GENE RIMMER
Football and Track, 1938-41
Inducted November 19, 1983

A teammate of Howard Elliott on highly-successful SMS football teams from 1938 to 1941, Aurora native Gene Rimmer was a fullback on Coach Howard Blair’s high-powered squads of those seasons and gained all-MIAA second team honors for SMS during the 1941 campaign.  One of the Bears’ best in those seasons, Rimmer played at the same time as standout fullback Ivan Schottel from Northwest Missouri.  Rimmer was the Bears’ leading scorer during the 1941 season and his heroics included a 15-yard scamper on a reverse that produced the only points of the game in a 6-0 SMS win over Southwestern College.  He had the misfortune as a senior to score no fewer than three touchdowns, two of which could have won games for SMS, only to have them nullified by penalties or the signal that time had expired before the play began.  As it was, Rimmer was a key as the Bears outscored their foes 220-72 in 1941 on their way to an 8-3 season and a 3-1-1 MIAA mark.  Rimmer was also a standout performer for the Bears in track as a sprinter as SMS was the MIAA runnerup in both the league indoor and outdoor meets twice during his Bruin career.