Today, we reach the halfway point of the 2011 Wall voting. One inductee will be selected from each of the below tiers. For each tier, you will be given a list of nominees, and in the form below, you will rank your top three selections. Your No. 1 selection will receive five points, your No. 2 selection three points, and your No. 3 selection one point. Whoever gets the most points gets on The Wall.
- Tier I: Faurot era (mid-1930s to mid-1950s)
- Tier II: Devine era (late-1950s to early-1970s)
- Tier III: Pinkel era (2000s)
- Tier IV: Pre-Faurot, 1970s
- Tier V: 1980s-1990s
- Tier VI: Administrators/Coaches/Personalities
Like a gerrymandered district, today's tier has a unique reach. Since we wanted to specifically observe the eras of Mizzou's three most successful coaches, we now patch together two tiers of the remaining talent. Today: players from the pre-Faurot (i.e. pre-1935) time ... and from the 1970s.
Once again, all photos below are from the MU Archives' incredibly valuable Savitar archive.
Phil Bradley (1970s)
A football star, a baseball All-Star, and now a softball assistant coach. Phil Bradley is collecting the whole set! Bradley was a run-pass threat before such a thing was the norm.
Hall of Fame Bio: One of the most decorated athletes in MU annals, Bradley lettered in football at MU from 1977-81, and in baseball in 1970-80-81. A native of Macomb, Ill., Bradley quarterbacked the Tigers to three bowl games. He was a three-time Big Eight Conference "Offensive Player of the Year" and set the conference total offense record at 6,459 yards which stood for 10 years. In baseball, he starred as an outfielder on MU teams that won the Big Eight championship in 1980, and went to the NCAA Tournament in 1980 and '81. Now a member of the Chicago White Sox, Bradley was drafted out of MU by the Seattle Mariners. He reached the Major Leagues with Seattle, in 1984, and played with the Mariners through 1987. He was named to the '85 American League All-Star Team, and that season hit his career-high 26 homers. He spent 1988 with the Philadelphia Phillies, and one-and-a-half seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, before being traded to Chicago.
Herb Bunker (1920s)
Read the first sentence of the hall of fame bio very carefully: FOUR-SPORT LETTERWINNER. And we thought Bradley was impressive for being good at two...
Hall of Fame Bio: A native of Nevada, Mo., Bunker is one of only two four-sport letterwinnners in Missouri athletic history. He lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track and field, between 1920-23. In basketball, Bunker earned all-Missouri Valley Conference honors as a guard in 1921 and `922 and was an all-American in 1921 and 1923. A tackle/center in football, he captained the Tigers in 1922. He was a catcher/outfielder in baseball and threw the shot put on the track team. A Phi Beta Kappa student who earned a Ph.D. in sociology, Bunker headed Mizzou's department of physical education for many years before retiring in 1965. He spent nine years as football coach and athletic director at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., and also coached at Missouri, Auburn and Florida, and at Paseo High School in Kansas City, Mo.
Chris Garlich (1970s)
Talk about picking your moments. Garlich was a good player throughout his career, but he was a GREAT player in the big games. He was great in Columbus in 1976. He recovered a fumble, intercepted a pass, and made a huge redzone stop in South Bend in 1978. He had 21 tackles and a momentum-swinging interception in Lincoln in 1978. He was an integral part in many of Mizzou's biggest wins of the 1970s, and ... well, just ask Harry Ice how much love huge contributions in huge games can get you.
Hall of Fame Bio: The consummate student-athlete who starred both on the field and in the classroom ... A three-year starter at middle linebacker on Tiger teams that became known as giant killers, upsetting the likes of national powerhouses as Alabama, USC, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Nebraska ... Led MU in tackles (108) and interceptions (4) as a senior, and twice won Big Eight Conference Defensive Player of the week award when he made a game-saving fourth down goal line tackle to preserve a 3-0 win at Notre Dame, and later had 21 tackles and an interception to beat 2nd-ranked Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. ... Was also named Sports Illustrated National Defensive Player of the Week in 1976 after helping lead MU to an upset win at Ohio State ... A three-time academic All-Big Eight pick (1976-77-78) who was named an academic All-American in 1976 and a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete in 1978 ... Went on to earn the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 1979, and is just one of six MU football players to ever earn the award ... A standout prep athlete from Rockhurst High School in Kansas City, Mo., where he was an all-state performer in both football and track ... Currently resides in St. Louis, Mo.
Ed Lindenmeyer (1920s)
Both in the Mizzou Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame and among the fanbase as a whole, there is probably not enough appreciation for how good Missouri was in the mid-1920s under Gwinn Henry. They won at Nebraska when nobody won at Nebraska, they beat a powerhouse in Chicago, they tied a powerhouse in Tulane. They went 13-3-1 in 1924-25, and attended their first postseason game ever, the Los Angeles Christmas Festival game against USC. These were unprecedented heights for the Tigers, and who was at the center of all of it? Ed Lindenmeyer, Mizzou's first ever All-American. For a school defined by great linemen, from Lindenmeyer, to Darold Jenkins and Jim Kekeris, to Ed Blaine, to Morris Towns, to Brad Edelman and John Clay, to Mike Morris and Rob Riti, to the increasingly great greats of the 2000s, the best ever might have been the very first standout.
Henry Marshall (1970s)
A great, and somewhat forgotten, Tiger. Marshall put up 21st-century receiving yards in the mid-1970s, broke the Chiefs' all-time receiving records in the pros ... and yet, I always hear more people talking about Leo Lewis. Marshall was big, fast and fantastic.
Hall of Fame Bio: One of Mizzou's greatest receivers, Henry Marshall was an all-Big Eight and all-America choice in 1975, when he caught 44 passes for 945 yards and nine touchdowns. A native of Salina, Kan., he was a tight end when he lettered as a freshman in 1972, but moved to wideout whiled lettering in 1974 and '75. HE played in the Blue-Gray game, Hula Bowl and Coaches All-America Game following his senior year, then was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, for whom he played from 1976-87, and in the process, unseated Otis Taylor as Kansas City's all-time receiver. He held the MU records for receiving yards in a game (207) and season (945) for 15 years, before both were broken in 1990 by Linzy Collins. Marshall was a first-team choice on the Missouri All-Century Football Team, and lives in Kansas City.
Morris Towns
Was Lindenmeyer Mizzou's best lineman? Jenkins? Or maybe this first-team All-American?
Hall of Fame Bio: One of the most accomplished offensive linemen on both the collegiate and professional level in Tiger Football history ... Was a 1st-Team All-American as a senior offensive tackle in 1976, as he helped pave the way for a potent offense that helped the Tigers claim monumental road wins at 8th-ranked USC (46-25), at 2nd-ranked Ohio State (22-21) and at 3rd-ranked Nebraska (34-24) that season ... Won his first letter as a sophomore, but really came into his own during his junior season, and capped the year by more than holding his own against Oklahoma's Leroy Selmon, who won the 1975 Outland and Lombardi awards and went on to become the No. 1 selection in the 1976 NFL Draft ... Selected to play in the prestigious Blue-Gray Classic, as well as the Hula Bowl and Japan Bowl ... Was a 1st-round NFL Draft pick in 1977 by the Houston Oilers as the 11th-overall selection, and went on to a solid nine-year career in the NFL, playing from 1978-83 with Houston, and from 1984-86 for the Washington Redskins ... Was a standout student who majored in engineering at Mizzou ... Native of St. Louis, Mo., who now resides in Richmond, Texas with his wife Bridgette ... Children include Raven and Brittany ... Is a civil design engineer.
Ed "Brick" Travis (1920s)
He lost a year of eligibility when Mizzou's 1918 season was canceled due to war. He played under two different coaches in his two years. He still made his mark. He stood six feet tall and nearly 200 pounds in an era where that would be about 6'5, 250, and he was a member of Mizzou's first hall of fame class alongside Roger Wehrli, Kellen Winslow, Don Faurot and Dan Devine. And his nickname was "Brick." What else do you need to know?
Hall of Fame Bio: From St. Charles, Mo., Travis starred for the Tigers as a tackle in 1919-20 earning all-Missouri Valley Conference honors both years. He went on to play professional football with Rock Island (Ill.) in 1921, and the St. Louis All-Stars in 1923. He was inducted into the State of Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1972, and the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1974. He was a member of the University's first Intercollegiate Athletic Committee.