We’re counting down the biggest plays in Kansas City sports history: Today, Nos. 16-20
This week, the Kansas City Star is counting down the 25 biggest sports plays involving our professional, college and high school teams or individuals.
We’re unveiling five a day. These aren’t the best single-game performances or milestones — these are singular moments, the kind where you readily recall where you were and who you were with when you watched them.
Here are plays No. 16-20.
20. Sproles was gone and K-State’s upset was brewing
Darren Sproles was a force. From 2001-04, the 5-foot-6 Kansas State dynamo rushed for 4,979 yards and ended his career sixth among NCAA Division I players in all-purpose yards. His biggest yards-from-scrimmage game was the 2003 Big 12 championship contest, when he piled up 323 combined in KSU’s 35-7 upset of top-ranked Oklahoma.
One of those receptions was vintage Sproles. He took a screen pass over the middle from Ell Roberson, made a couple cuts, found open field and was gone. The touchdown covered 60 yards and gave the Wildcats a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter. K-State went on to its first conference championship in football in seven decades.
It only got better for Sproles. Last year he retired having completed one of the greatest NFL careers by a former KC high school athlete. He ranks fifth all-time in the NFL in career all-purpose yards.
19. T-Rob blocks Mizzou’s shot at victory
The intensity was off the charts. Third-ranked Missouri had announced its departure for the SEC and nobody knew when the old rivals would meet again (we know now they’ll reunite this December at KC’s Sprint Center).
The Tigers had staged a great comeback to beat KU in Columbia earlier in the month. Now it was the fourth-ranked Jayhawks’ turn.
Kansas trailed by 19 with 17 minutes remaining but battled back to make it 75-75 on Thomas Robinson’s three-point play with 16 seconds left in regulation.
That set the stage for the All-America Robinson on the other end of the floor. Mizzou guard Paul Pressey drove from the left wing, approached the basket and lofted a short right-handed shot. Robinson blocked it. Pressey hit the deck. No foul called on the block follow-through. Overtime, and even that came down to the final second. Kansas won 87-86 in a Bill Self fist-pump celebration.
18. Rolando Blackman puts the madness in March
The biggest shot in Kansas State basketball history?
It would be tough to top Rolando Blackman’s 16-footer from the baseline with 2 seconds remaining, a basket that gave the Wildcats a 50-48 victory over top-seeded Oregon State in the second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament at Pauley Pavilion in L.A.
K-State entered the tournament as a No. 8 seed and needed to overcome a 12-point deficit to defeat San Francisco in the first round.
Oregon State, coached by Kansan and Hall of Famer Ralph Miller and led by Steve Johnson, who set the NCAA record for field-goal percentage that season (74.6), had a first-round bye.
In the pre-shot clock days, low-scoring games were common and holding the ball for a lengthy period to get a final shot wasn’t unusual. The Wildcats got possession with 2:03 remaining and held … and held … and held for Blackman’s attempt.
“I wanted the ball,” Blackman said after the game. “I got it with eight seconds left and wanted to go one-on-one on the baseline. I knew it was going in.”
Oregon State could only get off a long heave in response.
The shot capped one of the wildest days in NCAA Tournament history. A minute earlier, Arkansas’ U.S. Reed’s flung in a halfcourt prayer to beat Louisville in another regional, one of the first examples of a network (NBC) switching games to capture fantastic finishes in the NCAA Tournament.
There have been other dramatic games in Kansas State’s hoop history: the 2010 Sweet 16 victory over Xavier was loaded with huge shots by Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, for instance, and Barry Brown’s late drive in the 2018 Sweet 16 against Kentucky delivered the go-ahead points KSU needed.
But a final shot for an NCAA Tournament victory is the stuff of March Madness. A week later, the bucket was immortalized on a Sports Illustrated cover.
17. Greatest of Dante Hall’s many returns
Starting with his third NFL season, Dante Hall shifted into another gear. He returned a kickoff and two punts for touchdowns that season. He topped that touchdown total by the fifth game of 2004.
One of his returns stands with the greatest in NFL history. Against the Denver Broncos, Hall caught a punt at the 7. He reversed field twice, headed in all four directions at one point, even reversing course to the 3. When he finally headed upfield, Hall was gone for a dazzling 93-yard touchdown. By midseason, Hall was a guest on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
In 2018, Hall was asked to compare himself with Tyreek Hill. He spoke in the present tense: “I don’t have his speed, but he doesn’t have my quickness.”
16. Sporting KC’s Collin rises to challenge
With 15 minutes to play in the 2013 MLS Cup, it seemed like all Sporting Kansas City supporters would remember about this day was the cold.
On a 20 degree day, Sporting Kansas City missed a couple of early chances and conceded a second-half goal that could’ve stood as the game-winner.
But in the 76th minute, Sporting KC had a corner kick and Graham Zusi delivered a perfect ball. It curled to a space between the penalty spot and the top of the goalie area. Aurelien Collin leaped and headed it into the goal for an equalizing score.
Real Salt Lake’s Nick Rimando had no chance to stop the ball, which rippled the net in front of the Cauldron. The mood in the stadium changed from concerned to euphoric. Sporting KC went on to win an epic 10-round penalty kick shootout. Collin delivered the winning kick in the shootout, too.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 9:22 AM.