to understand that MU was cool and KU was not. I really enjoyed the game in Lawrence, Kan. in 1970, when the Tigers won, 69-20.
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I remember a game in either 1964 or 1965, which pitted Missouri's Johnny Roland at defensive back against Gale Sayers, KU's All-American running back. I don't remember the score, but I do remember Roland making a hit on Sayers that you could hear all over the stadium. It still ranks as one of the hardest tackles I’ve ever seen. Both players made the All-American team and for Roland it was a sweet honor because he had converted from running back, where he was the Missouri star, to defensive back to fit Dan Devine's needs.
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I have two memories of the MU/KU football game; the first was in 1963. The original date for the rivalry was postponed until the Saturday after Thanksgiving because of the assassination of President Kennedy, and no games were played on the Sat. following that tragedy. The campus was in mourning, and the heated battle was the last thing on our minds. But with a week behind us, we were ready to get back to life. It seemed strange coming back early from the holiday to go to a football game, but it was just what we needed. Funny though, I can't remember who won. I'm sure it was Mizzou!
The other memory was in 1965. It was the coldest football game I have ever been to in my life! I mean cold. The stands were quite empty. My boyfriend, roommate and I huddled closely together to stay warm, but even the tradition of the MU/KU game wasn't enough to keep us in the stands past halftime. As for the outcome, I again would have to say it was Mizzou. Remember, it was the years of Dan Devine and winning football seasons.
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Every time we shake the stadium by screaming "M - I - Z"
Every time we beat the # 1 rated basketball Jayhawks during the 1993-1997 seasons!
I love you MU Football TIGERS! BEAT KU!
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What is a jayhawk? What's with that chant, "rock chalk jayhawk?" Is Kansas really a state? I am a Tiger and proud of it! GO MU BEAT KU!
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"I grew up here in Columbia, and as a baby, my mom sang to me all the Tiger fight songs as my lullabies. As a child, I was raised going to nearly every home, Mizzou football and basketball game, learning the fight songs myself at a young age (think around the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” age). They also took me to some of our highlight away games (Hawaii, San Diego, Oklahoma, Louisiana, etc.) all while instilling in me the incorrectness of the thought of attending KU. In high school, when trying to make my college decisions, KU was never even on the radar. In fact, my parents joked with me that if I did chose to go to KU, they wouldn’t help me pay my college expenses (actually, I’m not really sure if they were joking). As of this year, my mom hasn’t missed a home football game in 34 years. She started her streak when she was a freshman, and I hope to start one of my own this year. I'm proud to be a Tiger and not a Jayhawk!"
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One reason I am not a Jayhawk is because I stopped believing in fictional, fantasy characters as a young boy. I grew up close to Kansas City, Kan., in that land they call "the Sunflower State." I have never seen such a group of fans like the hawkers. Anytime something doesn't go their way, their reply is, "Wait till basketball season." I can't wait until Brad Smith and the boys show KU the way back to Lawrence, and I can politely wave them along.
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First and foremost, I am 4th generation Mizzou.
My great grandfather went to Mizzou and was part of the Marching Mizzou. My grandfather went to Mizzou to become a lawyer, and later my grandmother got her master's from the University of Missouri. Both of my parents are alumni along with a number of aunts, uncles and great uncles. As you can see, if I would have even thought about going to KU, I would have been disowned from the family!
But the main reason why I am not a Jayhawk, is because I WAS TRUMAN THE TIGER!
I currently live in Charlotte, NC, and I still have season tickets to the Tiger football games. If I am unable to attend, I make sure that my seats are filled with Mizzou fans!!
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Why I'm not a Jayhawk was edited for space/content.