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The Greatest Tigers of All Time
Posted by Gene Claude on December 30th, 2008 under Uncategorized
This is not an objective list. I’m not going to debate whether Derrick Chievous was a better Tiger than Brad Smith. I don’t give two craps about James Wilder and Steve Stipanovich. They were before my time, ergo, they cannot make my personal Greatest Tigers of All Time list. I’m talking about those Tigers that when you hear their name, you smile and have some crazy association or story about. For some of you, that might be James Wilder. Please contribute your top 10 in the comments.
11. Rich Daly. I miss having a good old fashioned Tiger villain.
10. Harry Colon. No explanation necessary.
9. Sharron Washington. In 1991, he had 139 tackles from his FS position, the most in 25 years. Stacey Elliott, George Hunt and Tim Burke tied for the team lead in sacks. With 2. Sharron was the sole highlight of that year.
8. Jeremy Maclin. There are Tiger Cubs prowling the internets that take for granted punt and kickoff returns for touchdowns. I personally witnessed over half of the Tiger football games from 1989 to Maclin. You, Tiger Cubs, should not take these for granted.
7. Ricardo Rhodes. He was TINY and almost returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
6. Anthony Peeler. For you Tiger Cubs, picture all of the good Missouri basketball players you’ve ever seen. Now that your mind is empty, picture a left handed Kobe Bryant, right down to the women problems and you have Peeler in 1990.
5. Paul O’Liney. Totally rooked out of the royalties for Grillz.
4. The Haley Twins. I only wish that they could have been paired (trioed?) with Ricky Clemons. The unintentional humor would have been worth the NCAA death penalty.
3. Clarence Gilbert. Did you know he once took 36 shots in a single game? The time that he used Boschee as a tampon will always be my favorite Tiger basketball memory.
2. Monte Hardge. I’ve never before or since seen a player miss a free throw by 25 degrees. I once saw Norm Stewart remove Hardge from a game, allegedly due to injury, in order to not have him shoot free throws. Danny Nee was displeased. Hardge was probably the most unique Missouri athlete I’ve had the pleasure to witness. There were times I was unsure as to whether he fell in the animal, plant or mineral category.
1. Phil Johnson. I have it on good authority that Mr. Johnson tried to tell Coach Stull that it was 5th down but then, as now, nobody listened to him.
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JR Slim said:
December 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Any list of Tiger greats that does not include Jimmy Jackson is inherently flawed and useless to the reader. Try again.
Sheriff Blalock said:
December 30th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Personal reflections on your list:
I worked at a sports store in the Columbia Mall for a long time, and when Rich Daly walked in, I commented that we should watch him, he may try to shoplift.
Monte Hardge once came in to the store, and we had this long metal pole we used to get things off the top row of clothing, which was almost ten feet up. Monte just got up on his toes to get it down.
Also, I saw him play as a freshman in high school. His thighs were so big, his shorts looked like Daisy Dukes.
I once owned a pair of Simeon Haley’s practice shorts. I still own a pair of Ricky Hunley’s pants.
Gene Claude said:
December 30th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
You witnessed Hardge’s vertical best, then.
Phenomenal Smith said:
December 30th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I still own a pair of Ricky Hunley’s pants.
We have a winner for most random sentence in AT history!
Boo Radley said:
December 30th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
As the law clerk who worked on AP’s civil suit that was part of his problems with women, I can tell you that you don’t have him ranked high enough. Dude was/is crazy. He almost killed me once after I hit two threes on him at the rec center. Proceeded to then dunk on me and said “How you like that you Sh!t white B$%#H” True story. Still think he may have been the best MU player ever talent wise.
Doug Smith (talent comparable to Peeler)is high on my list for three reasons:
1. He had an Explorer that he drove around campus that had a sub woofer that was so loud that he had to keep the back glass open so it wouldn’t break
2. On the same note, he has a motorized scooter that two of the biggest speakers on it I have ever seen. You could hear him coming from miles away. Public Enemy never sounded better.
3. He is the poster child for the guy who played his ass off in college, and then basically said I just did that to get paid. Once drafted, I am going to be fat and lazy and there is nothing anyone is going to do about it. Gotta love the honesty.
Phenomenal Smith said:
December 30th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
My favorite Tigers, not necessarily in this order:
10. Devin West. He was fast, ran for over 300 yards against KU, hung out with Corby, and during every broadcast of Tiger football the announcers were compelled to discuss how West was planning to go to med school. I believe he was a Gen Ag major.
9. Cool Breeze. He used to watch my bowling class.
8. Norm Stewart. He came to my wedding – well, not really, but he was in the adjoining room at the reception.
7. AP. Best Tiger basketball player I’ve ever seen.
6. Corby Jones. My wife’s crush, and the man who helped turn around a truly awful program.
5. Dougy Fresh. He was in my bowling class, and while he had a less than stellar attendance record, the man was by far (and I mean BY FAR) the best bowler in the class. He was rolling 200s regularly. When Doug’s team played mine, we kept telling him he should come back for his senior year. We talked him into it.
4. Paul O’Liney – great story of how he came to be a Tiger. Helped bring us an undefeated season.
3. Brad Smith. Alternatively awesome and frustrating, but was always giving it his all and represented the University as well as anyone ever has.
2. Jeremy Maclin – Greatest Tiger Ever. Will be number one if he comes back for ‘09.
1. Chase Coffman – I heart Chase Coffman.
Honorable mentions: Chase Daniel, Justin Smith, Jevon Crudup, Clarence Gilbert, Ricky Clemons.
Gene Claude said:
December 31st, 2008 at 12:45 am
I regret leaving Danny Allouche off the list.
Chet Gristler said:
December 31st, 2008 at 1:59 am
Derrick Chievous is very high on my list. Found this -
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126851/1/index.htm
Some great stuff in there.
Gene Claude said:
December 31st, 2008 at 8:45 am
I have little doubt that had my Mizzou time started a couple years earlier, Chievous would be number one on my list.
MU LAX said:
December 31st, 2008 at 10:13 am
I knew a guy who tutored Peeler in American History. He said when they got to the Civil War that AP had a general idea that there had been a war, but that he didn’t know who had fought in it or why.
For some reason I always found that really entertaining.
Baby Joe said:
December 31st, 2008 at 10:32 am
I once witnessed AP and Victor Bailey tag team a groupie at Doug Smith’s house.
Gene Claude said:
December 31st, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Were you the groupie?
Sheriff Blalock said:
December 31st, 2008 at 6:44 pm
So I just got back from spending eight hours in the car today, so I had plenty of time to think about this. I came up with my own list, here it is (I only considered players from 1990 on, when I arrived at Mizzou, so no Band-Aid man).
1. Brad–I know he was flawed, but I’ve never been as excited about football as I was on August 31, 2002. We had four years of this guy? How great will we be? I thought. We were never great, but I’ve never enjoyed seeing someone play more in any sport.
2. Chase Coffman–I feel the same way Phenom does.
3. Maclin–See #2
4. Chase Daniel–I really tried to get my wife to name our first-born Chase Daniel (Blalock), but she refused. Even though he played poorly at the end of his Mizzou career, he took Mizzou places I had never seen them go.
Big gap between 4 and 5. Big enough to fit Sheldon Richardson here on spec.
5. Paul O’Liney–As much for the 1994-95 season as the one prior, when he carried Mizzou. I love basketball players that get to the line as much as baseball players that walk a lot, and O’Liney got to the line all the time.
6. AP–The three he hit while falling out of bounds versus Kansas (when Mizzou lost) was the coolest shot I ever remember anyone hitting.
7. Deke Harrington–Mexico, MO representin’!
8. Melvin Booker–The leader of the other great team in my Mizzou time.
9. Tommy Saunders–Gritty.
10. Jamonte Robinson–I so wish he’d have had more time with Pinkel, I could never understand how he couldn’t gain weight over four years.
(I had eight hours, so it’s a top-15 list)
11. Doug Smith–I remember that white and tan Explorer well. When he was drafted by the Mavs, he came in to the store mentioned earlier to buy a Mavs cap (couldn’t they ship him one?). I pulled it off the shelf, and he said “Lemme get a discount. Come on, 30% off.”
12. Justin Smith–I love pass rushers.
13. Ernest Blackwell–Seemed to have worlds of talent, had worlds of issues too, unfortunately.
14. Zach Abron–The most overlooked player of recent memory. His stiffarm in the Independence Bowl is one of my all-time favorite plays.
15. Marquis Gibson–As I said, I love pass rushers. I also loved that he seemed to be good for a personal foul in every game.
(Last cut: Arthur Johnson)
Phenomenal Smith said:
December 31st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Great list Sheriff. Zach Abron is a great addition to the discussion. Very productive back. Earlier this year I posted highlights from the ‘03 TT game when Brad Smith ran for 200 yards – Robofrank remarked that the highlights had numerous clips of the oft-forgotten Abron as well. Remember how Larry Smith described Abron? A bowling ball of butcher knives. Good stuff.
Your last cut reminded me of Ricky Paulding, which reminded me the UCLA tourney game and the dunk he missed. I remember it fondly because we were already up by plenty – other guys from that team I’ll always like – Kareem Rush and Clarence Gilbert. Pretty solid team for a 12 seed.
Phenomenal Smith said:
December 31st, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Harry Colon once came into my Gatehouse apartment when we were having a party and asked to use the phone. He promised it wasn’t long distance. It was, and it was expensive.
Chet Gristler said:
January 1st, 2009 at 12:01 am
Very weird I barely remember Dougie Fresh driving the Explorer, but I clearly remember him driving the longest car I’ve ever seen. I think it was like a baby blue Ford LTD. With the booming system. I remember because that was the first time I heard the word “hoopty”. I remember the scooter too.
Melvin Booker also makes my list. Nice guy, great player that got better every year. Also Maurice Benson. I had him in a statistics class and borrowed his notes. Not nearly as good as Mrs. Claude’s. Growing up in JC, I cut me teeth on a lot of the mid 80s Tiger teams, so a couple of our oafish goons would make my list. Church, Sandbothe, Warren, Bingenheimer. Let’s just say I had a lot in common with those guys on the court. I had nothing in common with Nate Buntin, but he was another of my favorites from that era.
On the gridiron side, Marlon Adler was the first Tiger I ever loved. He was Mizzou’s Danny White, the QB/punter. We also had a defensive back named Terry Matichack that seemed to block a kick in the first 10 games I saw in Faurot. The unfortunately surnamed George Shorthose was from my high school and literally god-like to me. I still have the article from the JC News Tribune about him signing his LOI with Mizzou. I don’t have a lot of favorites from my years at Mizzou other than obvious choices like Corby and Devin. Kent Layman was cool. AJ Ofidile. Mostly I remember a bunch of dbacks who would throw up an Omega after knocking a receiver down after a 35 yard completion.
Gene Claude said:
January 1st, 2009 at 4:49 pm
You guys are using a different standard than me. I’m going for the weird/esoteric guys, or someone that caused a special random memory. Of course, I loved Brad, Abron, Justin Smith, also, obviously.
The Omega king was Shad Criss during the debacle at A&M.
Baby Joe said:
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 am
I talked to Harry Colon tonight. He lives in Houston now.
Gene Claude said:
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 pm
“Talking to Harry Colon tonight” sounds like a euphemism for man love with Chet.
Dolphin Tiger said:
January 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
John McIntyre
Lee Coward
Mark Atkins
Lynn Hardy
Steve Stipanovich
Marlo Finner
Brian Grawer
Keyon Dooling
Justin Gage
Corey Tate
Didn’t see these guys mentioned and this makes a pretty decent list IMO.
Gene Claude said:
January 21st, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Big football fan, are you Dolphin?
Dolphin Tiger said:
January 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I do like football but my all-time favs are basketball players.
Forgot to mention I liked Byron Irvin, too. Maybe the best to ever transfer into Mizzou from somewhere else.
Phenomenal Smith said:
January 21st, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I liked Irvin too. He went on to have a pretty decent NBA career.
Lynn Hardy – that guy was at Brady Commons every day when I was an undergrad.
Delrio said:
February 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Phenomenal is your middle initial “T”. I thinked I may have danced at your wedding and tried to take a picture of Norm Stewart using the urinal.
Phenomenal Smith said:
February 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Of the river, yes. Good to hear from you. And, yes, Norm was at my wedding using the urinal solely for photo ops. There is a photo of my wife and I disturbing Norm while he was trying to have a quiet dinner. He greeted us nicely enough, but when my friend raised her camera he said “no pictures” and held up his hand. The photo shows my wife and I on either side of Norm with him holding his hand over his face. Good stuff.