Mizzou community mourns the loss of former wrestling coach Hap Whitney
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou athletic community is mourning the loss of former wrestling coach and Hall of Famer Vernon Hap Whitney, who passed away on Wednesday.
"This morning, we lost a great man in Hap Whitney," current head coach Brian Smith said in a press release. "Hap brought Mizzou Wrestling into the modern era and helped bring Mizzou to the national stage. He was a mentor, a great coach, a great supporter of the program, and special friend to me. Prayers to all the Whitney family. We have an award named after him and to not have him be there to hand out his award this year was hard for me. I will miss the phone calls after duals, miss his guidance, and miss his friendship. He was a great person and a great Tiger forever."
Mizzou inducted Whitney into the Hall of Fame in 1997. He coached the Tigers from 1964 to 1974 and in that time led the wrestling team to its first Big Eight Championship and an undefeated season. Whitney coached the first Tiger team to score points at the NCAA Championships and the first ranked team in school history.
The St. Louis native grew up wrestling at Normandy High School. He was Missouri's first four-time state champion. In his collegiate career, he became the Big 10 conference champion with Purdue and an All-American.
Whitney is also an inductee into both the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Mizzou Athletics said that his legacy will live on through the Hap Whitney Coaches Award. The honor is given to the Mizzou wrestler that displays, "dedication, commitment sacrifice, and unselfishness to the team on a constant basis."
