Missouri is finally getting around to giving its 1960 football team the recognition it has long claimed.
Almost 70 years later, the Tigers will formally honor that squad as national champions during a halftime ceremony Sept. 19, when Mizzou hosts Troy in the Memorial Stadium 100th Anniversary Game. The school will also wear black and gold throwback uniforms that day.
The move comes after legislation from the U.S. Senate.
On Aug. 6, Sen.
Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) filed a resolution recognizing Missouri’s claim to the 1960 title, and it passed unanimously.
“We appreciate Sen. Schmitt and the U.S.
Senate for recognizing the accomplishments of our 1960 football team and for bringing renewed attention to a remarkable group of Tigers,” Mizzou director of athletics Laird Veatch said in a news release. “The 1960 team has an important place in Mizzou history, and after reviewing the historical record, we believe it is appropriate to honor that team as national champions.”
Missouri’s case for the championship has always been tangled up in the strange math and stranger politics of that season. Other teams - Mississippi (10-0-1), Iowa (8-1) and Washington (10-1) - were recognized by a rating system as the final top team in 1960.
But Mizzou points to several reasons it believes the title belongs in Columbia, including statistical discrepancies and the Border War matchup with Kansas that still splits the two fan bases.
The Tigers went into the final week of the 1960 season ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll. Then Kansas beat Missouri 23-7 in Columbia, ending the streak and dropping the Tigers to No. 5 in the final poll.
Missouri then finished the year with a win over Navy in the Orange Bowl, completing a 10-1 season.
There was one catch that would feel almost unthinkable now: no poll was taken after the postseason. The season ended with 8-2 Minnesota sitting as college football’s No. 1 team, even though the Golden Gophers lost to Washington in the Rose Bowl.
Missouri also later had the Kansas game counted in its favor after Jayhawk running back Bert Coan was ruled ineligible by the Big 8 Conference in December. Coan had accepted a plane ticket to attend an all-star game in Chicago from KU booster Bud Adams, who was the founder and owner of the then-Houston Oilers.
Kansas forfeited the game, though it still lists the win in its record book. Missouri says it leads the Border War 58-54-9, while Kansas has the Tigers ahead 57-55-9.
The tribute to the 1960 team will come a week after this year’s Missouri-Kansas game in Lawrence on Sept. 11.
That rivalry game had become an annual fixture before Missouri moved to the SEC for the 2012 season. It returned last year, when Missouri beat Kansas in Columbia, and the next meeting after this season is scheduled for 2031.
The basketball series also came back in 2021, and Missouri has one win in five years. The teams will meet again in Kansas City on Dec. 6 at T-Mobile Center.
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