Published on Show Me Mizzou Aug. 27, 2024
Story by Dale Smith, BJ ’88
One of Mizzou’s most versatile gridiron talents passed away April 18 at 83. Bill Tobin, BS Ed ’63, excelled as a multidimensional player and coach. As a keen scout of young talent, he assembled top NFL rosters and drafted legendary players.
After a boyhood of football and farming in Maryville, Missouri, Tobin lettered 1960–1962 on Dan Devine’s Tiger teams that went 26-3-3. He was in the stable of running backs at the core of Devine’s offense, says Bob Brendel, BJ ’75, historian in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Tobin’s abilities extended to catching passes, a rarer skill in those days and, rarer still, to booting field goals and kickoffs. He entered the history books in 1962 during the Tigers’ Bluebonnet Bowl win (14-10) over Minnesota. Tobin broke open a tie game with a 77-yard touchdown run that stood as a Mizzou bowl record until 2015.
Tobin’s brief professional playing career consisted of one-season stints with the Houston Oilers, Edmonton Eskimos and Orlando Panthers. By 1971, Devine was head coach at Green Bay, where he called upon Tobin again — this time as a staff member. Tobin’s second trajectory lasted 51 years, including a marquee role as coach of the Arizona Cardinals (1996–2000). But, Brendel says, he made by far his biggest mark behind the scenes as a scout with an uncanny sense of how players would develop as professionals.
Tobin was the architect of rosters for the Chicago Bears that won six division titles, nine playoff berths and the 1985 Super Bowl. At the Indiana Colts, he put together talent that propelled the squad to the 1988 AFC championship game. At the Cincinnati Bengals, Tobin was on the scouting staff that contributed to four AFC North titles and the 2021 AFC crown. His career saw the drafting of eight hall-of-fame players, including Marshall Faulk, Marvin Harrison and Walter Payton.
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