Gary Pinkel was set to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday, and along the way, he shared a story about a chance meeting with Vince Lombardi that inspired him to coach.

The former Missouri coach shared that he was 14-years-old and headed to a Cleveland Browns playoff game against the Baltimore Colts with his dad. Pinkel was so excited because it was his first NFL game.

The Pinkels were late to the game, but they suddenly noticed a car pull up and a man get out, and Pinkel recalled, “I looked at my dad and said, “Dad, that’s Vince Lombardi. That’s Vince Lombardi.’

“And so I was just awed, and people around just stopped and he walked up through and I was standing there. He came up to me and patted me on the back and started walking with me, and he said, ‘You play football? I said, ‘Yeah, I play football.’ He said, ‘You doing good in school,’ yeah, I’m going to do that. And I guess I was meant to coach in the end, that was a very meaningful day. And then my dad said to me that exact same thing. When walked away and said goodbye, “Maybe you’ll be a coach some day.”

Pinkel is the all-time winningest coach at both Mizzou and Toledo. He coached at Toledo from 1991-2000, and had a 118-73 overall record. At Mizzou, he won 5 conference titles, earned 10 bowl bids and was 118-73.