Don Faurot

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Don Faurot" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Don Faurot

Faurot from The Savitar, 1936
Biographical details
Born	(1902-06-23)June 23, 1902 Mountain Grove, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 19, 1995(1995-10-19) (aged 93) Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1922–1924	Missouri
Position(s)	Jacksonville NAS
1946–1956	Missouri
Basketball
1925–1934	Kirksville State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1935–1942	Missouri
1946–1967	Missouri
Head coaching record
Overall	177–96–13 (football) 92–74 (basketball)
Bowls	0–4
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 7 MIAA (1927–1930, 1932–1934) 3 Big 6 (1939, 1941–1942) Basketball 1 MIAA (1927)
Awards
Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1964)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1961 (profile)

Donald Burrows Faurot (June 23, 1902 – October 19, 1995) was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator best known for his eight-decade association with the University of Missouri. He served as the head football coach at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College—commonly known at the time as Kirksville State Teachers College and now known as Truman State University—from 1926 to 1934 and at Missouri from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1956. During World War II, Faurot coached the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks in 1943 and the football team at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in 1944. He was also the head basketball coach at Kirksville State from 1925 to 1934, tallying a mark of 92–74. Faurot was the athletic director at Missouri from 1935 to 1942 and again from 1946 to 1967. He lettered in three sports at Missouri in the early 1920s: in football, as a halfback, basketball and baseball.

Faurot is credited with inventing the split-T formation. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1961. The playing surface at Missouri's Memorial Stadium was named Faurot Field in his honor in 1972.

Early life and playing career

Faurot was born in Mountain Grove, Missouri, on June 23, 1902, to parents Frederick W. Faurot and Charlotte Burrows Faurot. He lost two fingers on his right hand in a boyhood farming accident, yet still became an accomplished multi-sport athlete.^[1]

Faurot's association with the University of Missouri started when he was a young boy who would sneak into

His major contributions were two-fold: retiring the $500,000 debt through scheduling Ohio State over 9 of 11 years (losing all of them) and to football through his innovation of the Split-T offense at Mizzou in 1941. In the post-World War II era, many coaches adopted the Faurot formation—most notably, Bud Wilkinson and Jim Tatum, who learned the offense first-hand while serving as his assistant coaches with the Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks during World War II. More than 60 years later, it is still in vogue today at all levels of football. Several of football's most notable formations—the Wishbone, Wingbone, Veer or I-attack and others—utilize Faurot's option play as their basic concept.

In 19 years as the Tiger football coach, Faurot's record was 101 wins, 79 losses and 10 ties, a record that remained unmatched until coach Gary Pinkel passed him in 2013. His 1939 team, featuring All-American Paul Christman, won Faurot's first Big Six Conference title and a bid to the Orange Bowl. His 1941 team also won the Big 6 title after a 45–6 drubbing of Kansas, and played in the Sugar Bowl. After a last-second win against arch-rival Kansas in 1956, he stepped down as head coach to concentrate on his duties as athletic director. Under him, the Tigers won three conference titles and went to four bowl games. When he retired as athletic director in 1967, the program was in the black and Memorial Stadium's capacity had doubled to more than 50,000 through five different expansions.

Honors

Faurot is a member of the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, the Orange Bowl Hall of Honor, the Blue-Gray Game Hall of Fame, past president of the American Football Coaches Association, and recipient of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award for his distinguished service in the advancement of the best interests of football.

In 1972, the playing surface at Memorial Stadium was officially named Faurot Field in his honor.

Though he stepped down as athletic director in 1967, Faurot never really found a way to retire. He maintained an office at the Tom Taylor Building where he spent several hours nearly every day, and was a regular attendee at football practice until shortly before his death. In 1995, he placed the final square of sod as MU successfully converted Faurot Field back to natural grass. Through 1994, Faurot was active as a talent procurer and coach for the annual Blue–Gray Football Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. He was secretary of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for many years, and was also the executive secretary of the Missouri Senior Golf Association. He spent a term after his retirement as assistant director in charge of special events for the MU Alumni Association.

He died October 19, 1995, in Columbia, the week of the MU Homecoming. He was 93 years old. Apart from his stint in Kirksville and his wartime service, he spent all of his adult life associated with MU in some capacity.

Head coaching record

Football

See also

• List of presidents of the American Football Coaches Association

References

External links

• Don Faurot at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Don Faurot at Find a Grave