Gary Pinkel finding purpose in life as a foundation head

When Gary Pinkel unceremoniously retired in the midst of the 2015 football season, it seemed like the worst possible way to end his storied Mizzou career. An underdog scrapper coming to Columbia from Toledo, Pinkel overcame several tough seasons at the start of his tenure to become arguably the most successful football coach the school had ever seen.

Now, as Pinkel heads toward 70 years old, he’s finding joy in his new foundation, which the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says raised over $150,000 of scholarship money in its first year:

At the core of Pinkel’s foundation is a three-part mission: raising money to benefit children diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma; children with physical disabilities; and children from challenging financial and social backgrounds.

The foundation has donated funds and resources to Wonderland Camp, a summer camp at the Lake of the Ozarks for kids with disabilities; First Chance for Children, an early childhood development program in Columbia; and the local chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The foundation also purchased a van for United Community Builders, a faith-based community outreach program, and provided 61 pairs of tennis shoes for Coyote Hill, a foster care provider for abused and neglected children.

Also noted in the article is the fact that L’Damian Washington, former Missouri Tiger and St. Louis Battlehawk (RIP, XFL), is serving on the foundation’s board of directors. It’s always nice to see people doing good (especially in these dark days), and it’s even cooler when you get to claim them as your own people. Good on you Gary, L’Damian, and everyone else at G.P. MADE. Here’s to many more years of raising money for this cause.

More Mizzou Links:

• The Rivals recruiting rankings can be confusing, so PowerMizzou’s Sean Williams broke down the site’s point system for subscribers, including how it relates to Missouri’s 2021 class. Subscribers can also read Gabe’s Monday morning thoughts, per usual.
• In following up with yesterday’s (kind of) headline news, the Columbia Tribune and Kirksville Daily Express are reporting that Mizzou will also play Utah in next year’s non-conference basketball schedule, in addition to Missouri State and Wichita State.
• Even Eli Drinkwitz got in on the May the Fourth Be With You festivities:

More Links:

Generally this is where we deposit the Missouri-related links that don’t fit with the bigger theme. HOWEVER, there are only so many of those to go around these days.

So as long as I’m doing links (Mondays and Tuesdays!) I’ll be posting stuff that’s getting me through this craziness.

• The big news of the day in the sports world belongs to these schools:

Five Level-1 violations. Five. That’s quite a few!

• Ben Hochman at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has some city-related sports stats for all parents who have found themselves as unwillingly aspiring math teachers.
• ESPN ranked all 115 World Series of all time, and St. Louis Cardinals fans are sure to be pleased with some of the results. They also ranked the Top 74 (weird number, but sure) individual NBA seasons of all time, which is sure to stir some debate.
• We’ve all been spending our quarantine doing different things, and it’s no secret a lot of people have tried to up their skills in the kitchen. The Takeout explored which recipes Americans are searching most, and the results are very bready and predictable.
• Consequence of Sound celebrated May the 4th by ranking all of the Star Wars movies, including many of the animated ones. And so now, because I can, I will leave this links post with my own personal rankings of the Star Wars films, from best to worst:

1. The Empire Strikes Back

2. A New Hope

3. The Last Jedi

4. Return of the Jedi

5. The Force Awakens

6. Solo: A Star Wars Story

7. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

8. The Phantom Menace

9. The Rise of Skywalker

10. Attack of the Clones

11. Revenge of the Sith

• If you’re looking to sign up for ESPN+, Rock M Nation now has an affiliate link: click Here for ESPN+ Now! (** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)