Two votes remain to select members of this year's Wall induction class. 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
From peaks to valleys to peaks to valleys again, the 1980s and 1990s were not the most successful pair of decades in Mizzou history, but they still produced a ton of strong, likable individual talent, including some gritty runners, tough quarterbacks, a huge, brilliant safety and multiple phenomenal linemen.
Once again, all photos below are from the MU Archives' incredibly valuable Savitar archive unless otherwise noted.
John Clay
Like Justin Smith a bit over a decade later, John Clay was the single truly great player on some otherwise iffy teams. It is appropriate to celebrate Clay a day after two Mizzou players went in the top ten of the draft -- Clay was Mizzou's lone first-rounder in a span from 1982-00.
MUtigers.com Bio: An earth-moving offensive tackle, John Clay was a St. louis, Mo., native who earned consensus All-American honors as a senior in 1986. He lettered four years for Mizzou, from 1983-86, and was a first-team all-Big Eight selection in 1984-85-86, joining former standouts Johnny roland, Gary Lane and Phil Bradley as MU’s only three-time all-league honorees in the Big Eight era. a team co-captain in 1986, Clay ended his collegiate career by playing in the prestigious Blue-Gray Game and East-West Shrine Game. He went on to become a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League in 1987. He was later traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1988, but a back injury prematurely ended his promising career.
Brad Edelman
Another candidate for Mizzou's best lineman ever, Edelman was an All-American at Mizzou and All-Pro in N'awlins ... can we get a big ugly a little love here at some point?
Hall of Fame Bio: A St. Louis, Mo., native who was a rock on an offensive line that helped lead Mizzou Football to four consecutive winning seasons, and four straight bowl game appearances, from 1978-81 ... Earned All-American honors as a senior in 1981, despite missing two games during the season due to a knee injury ... Helped lead Tigers to 31 wins in four years, and appearances in the 1978 Liberty Bowl, the 1979 Hall of Fame Bowl, the 1980 Liberty Bowl and the 1981 Tangerine Bowl ... Mizzou won all of those bowl games, with the exception of the 1980 game, beating ranked opponents in 1979 and 1981 ... Was a team captain in 1981, and earned All-Big Eight honors in 1980, and later played in the Hula Bowl and Olympia Gold Bowl all-star games following his senior season in 1981 ... Was voted by MU fans onto Mizzou's All-Century Team in 1990 ... Went on to a solid professional football career, as he played offensive guard for the New Orleans Saints from 1982-90 ... Was a Pro-Bowl starter in 1987, and earned Pro-Bowl alternate status in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1988, as well ... Worked as an actor in Hollywood for a period of time after finishing his pro football career, and has since gone on to become an accomplished photographer in the New Orleans area, where he currently resides.
Corby Jones
"Corby": defined as "He who dives backwards into the end zone against Nebraska with no regard for his own safety."
Hall of Fame Bio: One of the most dynamic quarterbacks to every play for Mizzou, a true run-pass threat who will always be remembered for leading MU to bowl games (1997 Holiday and 1998 Insight.com) for the first time since 1983 ... Led MU to a 34-31 victory over West Virginia in the 1998 Insight.com Bowl, which marked Mizzou's first bowl win since 1981, as he rushed for three touchdowns and threw for 130 yards in the contest ... Is the only player in school history to rank in the top-10 in rushing, passing, total offense and scoring ... Holds the school career records in points (228) and touchdowns (38), and also ranks 3rd in total offense (6,230 yards), 4th in rushing (2,533), 5th in passing (3,697 yards) and 5th in passing efficiency (119.6 rating) ... Was a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate entering his senior season, but his statistics were hampered quite a bit due to a lingering toe injury that limited his mobility ... Also played his senior year after the tragic death of his father, Curtis, a Tiger assistant coach who died suddenly of a heart attack prior to the season ... Still earned 2nd-Team All-Big 12 honors as a senior in 1998, despite the injury, as he passed for 1,281 yards and rushed for 536 with a team-high 20 touchdowns (11 rushing, nine passing) ... Was named a 1st-Team All-Big 12 quarterback as a junior in 1997, after setting a school record at the time with 2,545 yards of total offense (1,658 passing, 887 rushing), and adding 26 touchdowns (14 rushing, 12 passing) ... A true scholar-athlete in the finest sense of the term, who was one of 17 people to receive the prestigious National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award in 1998 ... Is also one of only 10 Tigers to earn 1st-Team Academic All-Conference honors three times ... Also was named a GTE District VII Academic All-American as a senior ... Played in the Hula Bowl all-star game following his senior season, and played professionally with Montreal of the CFL and St. Louis in an indoor league before returning to MU to complete his law degree.
Erik McMillan
A DE-turned-safety who wore #96 and seemingly scored on a pick six in every game. He was unique to say the least; not only was he Mizzou's best defensive player on some awful teams, but with his pick sixes, he may have been their best offensive player too.
Hall of Fame Bio: A Silver Spring, Md., native who came to Mizzou as a defensive end, but left as one of the top defensive backs in school history ... An honorable mention All-American and first-team All-Big Eight pick in 1987 who had five pass interceptions for 119 yards in returns ... Tied an NCAA season record by returning three of his interceptions for touchdowns that year ... Ended his Tiger career with 323 tackles, which ranks 7th on the school career list ... Is also ranked 6th on the MU career sacks list, with 12 ... Was voted to the MU All-Century Team in 1990 ... Closed his collegiate career by playing in the Blue-Gray Game, the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl ... Was drafted by the NFL's New York Jets, and went on to earn the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year Award in 1988 ... Was a two-time Pro Bowl pick (1988-89), and later played with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos ... His father, Ernie McMillan, is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame ... Currently resides in Fayetteville, Ga., where he is a financial planner and is active in charity work.
Brock Olivo
One of the most strangely controversial Tigers in recent history -- controversial primarily because of his place on the real wall of retired numbers, but also because of his strange congressional candidacy a few years ago -- Olivo was also the most hard-working.
MUtigers.com Bio: There aren't many instances in the game of football these days when a team's starting tailback is allowed to participate on special teams, let alone volunteers for such duties.
The story of former Mizzou running back Brock Olivo, however, is one of those instances. Olivo, whose number 27 will be retired this afternoon during the Tigers' home opener against Eastern Illinois, was known not only for his prowess on the offensive side of the ball, but also for his diligence to all aspects of the Tigers' special teams unit.
In 1997, his senior year, the Washington, Mo., native was named the first-ever recipient of the Mosi Tatupu Special Teams Player of the Year Award, becoming the first Mizzou football player to ever earn a national honor. Olivo, who recorded nine special teams tackles in addition to his blocking duties on the return teams, harbors a sense of disbelief at being the first Tiger to receive such recognition.
"Whoever was selecting national awards over the years must have been looking at a map that didn't include the state of Missouri. I guess they must have updated it in '97," he says.
While Olivo rose to prominence with his special teams accomplishments in the '97 season, it was also a milestone year for the senior in his role as Mizzou's starting tailback.
By the end of the year, Olivo's name stood at the top of the Tigers' all-time career lists for most rushing yards (3,026), rushing touchdowns (27), and all-purpose yards (3,475).
Darrell Wallace
John Clay did have some help on those mid- to late-1980s offenses. He didn't have to open up much of a hole for Darrell Wallace to dart through it. Until Brock Olivo, Wallace was Mizzou's all-time leading rusher.
Hall of Fame Bio: One of the grittiest performers ever at Mizzou, Wallace overcame personal tragedies during his career from 1984-87 to become the school's all time leading rusher with 2,607 yards. He broke James Wilder's record despite standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 168 pounds. He was second-team all-Big Eight and honorable mention all-American in 1985 and '86, and was named a sophomore all-American by Football News in 1985. Wallace is the last Tiger to run for 1,000 yards, with 1,120 in 1985, a year in which he led the Big Eight in rushing. He was CFL's Western Division Rookie-of-the-Year in 1989, while playing with the British Columbia Lions. He also played with several other CFL teams, in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and in the WLAF. Currently, he lives in Auburn Hills, Mich.
Devin West
Hall of Fame Bio: A silky-smooth and deceptively fast tailback who became one of Mizzou's alltime bests in the backfield, and helped lead MU football back to the winners circle ... A native of Moberly, Mo. who ended his career ranking No. 2 on the alltime school career rushing chart, with 2,954 yards (ranked No. 3 at the beginning of the 2004 season) ... If bowl stats were counted in career totals when he played, he would have left as MU's career leader in the category (had 229 yards in two bowl games combined) ... Ranks as MU's alltime leader for all-purpose yards in a career (2,824), season (1,621 in 1998) and game (333 vs. Kansas in 1998) ... His 108 points scored in 1998 ranks 3rd on the MU single-season scoring list, and his career total of 174 points ranks as 8th-best in school history ... Was named a 1st-Team All-American at tailback (Football News, The Sporting News) as a senior in 1998, and helped lead Mizzou to an 8-4 season and a win over West Virginia in the Insight.com Bowl - MU's first bowl win since 1981 ... Rushed for 125 yards in the bowl victory ... Ended MU's 12-year All-American drought, as he became the first All-American since John Clay in 1986 ... He was also the first Tiger running back to be named All-American since Bob Steuber in 1942 ... Ranked 5th in the nation in rushing in 1998, with an MU single-season record 1,578 yards and 17 TDs ... His 18 total TDs stood as the single-season record until 2003 ... Holds two of the top three single-game rushing marks in school history ... Shattered the record with a 319-yard, 2-TD outing against Kansas in 1998, and later added a 252-yard game at Iowa State, which is currently the No. 3 mark ... Was a semi-finalist for the prestigious Doak Walker Award in 1998, and played in the Senior Bowl following his senior season.