Chester Brewer

To limit the scope of Chester Brewer’s Missouri ties to his three seasons coaching the football team would be a colossal mistake.

Sure, he led the team to a 7-1 record in 1913, sharing a Missouri Valley Conference title. He also coached more than 150 college football games for four different schools.

But his biggest contribution to the sport may have come as an athletic director, where he introduced the country to the tradition of homecoming before the 1911 game against Kansas.

He served two stints as athletic director, and Brewer Fieldhouse, which he helped build, bears his name.

He also coached the Tigers’ track and field and baseball teams, compiling a 69-32-3 record as a baseball coach. He served as a professor in Columbia from 1923 until his death in 1953.