Happily retired Gary Pinkel headlines 2016 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees
Gary Pinkel is enjoying retirement, so much so he wonders if he shouldn’t have done it sooner.
Pinkel, who was the headlining inductee for the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2016 on Sunday, announced Nov. 13 that he had follicular lymphoma and would retire after 15 seasons as football coach at the University of Missouri.
“People have been remarkably nice to me, and kind and considerate, all around the state of Missouri,” Pinkel said of post-retirement life. “It’s been a bit overwhelming. If I knew they were going to treat me this nice, I would’ve done this a few years ago.”
The truth is, Pinkel, whose 118 wins with the Tigers are a program record, isn’t completely retired. Missouri announced Jan. 21 that he’d signed a three-year contract for fundraising and public relations.
Pinkel also has appeared on the SEC Network’s coverage of the SEC Championship Game and College Football Playoff title game. He will be part of the SEC Network’s national signing day coverage Wednesday.
“I’m keeping busy, but it’s nice to be out of the grind,” said Pinkel, who isn’t currently undergoing any cancer treatment, because his PET scans are clear for now. “For 25 years, I’ve been on call every minute of every day, but it was the right time.”
Some things haven’t changed. Pinkel still hasn’t re-watched any Tigers games he coached, not even the epic 2007 showdown with Kansas at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I think I’ll do that,” he said. “Maybe I’ll take a game a month or something, but I’m such an in-the-moment person that I don’t really look back a whole lot.”
Speaking on behalf of the 1966 Missouri Sugar Bowl champion team, which also was inducted Sunday into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, Johnny Roland had a message for Pinkel.
“I’ve got to express my gratitude to Gary, because he resurrected the Missouri football program,” Roland said. “That’s the alma mater, so we still take pride in that.”
That Tigers team finished 8-2-1, including a win in the Sugar Bowl against the Florida Gators, quarterbacked by Steve Spurrier, and were ranked No. 6 under Dan Devine.
“It’s great recognition,” Roland said of the team’s induction. “I don’t know if it took 50 years for them to figure it out, but here we are. It’s a great compliment to the guys and all the work we put in in those formative years. We always preached togetherness. No ‘I’ and ‘me,’ it was always ‘we’ and ‘us.’ ”
Former Missouri track star Natasha Kaiser-Brown, a six-time NCAA All-American and 1992 Olympic silver medalist on the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team in Barcelona, also was honored along with three Kansas City-area natives.
Excelsior Springs native Gregg Williams — who has coached in the NFL for 25 seasons, including three as head coach of the Buffalo Bills (2001-03) and 14 as a defensive coordinator — received a phone call Dec. 12, informing him he’d been selected for the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
“I was floored,” said Williams, now defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams. “This experience right here is one of the most humbling things I’ve ever been a part of.”
A phone call from his father-in-law, Mike Shannon, a two-time World Series champion and longtime broadcaster for the Cardinals, helped ensure that.
“Hey big boy, I heard you got a phone call,” Shannon said.
“Yes, sir,” Williams replied.
“Well, congrats,” Shannon continued.
“Thank you, sir,” Williams said.
“I just want to let you know, I got it before you,” Shannon said before abruptly hanging up.
Williams, 57, made sure to remind Shannon, 76, a few days later that he had a nearly two-decade head start.
St. Joseph native and Olympic silver medalist Terin Humphrey, who graduated from Odessa and did her gymnastics training in Blue Springs, wasn’t sure what to think when she received her Hall of Fame call.
“I had just been inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame, so I didn’t know how big this one was until I got here,” said Humphrey, who won silver medals on the uneven bars and in the team competition at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. “Being here and meeting all the other people being inducted, I’m like, ‘This is a really big deal.’ I’m excited for this honor.”
Eric Williams, a Kansas City native and Central High graduate, also was inducted. He played on the 1974 USC national championship team and spent eight seasons in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers.
He wrapped up his career playing with eventual Super Bowl champion quarterback Doug Williams for the USFL’s Arizona Outlaws in 1985.
Longtime Royals scout Art Stewart, who currently is a special assistant to general manager Dayton Moore, went into the Hall of Fame as well.
He’s already a member of the Royals’ Hall of Fame but said this was a special honor.
“I talked to Whitey Herzog, who is a good friend of mine, and George Brett,” Stewart said. “They been inducted in the past and told me what a prestigious honor this is. I realized it today when I saw it for myself. … I’ve been in the game 64 years, and probably the last six months of been the greatest, coming off a world championship and receiving this great honor.”
Royals owner David Glass and other club executives were on hand for Stewart’s enshrinement, which he shared with former Chiefs offensive lineman Tim Grunhard.
Grunhard, who won an NCAA title in 1988 at Notre Dame, helped the Chiefs reach the playoffs seven times in 11 seasons.
When he was drafted and signed with the Chiefs, Grunhard's parents moved to northern Arkansas.
“I used to drive down (Missouri highway) 65 and turn on (Missouri highway) 60 East and go right by whenever building this place,” he said. “I said, ‘Man, someday that would be really cool to play long enough to have an opportunity to maybe get into the Missouri Hall of Fame.’ I didn’t think it ever would happen, but here it is and it’s awesome.”
Central Missouri athletic director Jerry Hughes was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2005, but he was honored Sunday as a Missouri Sports Legend, an honor that comes with a bronze bust in the Springfield-based museum.
“When you walk around there and see all those people that are Legends — George Brett and Len Dawson and Stan Musial and Norm Stewart and Jon Sundvold, you just go on and on and on — it’s quite a group to be associated with,” Hughes said. “I’m really humbled to be considered in that same company.”
The 2016 class also included St. Louis native and 22-year baseball veteran Jerry Reuss, Springfield native and retired professional bull rider L.J. Jenkins, Evangel men’s basketball coach Steve Jenkins, West Plains native former TCU baseball coach Lance Brown, former Missouri Southern men’s basketball coach Robert Corn, St. Louis University High racquetball coach Joe Koestner, former Missouri State sports information director Mark Stillwell, John Burroughs football coach Jim Lemen and the John Burroughs football team.
Tod Palmer: 816-234-4389, @todpalmer
This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Happily retired Gary Pinkel headlines 2016 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees."