'So positive': Hap Whitney's influence remains strong for Missouri wrestling

Brian Smith wasn’t sure Vernon "Hap" Whitney was going to make the party.

The current Missouri wrestling coach was hosting a program homecoming celebration in December and had invited the man who held his job from 1964 to 1974.

Whitney, who died April 27 at the age of 87, was hoping to attend, but was unsure if he could due to his declining health.

"He was struggling then,” Smith said. “I didn’t know (if he would be there).”

The day of the party came and around 150 people showed up. Wrestlers of various generations and their families mingled.

During the function, Smith walked down to his basement. Whitney was there.

The former coach was catching up with some old friends.

"He was hanging out on the couch and a bunch of his guys were talking to him,” Smith said. “It was great that they had that time. That’s the purpose of those things, so it was special.”

When Whitney took over the Tiger wrestling program, it was coming out of several ineffective years following its 1959 rebirth, though it went 9-5 the previous season. The program finished 7-8 in duals his first year, but by 1967, Whitney hit his stride, helped by keeping Missouri’s best wrestlers in-state, according to Smith.

The 1967-68 team did not lose a match, only tying once against Kansas State. It was that team that Smith pointed to as a standard-setter for the Missouri wrestling program.

"Everybody talks about the great teams we’ve had, but he figured out a way to have an undefeated team back then,” Smith said. “And getting guys to place in the old Big Six and Big Eight, and really getting the program going again, because it was shut down during war time.”

Whitney’s last season came in 1973-74, after which Bob Kopnisky took over the role. However, Whitney stayed involved, following the program from a different vantage point, as he stayed in town working in Missouri athletics until 1981, when he took over as director of physical education and athletics for Columbia Public Schools.

More: Community mourns death of Hap Whitney, former Mizzou wrestling coach and Columbia Public Schools AD

When Smith took over as head coach of the Missouri squad for the 1998-99 campaign, Whitney was one of the first to call and congratulate him.

"He always supported me,” Smith said. “He called me after almost every dual meet and we’d talk about the dual. He was always so positive with me when I wasn’t positive.”

Smith remembered the 2006 season, when the Tigers were hosting a dual against Pittsburgh. It was Missouri’s first home event since winning that year’s Las Vegas Invitational.

The Tigers were the No. 1 team in the country. Whitney was there to support, joining what Smith called an “enormous” crowd.

"He was in tears just seeing the crowd and where the program was and how proud he was,” Smith said. “That’s Hap. Till the end he was still coming up.”

Outside of the university, Whitney commanded respect in the local community. The former coach was well-liked, in part due to his overwhelmingly positive attitude.

The man who earned the nickname Hap because of his happiness as a child kept that up throughout his life. Hickman head wrestling coach Dan Pieper remembers him as a powerful presence.

"I didn’t wrestle for him,” Pieper said. “But he would have been a guy that would have been a lot of fun to wrestle for. Just a positive, upbeat man.”

Whitney made an impact nationally as well. National Wrestling Hall of Fame executive director Lee Roy Smith called him a “pioneer” of wrestling, both in Missouri and the rest of the country.

The Hall of Fame gave Whitney its Lifetime Service to Wrestling award in 2005. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

"He’s been a tremendous asset as a former wrestler and coach, administrator, advocate,” Smith said. “We’re very proud of his achievements and what it’s done for the state, building it so it could expand the way it has ... is a reflection of his service to the sport.”

Whitney will not be forgotten in the Missouri program, which gives the Hap Whitney Award to a wrestler the coaches believe shows dedication, commitment, sacrifice and unselfishness. Allan Hart currently holds the award.

Even more recent additions to the program, like associate head coach Kendric Maple, who joined the staff in 2019, felt the impact of Whitney.

“I knew his resume and that speaks for itself,” Maple said. “I knew how much success he had. But every time I saw him, it was with a smile on his face. You would go to Hy-Vee at 6 a.m. and he’s there just talking, chatting it up.

"You could just see that people liked being around him.”

Matt Stahl is the Missouri athletics beat reporter for the Columbia Daily Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @mattstahl97.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Missouri wrestling Hap Whitney's influence Brian Smith