Why Fambrough’s ‘Missouri week’ speeches were unforgettable, via KU radio analyst
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Don Fambrough's speeches before KU-MU games became legendary among players.
- David Lawrence credits Fambrough's passion for motivating players pre-rivalry.
- Fambrough's animosity traced back to eligibility dispute during his KU playing days.
David Lawrence, who played college football for legendary Kansas coach Don Fambrough and also worked a year as a graduate assistant for the person known for his great disdain toward Border War rival Missouri, says he’ll definitely be thinking about the man he considered a “father figure” if the Jayhawks are able to upend the Tigers on Saturday in Columbia, Missouri.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at sold-out Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium.
“I’m sure coach Fambrough will pop in my mind, even during the broadcast, things he would say and how delighted he would be in the effort and the guys that are really putting it on the line playing hurt or whatever to beat the Tigers,” Lawrence, who has been broadcasting KU football games as an analyst on the Jayhawk Sports Network since 1994, said Tuesday in an interview with The Star.
“It means a lot to all coaches,” Lawrence added of rivalry games such as KU-MU, “but for this game, yes, you’ve got to feel that somehow he would be connected enough to know that the Jayhawks prevailed.”
Fambrough — he died in 2011 at the age of 88 — not only delivered passionate “Missouri week” speeches to his own players during his two stints as KU coach (1971-74; 1979-82), but also was asked by the coaches who succeeded him in Lawrence to address KU’s team before kickoff versus the Tigers.
“No one that hears that (speech) the first time will ever forget it. Anybody that ever heard him remembers it,” Lawrence said. “His emotion … you can’t fake that. His emotion was real. Did it make a difference? You know … it didn’t hurt.”
Lawrence pointed out that Bud Moore, who replaced Fambrough after the coach’s firing following the 1974 season, was one of the coaches who asked “Fam” to fire up his Jayhawks before the KU-MU game.
“After he was fired, he was head of the Williams Fund,” Lawrence said of Fambrough taking on the task of leading KU’s athletic department fundraising. “He raised money for Bud, which was pretty unselfish.
“So, anyway ...” Lawrence continued in storyteller mode, “Bud Moore had heard stories about Fambrough’s motivational ability. So even though Bud replaced ‘Fam,’ Bud asked him to give the quote, ‘Missouri talk.’
“Good for Bud, but it kind of backfired. Because, let’s face it, this was in Coach Fambrough’s prime and his speech was the most motivational thing that most of us (players) had ever heard. The older guys on that team knew about Fambrough, yes, but the younger ones did not. It worked against Bud because then we kind of realized what a motivational coach really was.”
“Another story,” Lawrence continued, “it’s my senior year (he played at KU from 1977 to ‘81) and we’re 7-3. Missouri ended up being top 10 (and 7-3) by game time. We understood that the winner of our game was going to get an invite to the Tangerine Bowl. There weren’t many bowls then so it was a big deal, extra motivation.
“On Sunday or Monday, and of course Fambrough never let a little truth get in the way of a great story or motivation, he came in and it was like he was telling us somebody had died. He said Missouri had found a way to to instigate talk with the Tangerine Bowl people and went ahead and accepted that bid.
“Then of course he says, ‘All I can promise you is you get a chance to play those (expletives).’ So he set up a great axe to grind, that we had a chance to go to this bowl but Missouri took it away from us. It was so well played. As motivated as we were to play Missouri after that, the Tigers had no chance.”
KU upended Mizzou, 19-11 (it was 19-3 until MU’s final drive) at KU’s Memorial Stadium, in the last game of the regular season, then lost 10-0 to Mississippi State in the Hall of Fame Bowl. MU did win a Tangerine Bowl contest against Southern Miss, 19-17, as both KU and MU went 8-4.
“There’s probably a good reason why you shouldn’t play many games after the Missouri game because we were not as motivated to play in the bowl game (after beating MU),” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said he believes he knows the reason Fambrough publicly expressed his “extreme dislike” of Mizzou. There was an incident during Fambrough’s playing career he took personally.
“Fambrough’s senior year was 1947 and he, along with several other veterans, were promised an extra year because they served in the war,” Lawrence said of WWII. “Back then the commissioner of the Big Six Conference was always one of the ADs or chancellors who took turns being commissioner. At this time it was either the chancellor or AD at Missouri.”
Lawrence recalled that person allegedly made the allowance of the extra year of eligibility null and void, possibly because KU had several war veterans who would have benefited and been favored to win the league in 1948.
“After going through weeks and weeks of spring practice, then being told he could not play, that would be like the cherry on top of all the other reasons (to dislike MU),” Lawrence said. “That was the one that I think hit as more personal, that, ‘We’re going to have an extra year,’ and suddenly it was taken away. I think that gave him the little extra edge he carried all his life.”
Lawrence said Fambrough would have been in favor of KU and Missouri continuing to play in the regular season despite the fact the Tigers left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2011.
“He’s famous for not liking them, but he felt it was important to play them, an opportunity for the good guys to prevail over the bad guys, as he put it. He liked to simplify it in that way,” Lawrence said.
“Coach Fambrough knew the whole history. Way back before football got really big, everybody showed up for the Missouri game for all those historical reasons, dressed in their Sunday best and they filled the stadium. And not necessarily because it was a football game. It was kind of like ‘the’ event. And so, yes, I think Fambrough would have felt it’s necessary to play these guys every year.”
As a former KU standout (Lawrence was an all-Big Eight offensive lineman in 1981), who went 2-2 in his career vs. Missouri, Lawrence is hoping KU claims bragging rights Saturday in Columbia.
“I really want to win. Because it’s not a conference game, there isn’t that’s much pressure in that light, but it doesn’t change how alums feel about the importance of winning,” Lawrence said. “Plus according to our numbers, the all-time series would be tied (KU’s record book has it 56-55-9 in favor of MU; MU’s record book has MU leading 57-54-9). You could argue beating K-State would more important because that’s a league game.
“I’m not saying that’s how I feel. I’m just saying that we could have a chance of playing in Arlington (Texas in Big 12 title game) and we’ve got to beat K-State for that and 100 other reasons. But this game is … it’s different than any other rivalry game. I mean it’s based on a real war. So yes, I really want to beat them.”
Lawrence is hoping fans of both teams treat it as a special sporting event and do not misbehave.
“What’s changed is technology. There’s eyes watching behavior,” Lawrence said of phone cameras capturing any incidents in the stands today as compared to Fambrough’s days as coach. “Fair is fair. They’re watching our fans, too. Cheer for your team as loud as you can, but yes, throwing whatever (on the field) is not part of football.”
This story was originally published September 3, 2025 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Why Fambrough’s ‘Missouri week’ speeches were unforgettable, via KU radio analyst."
