KU’s Sands will never forget his record-setting rushing performance vs. Missouri
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- Tony Sands rushed for 396 yards on 58 carries vs. Missouri in 1991 finale.
- Sands' carries mark still stands as NCAA record; rushing yards rank fifth.
- His record remains a rivalry benchmark as KU meets Missouri in 2025.
Tony Sands, the third-leading rusher in Kansas Jayhawks football history and member of the program’s Ring of Honor, had many outstanding individual performances in Lawrence.
The most memorable outing of his college career (1988-91) happened to take place in his final game, a 53-29 victory over the rival Missouri Tigers on Nov. 23, 1991 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Sands rushed for 396 yards on 58 carries, both school records then and now, and scored a school-record tying four touchdowns in the contest.
Sands’ achievements in that Border War clash have never been forgotten. He’s reminded of his great game over and over in conversations with friends, acquaintances and sports fans still awed by the effort after 34 years.
“Oh wow. This week I’ve done probably four or five podcasts,” Sands said of “Missouri week.” The 2025 Jayhawks will travel to Columbia to meet the Tigers at 2:30 p.m., Saturday.
“Just in the course of my lifetime, it’s a topic that comes up with so many because the first thing they say to me is, ‘Man, you carried the ball 58 times, gained 396 yards in one game? Is that possible?’
“Yeah it is possible,” Sands added of the number of carries (which remains an NCAA record) and number of yards gained (a record at the time, and still the fifth-best mark in a game ). “If you can Google it or go to the College Hall of Fame and see it, then yeah, it’s possible,” he added in a phone interview with The Star from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where the man nicknamed ‘Tuxedo Tony’ for his penchant to wear tuxes to games, is a personal trainer of athletes.
Sands — his 396-yard outing came two months after San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk gained an NCAA-record 386 yards against Pacific — realizes his record-setting performance in 1991 was made more special because it came against Mizzou.
He said Jayhawk players Saturday would have the same opportunity to turn in a performance for the ages.
“This is the one. If you want to make a name for yourself, if you truly want to make a name for yourself at the University of Kansas, you make it against Missouri,” Sands said.
“If you make it against Missouri, your name would live on … infamous,” Sands added. “Because as this rivalry comes up, people speak about certain players that have had big games against Missouri. They speak about me. They speak about Kerry Meier (who caught game-winning TD pass from Todd Reesing with 27 seconds left in a 40-37 KU win over the Tigers in 2008 in Kansas City).
“They speak about Darrell Stuckey (defensive back who forced three MU turnovers in that ‘08 game). They speak about all those guys that had great games against Missouri,” Sands noted.
Sands’ 396 yards rushing versus MU remain well ahead of the second-best rushing effort in KU history. Wishbone quarterback Nolan Cromwell gained 294 yards on 28 carries in a 20-0 home win over Oregon State on Sept. 27, 1975.
Nationally, Sands’ rushing-yardage total of 396 was an NCAA record for eight years, until it was broken by LaDainian Tomlinson of TCU, who rushed for 406 yards on 43 carries with six touchdowns in a 52-24 home win over UTEP in 1999.
Sands’ 396 yards gained now is fifth most in an NCAA game. Samaje Perine of Oklahoma holds the single-game rushing record. He gained 427 yards on 34 carries against Kansas on Nov. 22, 2014 in Norman, Oklahoma. He scored five TDs.
Sands’ 58 carries easily outdistance runnerup June Henley on KU’s all-time charts. Henley had 44 carries versus Texas in 1993, 14 behind Sands. Sands’ 58 carries are two more than the 56 attempts of Butler’s Arnold Mickens against Valparaiso on Oct. 8, 1994. Mickens had 295 yards rushing in that game.
“One thing I tell people about that one particular game,” Sands said, “is that made me a winner at the University of Kansas because going into that game, we were .500.
“So to win it, we finished 6-5. We were winners (after 10 straight losing seasons). We were considered a winning program. I came in under (losing) circumstances but I ended as a winner. So that even speaks volumes when it comes to what that Missouri game meant to me. I tell people it wasn’t just about the record. It was about a group of guys that willing to band together for one common goal.”
Nobody was thinking about 396 yards at halftime when Sands’ totals read: 125 rushing yards on 25 carries.
That changed as the game progressed and Sands kept gaining big chunks of yardage on a cold day in Lawrence.
“Probably 360 (yards) is when they (coaches) said, ‘OK, hey, we’re not too far from that national record.’ Because you’ve got to remember, Marshall Faulk set that record the first game of that season against Pacific, which was 386,” Sands said.
“Everybody said, ‘Let’s go for it.’ We went to, ‘pound it, pound away.’ It was a team effort. At one point the defense had to come together and had to get them off the field 3-and-out, so we could get back on.
“I remember Dana Stubblefield (defensive lineman) recovered a fumble and we went back on the field and that’s when we finished it out.”
Sands recalled: “The offensive linemen loved what was going on. (QB) Chip Hilleary wanted to throw it one time. He did throw it one time. And coach (Glen) Mason called over Pat Ruel, the offensive coordinator, over and said, ‘If Chip Hilleary throws a ball another time. I’m going to fire you on the spot,’’’ Sands added, laughing.
With about two minutes left, Sands recalled, Mason called a time out so Sands could exit to a standing ovation. Sands is not upset Mason didn’t call a few more plays for Sands in the late going to hit the 400-yard mark.
“Mase said, ‘I didn’t want you to go in there and lose yards and then we lose the record,’’’ Sands said. “I just said we were all cool with that. Because he said, ‘The press is going to kill me for these many yards (in a blowout),’ but when we got in the press conference the first question they asked was, ‘Why didn’t you let him get 400 yards?’’’
Sands was just happy his wife was able to see him set the all-time record. Initially she had left the stadium on a very cold day, but returned after hearing on the radio in her car Tony was oh, so close to the greatest rushing performance in NCAA history.
“Security escorted her all the way to the gate where she could actually see me when I set the record,” Sands said.
Florida native Sands said he appreciated everything his coach and teammates did for him that day and during his career at KU.
“Coach Mason was never a guy who spoke about records,” Sands said. “He was just trying to get us to become winners. The night before the last game, the seniors got up to speak. I was the only senior that spoke because I talked about what this game meant to me, what it meant to every young man in the room, what it meant to me that I was a part of this special group.
“We got so emotional at that point, coach Ruel, said, ‘That’s it. No one else speak. Let’s get this game on our mind.’ This was our last ride. What would be a better way to go out than to become winners over them (Tigers)? And we came together as a team and were able to win and have that winning record.”
Sands, who went 2-2 all-time vs. the Tigers, said he would watch Saturday’s game on TV back in Florida.
“This is one I’m going to watch on television, because I got a couple business meetings this weekend. I’ll definitely be in front of the TV at some sports bar, enjoying myself watching my Jayhawks take care of business,” Sands said.
