Faurot from The Savitar, 1936
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Sport(s) | Football, basketball, baseball |
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Biographical details | |
Born |
Mountain Grove, Missouri |
June 23, 1902
Died | October 19, 1995 Columbia, Missouri |
(aged 93)
Playing career | |
Football | |
1922–1924 | Missouri |
Position(s) | Halfback |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
Football | |
1926–1934 | Kirksville State |
1935–1942 | Missouri |
1943 | Iowa Pre-Flight |
1944 | NAS Jacksonville |
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 MVIAA (1939, 1941–1942) Basketball 1 MIAA (1927) |
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Awards | |
Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1964) | |
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1961 (profile) |
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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 as Missouri's Memorial Stadium was named Faurot Field in his honor in 1972.
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.
Faurot's association with the University of Missouri started when he was a young boy who would sneak into Rollins Field to watch the Tigers play and practice. He was the eldest of four brothers to win a football letter at Missouri. Faurot was a three-sport letterman from 1922 to 1924. A lightweight 145-pound fullback in football, he also captained the basketball team and was an infielder in baseball. He was a member of FarmHouse Fraternity while attending the University of Missouri.