Member Biography

Don Faurot played halfback for Missouri 1922-24. His first coaching job was at Kirksville Teachers (now Northeast Missouri State). In nine years his teams won seven conference titles and had a 26-game winning streak. He coached Missouri 1935-42 and 1946-56. In 1941 he invented the split T formation. He explained its origin: "I had been using the single wing but had lost a great passer, Paul Christman, while retaining two speedy runners, Harry Ice and Bob Steuber. I had to find something that would turn them loose." In the normal T, the linemen were in a tight formation. Faurot split them and opened the blocking patterns. Missouri won Big Six championships in 1941 and 1942 with this formation. Faurot coached Iowa Preflight with a 9-1 record in 1943 and Jacksonville Naval Station with a 5-3 record in 1944. He returned to Missouri in 1946 and continued coaching through the 1956 season. For 28 years of college coaching his record was 163-93-13. At Iowa Preflight his assistants were Bud Wilkinson and Jim Tatum, and he taught them the split T. He was Missouri director of athletics 1935-42 and 1946-67 and followed that with five years as alumni ambassador. While Athletic Director at Missouri he hired Frank Broyles and Dan Devine as football coaches. In his last game as Missouri coach, his team nipped Kansas 15-13 with a last-second score, and the players carried Faurot off the field. Missouri's football field was renamed Faurot Field in 1972. Faurot limited his recruiting to in-state players. His 1948 squad, which went to the Gator Bowl, had 48 players--all from Missouri. Faurot was born June 23, 1902, in Mountain Grove, Missouri. He died October 19, 1995 at the age of 93.