Tribune Column ; Readers Reminisce About Mu Football, New Golf Carts

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This week I'm happy to share a couple of more remembrance stories from you, the readers. First is Walter Marsh, who lives in Ashland, Ore., followed by Scott Bess.

"I was a 17-year-old freshman on the 1945 Missouri team. I laid out in '46 but returned in '47 and '48. I was never good enough for the varsity but did get to play on the B team during those years. That team ceased to exist long ago. Another coach on the 1945 football team was a familiar name, Tom Botts. Coach Botts was a great track coach and great person, and in 1945, he was needed as a football coach. At the beginning of the year, Botts, Herb Bunker and Chauncey Simpson were the only coaches for probably 80 players. Later in the year, Lowell Pickett, who had played before the war, joined the staff and coached the B team, and Hoot Betty came in near the end of the season. I remember Hoot gathering a bunch of B teamers around him and saying, `Some of you are going to be GREAT players!' I don't think any of us were. Players drifted in as they were discharged. Ralph Stewart came after a game or so, as did Rollie Oakes, who later teamed with Mel Sheehan as a great pair of ends. Stewart was in a line of outstanding centers, including Darrell Jenkins, just before the war, and later Bob Fuchs, who I thought was the best football player Missouri had while I was there. Pound for pound, though, it might have been Lloyd Brinkman.

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Tribune Column ; Readers Reminisce About Mu Football, New Golf Carts

"Coach Simpson gave the B teamers the option of dressing out for home games. I dressed for the Nebraska game but decided that the bench was a very poor vantage point. On a whim, I wrot...

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