Todd Mayhew made a lasting impression on just about everyone he came into contact with on and off the football field.
That's what made his sudden and unexpected death seven years ago this June, at age 54, all the more difficult for so many in Gorilla Nation to grasp; and two months from now what will make his posthumous induction into the Pittsburg State University Athletics Hall of Fame all the more rewarding.
Mayhew came to Pitt State from Hutchinson Community College as one of first-year head coach Dennis Franchione's initial recruits for the 1985 season. The big kid from the small western Kansas town of Haviland (pop. 725) had been an impact performer in 1983-84 at center for the Blue Dragons.
The Kansas Jayhawks showed interest in him. Just down the road from Pittsburg, Missouri Southern wanted him to be a Lion.
The recently hired Coach Fran brought Mayhew in for a campus visit just after Thanksgiving 1984. Offensive tackle Sam Valentini, a recently selected team captain, served as his recruiting host that weekend, sparking a deep friendship between the two hard-nosed linemen.
Following a pair of nights in Pittsburg that included stops at local haunts the likes of Chicken Annie's and Mel's Hickory House, Mayhew wrapped up his visit with a one-on-one session with Coach Fran. Fran's message to him that day was concise: "Todd, Missouri Southern may want you, but I NEED you."
That's all Mayhew needed to hear. He was in. All in.
That spring, people began to take notice of Mayhew on campus and on the football field. He would ride everywhere on his motorcycle with his long beard and goatee blowing in the wind often dressed in sleeveless pearl snapped shirts and boots.
His quarterback Gene Stegeman likened him to the fictional character Grossberger from the Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder movie
Stir Crazy. Linebacker John Kemp, who spent that spring going head-to-head in 'Oklahoma Drills' with Mayhew, Tom Beebe and Valentini (a trio of future Pitt State All-Americans) put it this way: "Todd looked like 'The Terminator' and he played like him, too. Our defense had no issue going against anybody around, but our offense, in practices, those guys were nasty. You had to earn it every snap."
By his senior season, Mayhew was leader of the 'big nasties', the veritable Big Man on Campus -- a team captain for the undefeated, No. 1 ranked team in the country that pounded opponents for more than 43 points and nearly 400 yards on the ground every Saturday – a first-team All-Conference and honorable mention All-America selection by year's end.
He would visit a local hair salon every Friday, mixing hair dyes and fresh cuts each week: mohawk, reverse mohawk, red dye, yellow bleach dye. He'd wear a log chain around his neck in pre-game.
After beating Washburn, 21-7, in a rain-soaked road game in October 1986, the Ichabods quarterback, Jim Bernard, told the
Topeka Capital-Journal, "We'd have beaten their butts on a dry field." Mayhew took the comments to heart. Eight weeks later, when the Gorillas hosted the Ichabods in the first round of the NAIA playoffs, Mayhew donned a "dry field" inscribed headband and a fiery temper in pregame activities, helping fuel the Gorillas to a 58-point outburst and a lopsided victory.
His urban legend had already spawned prior to the '86 season from first-hand accounts of a late-night off-season escapade where he performed an ultimate power flex, flipping a parked, blue Toyota Corolla first on its side and then upside down in a campus parking lot.
As Valentini is quick to point out, however, the wild stories only paint one side of the broad picture of Todd Mayhew.
"Above all else, Todd was a tremendous football player," he said. "He was a natural born leader who people wanted to follow. He was a bad dude on the football field, but just a very country, very friendly guy off of it. He was a 'pied piper' in many senses. Anywhere you went on campus, you'd see a group of folks around Todd. It wasn't just athletes: ROTC, band, just average students. He had that big smile and a twinkle in his eye that drew people to him."
Stegeman echoed those sentiments.
"Todd could be all business, but he also was a fun-loving guy," Stegeman said. "We're practicing in the rain one day. I'm not paying attention to him, and he covers himself in mud. I go under center and I just come out with two handfuls of that stuff. Todd can't quit laughing. The whole team stops and can't quit laughing."
Mayhew never left Pittsburg after exhausting his eligibility. His wife of 25 years, Janet, met him through her brother, Jimmy Bloomcamp, who came to Pitt State as a student trainer under Al Ortolani in 1987. She had seen him play as a high school student, coming to games with her father, Charles, a long-time football and basketball coach at Coffeyville's Field Kindley Memorial High School.
Chris Hanna, an All-America defensive lineman for the Gorillas between 1990-93 and a member of PSU's Hall of Fame, heard about Mayhew during his recruiting process (as so many others did) and later grew into family friends with Todd and Janet.
"Coming to Pitt in the Fall of 1990, I heard some stories about Mayhew, but didn't meet him until much later," Hanna said. "One of my first unofficial visits to Pitt was to see a practice or scrimmage. As a high school senior in the late '80s, I had a mullet and looked up to OU's (Brian) Bosworth, like a lot of guys. The first time I met Fran, I had my hat on backwards. He reached up and took my hat off, looked at my hair and said, 'Yeah, you'll fit in here.' I didn't realize until later that was because of Todd's crazy hair. It's the only interaction I've ever had with Coach Fran, and it was about Todd."
Coach Fran, who spoke at Todd's funeral at Janet's request back in 2019, summed up his former player quite well.
"Todd was just a jewel," he said. "He was a leader. He was fun to watch and to coach. I get asked from time to time to name a player that sticks out to me when I think of the teams that I have been fortunate to coach. When I think of the Gorillas, I think of Todd Mayhew. He will always be a part of my life."
Janet admits there will be a touch of lingering sadness for her and her daughter, Emma, when they celebrate Todd's induction this fall.
"We will never stop missing him. He was such a great husband and such a great Dad. He was so good with Emma in everything they did together. Todd would be humbled by this honor. He'd be ecstatic, but so humbled to be in the company of so many great friends and great Gorillas."
Todd Mayhew will be inducted into the PSU Athletics Hall of Fame, along with 13 additional individuals and the 2016 NCAA Division II National Champion women's outdoor track & field team, in ceremonies Oct. 23-24 on the PSU campus. The formal induction ceremony Friday, Oct. 23, will take place at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts at 6 pm. The event is free and open to the public. The group also will be honored at halftime of the Gorillas' football game vs. Central Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 24.
