Oct. 28, 2004

Editor's Note: This feature ran in the Oct. 23 edition of the Mizzou football gameday program.

by Jason Jones

      By the time most children reach school age, a relative or a friend has blessed them with a nickname. Nicknames are usually given to people based on the way they look, act or something that may rhythm with their name. Now, imagine growing up in Irving, Texas, where the temperature is hot and having the last name Sweat. The possibilities of nicknames are endless. However, this wasn't the case with Henry Sweat. It was at the University of Missouri where he received his nickname.
      In 2000, Henry Sweat was a redshirt freshman. He spent his first year adapting to college both in the classroom and on the football field. Even though Sweat could not play in any games, he became good friends with a majority of his teammates.
      "My freshman year, Kevin Johnson called me Hank and the nickname has stuck with me," Sweat said. "Now all the coaches have started calling me Hank."
      To this day Sweat is still puzzled about why he received his nickname, but he has learned to accept it while playing football at the University of Missouri.
      The thought of playing college football would have never crossed young Sweat's mind while growing up in Texas because his first athletic experience was t-ball. Sweat enjoyed playing t-ball because the majority of running took place only when he was at bat. With a small amount of running in t-ball, Hank felt secure with the game and played with enthusiasm.
      At age six, Sweat's athletic focus was to become a better baseball player.
      The baseball fields where Sweat played were common scouting grounds for local football coaches. During one of his baseball games, a local football coach observed his athletic ability and approached him. Later the coach came to Sweat's house and convinced his parents to let him play football.
      One small detail the coach forgot to tell Sweat was the amount of running involved in football.
      Running is something people love or hate and for Sweat, he hated it. The rigorous wind sprints he endured everyday at practice made him regret agreeing to play football.
      "To tell you the truth, I pretty much hated football," Sweat said. "The first couple of years I quit twice because of the running. My parents always kept my pads. Even though I kept quitting they knew I was coming back."
      Sweat says although the running in football is not getting any easier as he grows, he believes some things are more important than running.
      "It wasn't so much about the running anymore, it was about actually playing," Sweat said.
      After years of playing football, Sweat was developing into a talented player. With the development of his abilities, football was becoming an enjoyable experience. Junior high school was the first time Sweat realized football could help him achieve his goals of going to college.
      While attending MacArthur High School, Sweat maintained a 4.0 grade-point average, which caught the interest of some Ivy League colleges.
      Sweat received offers to attend Columbia, Harvard and Stanford University. While he wanted to attend one of the Ivy League schools, none of them offered athletic scholarships. Sweat's two goals were to major in business and play football. The University of Missouri was his best choice for achieving both goals.
      "I looked around and Missouri had the best business program and they were in the Big 12 conference," Sweat said. "It was a good combination."
      Excited about his last year of football, Sweat is glad he chose the University of Missouri. He has watched the program go through many changes since his freshman year, but has enjoyed being apart of the successful process.
      Among Sweat's plans for life after graduation, he plans on moving back to Texas and hopes to find a job where he can utilize his Business degree. Although there is no particular business Sweat is interested in working for, he plans on continuing with school.
      "I would like to go to law school," Sweat said. "The thing that really interests me right now is sports management so I can represent athletes."
      Sweat came to the University of Missouri with both athletic and academic goals. He was redshirt freshman in 2000 and did not play in 2001. His perseverance continued until he played in 2003. Sweat's character and strong commitment to his team and academic goals have excelled while at Missouri and he hopes to continue being successful after he graduates.