There’s an old saying in sports that goes something like this: Never forget who helped get you here.
Whenever former Ste. Genevieve High School football coach Bob Stolzer kicks backs and reminisces about times gone by, rest assured that he lives by that motto. Names of former assistants, players, administrators and community leaders crop up in conversation quiet often. As does the name of Dutch Meyr, the former football coach at Southeast Missouri State.
Meyr’s influence to persuade him to stick with playing college football led to Stolzer enjoying a nearly 40-year career as a high school football coach, mostly with Ste. Genevieve and mostly with tremendous memories.
More so, it has led to Stolzer’s induction into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, with the Class of 2016. Stolzer will be honored during the Enshrinement in Cape Girardeau, set for a noon reception and 1 p.m. luncheon and ceremony at the Show Me Center on Sunday, November 6. (For tickets, see information below.)
Stolzer was at Ste. Genevieve from 1979 to 2015, including as head coach beginning in 1989. He was 206-94 overall, and his 1992 team won the Class 3 state championship with a 22-15 win against Bolivar. The 2003 team placed second, while five other team reached the semifinals (1990, 1993, 1998, 2002, 2006) and three others reached the state quarterfinals (2004, 2005, 2011).
Ste. Genevieve also won Class 3 District 2 championships 14 times, and was a 13-time league champion combined in both the Mineral Area Activities Association or the Mississippi Area Football Conference.
“Even though (1992) was a state championship team, that may not have been the best team I had at Ste. Genevieve,” Stolzer said, citing the 1998 team, whose fourth-down and final pass inside the 10 fell incomplete in a semifinal loss to Salem. “That was one of the toughest things do as a head coach, address your team after a heartbreaking loss.”
That said, Stolzer cherished the opportunity, one that wouldn’t have materialized had he, as a homesick freshman at SEMO, gone back to Festus in 1971. Stolzer had graduated that spring from St. Pius X High School in Festus, where he was a multi-sport athlete by playing football, basketball, baseball and track.
But then Meyr intervened. “I credit him for steering me in the right direction,” Stolzer said. “We talked things out, and I decided to stay. It was one of the most important decisions of my life.”
Stolzer then emerged as one of the program’s standouts, earning the 1974 Vogelsang Award for most valuable lineman and also receiving postseason honors from the All-Missouri Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
From there, Stolzer began his coaching career. He was a graduate assistant at SEMO (1975-76) and held assistant coaching roles at Valle Catholic High School (1976-1978), Cape Central High School in Cape Girardeau (1978-1979), and Ste. Genevieve High School (1979-1988).
Along the way, he learned to adjust schemes to fit the players’ collective talent.
However, Stolzer’s career faced challenges. Four years into his assistant coaching role at Ste. Genevieve, coach Vernon Huck stepped down, and the school board promoted Don Boulware. For years, Stolzer had implored players not to just walk away when the chips were down, that your hard work might pay off.
“It was upsetting at the time. But you practice what you preach,” Stolzer said, and so Stolzer stayed.
In 1989, he was promoted to head coach.
That said, he won’t say success was his own doing. Instead, he credits Bob Weiler, his offensive coordinator for 26 years, and so many others. At one point, in 2003, Ste. Genevieve was honored as the Football Program of the Year by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, Inc. – St. Louis Tom Lombardo Chapter – and received a $1,000 gift.
Stolzer was the Class 3 Coach of the Year in 1992, a seven-time district/region Class 3 Coach of the Year and eight-time conference Coach of the Year.
Stolzer also had the support of his wife, Deb, and sons Brent, Keary and Kellen. All of his sons played for him.
“The values and ethics my parents taught me and the support my wife and sons gave throughout my coaching career will never be forgotten,” Stolzer said. “My family never complained about the time I put in as a coach.”
Stolzer served two terms on the MSHSAA football advisory committee and received the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Service Award in 2005, plus received MSHSAA recognition for 25 years of service.
“I’d like to think I did my part as best I could,” Stolzer said. “But there were so many in the community, too. There were just a lot of great memories. We had kids with great work ethics and did what we asked.”
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Enshrinement in Cape Girardeau
What: Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2016
When: Noon reception & 1 p.m. luncheon & ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 6
Where: The Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau
Missouri Sports Legend: Three Rivers Community College basketball coach Gene Bess
Inductees: Blake Dewitt (Sikeston/Dodgers/Cubs/Braves), James Wilder (Sikeston/Mizzou/Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Mark Littell (Gideon/Royals/Cardinals), Eddie Moss (Poplar Bluff/Southeast Missouri State/St. Louis Football Cardinals), Dr. Rick Wright (Sikeston/Mizzou/St. Louis Blues), track standout Miles Smith (St. Louis/Southeast Missouri State), high school basketball coach Lennies McFerren (Charleston/New Madrid), softball coach Lana Richmond (Southeast Missouri State), soccer/basketball coach Brad Wittenborn (Notre Dame High School), high school football coach Bob Stolzer (Ste. Genevieve), Capahas semi-pro baseball program (Cape Girardeau), the Scott County Central High School boys and girls basketball programs (Sikeston), the Valle Catholic High School football program (St. Genevieve), and the 1979 and 1992 Three Rivers Community College men’s basketball teams (Poplar Bluff) that won NJCAA national championships.
President’s Award: Poplar Bluff attorney Joe Scott, a former Gainesville/Mizzou basketball standout
Tickets: Call 417-889-3100, or visit four First State Community Bank locations. Those locations are at 201 N. Main in Sikeston; 2527 William St. and 1602 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau; and 320 W. Main St. in Jackson. An individual ticket is $125. A table of eight is $1,250 and includes autographed print of Coach Bess, an autographed print of the induction class as well as sponsorship recognition at the table and in the printed program.
