If you ever met Tony Sands in person, you’d be charmed by his jolly, easy-going nature. That and his will to break limits. He had played football since he was a kid, but when he plateaued at 5-foot-6 and 170 pounds, he was told he would never make it. None of that stopped him. But in 1991, as a senior running back for the Kansas Jayhawks, he got the opportunity to shut down his naysayers.
In his final game with the Hawks against rivals Missouri in November that year, he rushed for 396 yards on 58 carries. He broke the record of 57 set in 1977 by Minnesota’s Kent Kitzmann, who got 266 yards against Illinois. However, that 53-29 victory in the Border War clash was important for many more reasons. One, it was a win against their rivals. Two, with that win, the Jayhawks were 6-5 after a