Soon after Gary Pinkel arrived at the University of Missouri in late November 2000, Pinkel and his boss, Athletic Director Mike Alden, reached out to many of its former black players. Alden told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August 2001 that he “didn’t realize the bitterness or the level of disengagement was as strong as it was.”
They came up with an idea: Missouri would enlist those former players as mentors for current black players, among them the first black football player in school history, Norris Stevenson. Pinkel and Alden also decided to honor Stevenson on campus, spelling out his contributions on the football complex alongside a large photograph and plaque, establishing a $25,000 scholarship in his name, and naming the then-new “Plaza of Champions” at the football stadium after him.