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KU and the Devine Peace Sign
Posted on: June 11, 2025 at 07:06:03 CT
kp83 MU
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The 1968 game in Columbia had been for the Big Eight Conference Championship, between 7-2 Missouri and 8-1 Kansas. Kansas went ahead 14-0 early in the game, but the Tigers mounted a 4th quarter comeback with a long Terry McMillan pass to Mel Gray and then a shorter one to Greg Cook with only two minutes left to play, bringing the Tigers to within 21-19. Going for the two-point conversion and a tie, McMillan was stopped just a yard short of the endzone on a rollout run. KU won the conference title and went to the Orange Bowl.
The return match in 1969 game provided one of the most lop-sided defeats of the Jayhawkers in rivalry history, and one of the best stories. The 1969 team easily had the most explosive offense of the Dan Devine era, and in the regular season finale, the Tigers absolutely laid it on KU. Terry McMillan passed for 295 yards and set a MU record with 4 TD passes, Mel Gray and Jon Staggers both scored 3 TD’s and the Tigers racked up 69 points. The 69-21 win gave the Tigers a share of the Big Eight Conference crown and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
The one-sided affair is the background for the classic story of KU coach Pepper Rodgers asking Devine to have a little mercy on the Jayhawkers. Max Falkenstien, who called Kansas games on radio and TV for 60 years, remembered it this way: “The game was getting out of hand and Pepper ostensibly flashes the peace sign to Dan Devine over on the other side. Let up a little bit, you know. And Devine returns only half of it over to Pepper. Devine gave him one finger back.”
Great story, right? There is only one problem with the story – it is only a story; the incident never occurred. Devine always denied it happened, and Rodgers eventually admitted he just made this story up at a luncheon for a group of boosters. "If you can't exaggerate, what fun is it?" Rodgers explained.
However, according to Bob Broeg in his book Ol Mizzou, there is an amusing incident dealing with the blowout nature of the game that actually occurred. After the game, a KU fan sent a telegram to the Missouri head coach that alluded to a one-side affair that had happened much earlier in Border War history. The telegram read, to “Dan (Quantrill) Devine: Thanks for sparing our women and children.”
The 1968 game in Columbia had been for the Big Eight Conference Championship, between 7-2 Missouri and 8-1 Kansas. Kansas went ahead 14-0 early in the game, but the Tigers mounted a 4th quarter comeback with a long Terry McMillan pass to Mel Gray and then a shorter one to Greg Cook with only two minutes left to play, bringing the Tigers to within 21-19. Going for the two-point conversion and a tie, McMillan was stopped just a yard short of the endzone on a rollout run. KU won the conference title and went to the Orange Bowl.
The return match in 1969 game provided one of the most lop-sided defeats of the Jayhawkers in rivalry history, and one of the best stories. The 1969 team easily had the most explosive offense of the Dan Devine era, and in the regular season finale, the Tigers absolutely laid it on KU. Terry McMillan passed for 295 yards and set a MU record with 4 TD passes, Mel Gray and Jon Staggers both scored 3 TD’s and the Tigers racked up 69 points. The 69-21 win gave the Tigers a share of the Big Eight Conference crown and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
The one-sided affair is the background for the classic story of KU coach Pepper Rodgers asking Devine to have a little mercy on the Jayhawkers. Max Falkenstien, who called Kansas games on radio and TV for 60 years, remembered it this way: “The game was getting out of hand and Pepper ostensibly flashes the peace sign to Dan Devine over on the other side. Let up a little bit, you know. And Devine returns only half of it over to Pepper. Devine gave him one finger back.”
Great story, right? There is only one problem with the story – it is only a story; the incident never occurred. Devine always denied it happened, and Rodgers eventually admitted he just made this story up at a luncheon for a group of boosters. "If you can't exaggerate, what fun is it?" Rodgers explained.
However, according to Bob Broeg in his book Ol Mizzou, there is an amusing incident dealing with the blowout nature of the game that actually occurred. After the game, a KU fan sent a telegram to the Missouri head coach that alluded to a one-side affair that had happened much earlier in Border War history. The telegram read, to “Dan (Quantrill) Devine: Thanks for sparing our women and children.”
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KU and the Devine Peace Sign - kp83 MU - 6/11 07:06:03