Border War Chronicles: Faurot’s Last Game, 1956
By Joe Proszek
To celebrate perhaps the final game of the Border War, Zoulogy will present memories of the most important chapters in the history of the rivalry every day leading up to the game. Today’s installment: The game on Dec. 1, 1956, legendary coach Don Faurot’s last game.
During the 1956 season, Faurot announced he would end his 19-year stint as the Tigers’ coach and take over as the university’s athletic director.
Faurot was a Mizzou legend, taking a team that the season before he started won two games and turned it into a respectable program.
On a cold day in December, Kansas quarterback Wally Strauch led the 3-5-1 Jayhawks against the 3-5-1 Tigers, who were fresh off a 67-14 drumming at the hands of the University of Oklahoma.
With sole possession of third place in the conference on the line, Mizzou and Kansas battled back and forth before a last-second touchdown sealed the game for the Tigers, 15-13.
Following the game, the Tigers hoisted coach Faurot onto their shoulders one last time and carried him into the night a winner.
That Tigers team, led by quarterback Jimmy Hunter and the powerful running combo of George Cramer and Charley James gave Faurot a winning conference record to close his coaching career, which he ended with an overall record of 177-96-13, making him the winningest coach in Tigers history.
Unfortunately Hunger, Cramer, and James, like all his teams at Mizzou, failed to ever win the legendary coach a bowl game.