Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1990
- Class:
- 1924
A native of Mountain Grove, Missouri, Faurot lettered at MU in football (1923-24), basketball (1922-23-24) and baseball (1923-24) before starting his coaching career. After coaching for nine years at Northeast Missouri State, where his teams posted a record of 63-13 and won seven conference championships, Faurot returned to MU as head football coach in 1935. During 19 seasons leading the Tigers, Faurot’s teams went 101-79-10, won three league championships (1939, ‘41 and ‘42) and went to the Orange, Sugar and Gator (twice) Bowl games. He coached four all-America and 43 all-conference players and invented the Split-T offense in 1941. Faurot, former president of the American Football Coaches Association, was the fifth person inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1953 and was inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1961. Faurot served as MU athletic director from 1935-42 and 1946-66. The playing surface at Memorial Stadium was named in his honor in 1972, and when the field was converted from Omniturf back to natural grass in the summer of 1995, Faurot laid the final square of sod, hearkening back to his days as a student when he helped lay the original sod when Memorial Stadium was constructed.
