University of Missouri Athletics

A two-sport standout who was recruited to play football at Mizzou, Thorpe also later excelled in baseball, and ran indoor track for one season. The St. Louis native was the first African American to play baseball for Mizzou. He earned all-America honors in 1967 on the diamond after leading the Tigers in hits, triples, home runs, stolen bases and walks. He played on the USA’s Pan-American baseball squad in 1966. On the gridiron, he was a game-breaker for Coach Dan Devine, playing a big role on the 1965 MU squad that won the 1966 Sugar Bowl. He provided numerous big plays, scoring touchdowns that won a game against Oklahoma State and forced a tie against UCLA. His TD against Oklahoma State was a 42-yard run on a lateral from Gary Kombrink and accounted for the only score in a 7-0 MU win. His TD against UCLA was a scintillating 79-yard kick return that got MU back into the game after the Bruins had taken a 14-0 lead; the game ended in a 14-14 tie. After graduating from Mizzou in 1967, he coached high school football in the St. Louis area, and during his teaching and coaching tenure, he was influential in the decision of many students and athletes to attend Mizzou. He went on to earn two masters degrees from Washington University and entered the corporate world as a manager for AT&T and then SBC.