COLUMBIA, Mo. (CN) - Gary Pinkel kept a promise in the midst of tragedy. Pinkel, head football coach at the University of Missouri, told Aaron O'Neal's family the Tigers would keep their son's name alive after he collapsed and died during a summertime conditioning practice.
True to his word, every January after the Tigers' 2005 season ended during what would have been O'Neal's tenure at Mizzou, Pinkel and assistant coach Cornell Ford visited O'Neal's family, and Pinkel gave O'Neal's father a ring the Tigers players got for playing in a bowl game.
The gesture was not lost on Bob Bunton, who was O'Neal's high school football coach at Parkway North in suburban St. Louis.
"They didn't sweep it under the rug," Bunton said. "Coach Pinkel is a man of his word and they still continue to honor Aaron O'Neal's legacy."
Pinkel will retire when this season ends, battling lymphoma. He made the announcement late last week after a week of turmoil during which his team joined protests over the handling of racist incidents on campus, which culminated in the ouster of the UM System president and its chancellor.
Pinkel gained some recognition nationwide when he quietly stood by his graduate Michael Sam, the first NFL draftee to come out as gay, and again this month as he stood by his players when they vowed not to play until UM System President Timothy Wolfe resigned or was fired.
The coach's quiet decency was no surprise to the Mizzou community. In his 15 years at the University of Missouri, Pinkel brought the Mizzou football program back to relevance, with a stable program heavily influenced by his mentor, coaching legend Don James.
Pinkel changed after Aaron O'Neal's death, one of his former players said.
"When A.O. passed away it hit everybody hard," said Tommy Saunders, who played for Mizzou from 2004 to 2008. "Being the leader of the program, you could see the changes he was making in the program. The coaches stopped to talk to us about what was going on with us personally in life. It took a little more effort, but it brought us closer together."
Then the program took off. Since 2007, Mizzou has averaged almost 10 wins a season and has won four divisional conference titles, two in the Big 12 North and two in the SEC East.
The family atmosphere cultivated by Pinkel and his staff was apparent on national TV after Mizzou's 20-16 win over Brigham Young University on Saturday. The Tigers entered the game as underdogs, having lost four in a row and dealing with the distractions of the protests and news of Pinkel's retirement.
After posting the win, Mizzou players surrounded Pinkel, chanting his name, hugging him and telling him they loved him. Pinkel then broke out in a dance for the players that he had only done once before, after the Tigers won the Cotton Bowl in 2014.
"Coach Pinkel did a great job talking to the players, all the coaches did," Saunders told Courthouse News. "When you trust your coaches, you would go out and jump in front of a train for them."