ST. LOUIS – University of Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz, graduate student quarterback Brady Cook, and former Tigers wide receiver Jeremy Maclin were all honored Monday night at the Missouri Athletic Club’s Jack Buck Awards banquet.
Drinkwitz was honored with the Sports Personality of the Year Award, while Cook and Maclin received the Carl O. Bauer and Bob Plager Legends Awards, respectively.
The annual banquet, now in its 55th year, was established in 1970 by Missouri Athletic Club member Jack Buck to honor the top St. Louis sports figures. Some of the biggest names in sports history including Bob Gibson, Joe Torre, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Al MacInnis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Brett Hull, Marshall Faulk, Albert Pujols and Kurt Warner have been honored at the event.
During the banquet, which was held in downtown St. Louis and featured more than 300 guests, Drinkwitz became the fifth MU head coach to be awarded the Sports Personality of the Year Award, joining Al Onofrio (1972), Warren Powers (1978), Norm Stewart (1992) and Gary Pinkel (2008).
Since taking over the Mizzou program, Drinkwitz has led the Tigers to 37 wins, including a 27-7 mark on Faurot Field. MU has gone 15-1 during its last 16 home games and has won 10 consecutive home contests to tie for the fourth longest active home winning streak nationally and the second longest in the SEC. Under Drinkwitz’s leadership this year, the Tigers achieved the 15th perfect home season and the first undefeated mark since 2010. Additionally, Mizzou sold out all seven home games in 2024 for the first time since 1979.
Cook became the eighth Mizzou Tiger to receive the Carl O. Bauer Award, which recognizes the top amateur sports figure. The award’s former winners from Mizzou are Kellen Winslow (1978), Phil Bradley (1980), Kurt Peterson (1982), Brad Smith (2005), Chase Daniel (2007), Markus Golden (2014), and Cody Schrader (2023).
After compiling 2,248 passing yards this season, Cook sits 73 yards shy of matching Smith for third all-time in program history and just 274 yards short of becoming the first quarterback in school lore to pass and rush for 9,000 and 1,000 yards, respectively, in a Mizzou career. The Chaminade Prep product earned his bachelor’s degree from Missouri as a magna cum laude graduate in December 2022 and added a master’s degree in business administration from the University in May 2024. The two-time Southeastern Conference Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year holds a 25-13 career record as Mizzou starter, which is tied for second all-time with Smith for most wins by a Mizzou quarterback.
Maclin joined Roger Wehrli (2001) and Steve Stipanovich (2014) as the only Tigers to earn the Bob Plager Legends Award that honors the memory and positive impact Bob Plager made on the St. Louis sports community.
Maclin, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame a year ago, is the current head coach at Kirkwood High School in his hometown of Kirkwood, Missouri. He is the only Tiger ever to be named a two-time First Team All-American and became the eighth Mizzou player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame. Maclin was the only freshman in Missouri history to snag First Team All-America honors, claiming consensus honors in 2007 as an all-purpose/return specialist. He holds the NCAA record for all-purpose yards as a freshman (198.3 ypg in 2007), and he led the FBS in all-purpose ypg (202.4) in 2008, competing as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award that season.
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