Darold Jenkins (June 6, 1919 – September 16, 1986) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. He was elected to the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

in 1976.

Biography

Jenkins first joined

Don Faurot Donald Burrows Faurot (June 23, 1902 – October 19, 1995) was an American football and basketball player, coach, and college athletics administrator best known for his eight-decade association with the University of Missouri. He served as the ...

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

as a fullback, spending most of his time on the bench. By mid way through his junior year, Jenkins had taken over as the starting center and went on to earn All Big Six Conference honors that season. In 1941, as a senior, Jenkins captained Missouri to a Big Six Conference Championship and an appearance in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

against the

Fordham Rams The Fordham Rams are the varsity sports teams for Fordham University. Their colors are maroon and white. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. In football, the Rams play in t ...

. Jenkins again earned All Big Six Conference honors and became the first Tiger to earn consensus All-America honors. After college, Jenkins was a

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

pilot in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Flying his 27th mission, he was shot down and spent 17 months in a

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

camp. Upon his discharge from the military, Jenkins went to law school, becoming a practicing attorney in 1952, eventually working for the

Missouri State Highway Commission The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT, ) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Missouri under the guidance of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission (MHTC). MoDOT ...

. He died September 16, 1986.

Legacy

Faurot said of Jenkins, "I would put him on my all-time Missouri team. He is fine on the field and off. Works just as hard in practices as in a game. And he is just as good on offense as defense. You must remember the center is a main cog in our quick breaking T formation." Jenkins was inducted into the

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1994 by Springfield businessman John Q. Hammons, the Hall of Fame is housed in a two-story, 32,000-square-foot building. On display are more than 4,0 ...

in 1971, the

in 1976, and was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the University of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990. Jenkins was also named to the Missouri All-Homecoming Centennial Team in 2011.

References

External links

*
Missouri Tigers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Darold 1919 births 1986 deaths All-American college football players Missouri Tigers football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II Missouri lawyers People from Pettis County, Missouri 20th-century American lawyers