The recruiting letter still remains a favorite memory all these years later — the motivational words written by then-Missouri State Lady Bears assistant coach Cheryl Burnett, the envelope postmarked in the summer of her high school freshman year.
Certainly, it changed Karen Rapier’s life – and arguably the direction of Lady Bears basketball program – for years to come.
“It said, basically, if you work as hard as you can to improve, you might earn a scholarship one day,” Rapier recalled. “That is the moment in my life I realized it was possible to earn my way to college through hard work.”
What a career it became. Despite not playing basketball until the eighth grade, Rapier emerged as a standout at Jefferson City High School before ultimately rocketing to stardom for then-Southwest Missouri State.
Thus, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Rapier, the first player to sign with the Lady Bears after Burnett took over as coach in 1987.
The ceremony, presented by Mercy, is at 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 10 at the University Plaza Convention Center in Springfield and includes the induction of Parkview High School’s Jolly Green Giants of 1963-1966; the Missouri State Bears’ 1952 and 1953 NAIA national championship teams; and high school/college coach Gary Stanfield. For tickets, call 417-889-3100.
Rapier went on to lead the Lady Bears to a 83-26 record in four seasons, including Gateway Conference Championships and the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 1991 with a 26-5 record. Then, in her senior year, MSU upset top-seeded Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and then beat UCLA and Mississippi to reach the Final Four in Los Angeles. SMS was beaten by Western Kentucky in the semifinals, finishing with a school-best record of 31-3.
When she graduated, Rapier was the Lady Bears’ all-time leader in games played (118), ranked fifth in both career rebounds (666) and points (1,365) and sixth in both steals (123) and field goal accuracy (.513).
Additionally, Rapier was a team co-captain her senior year in 1992 and a preseason Street and Smith’s All-America honorable mention. She earned all-conference honors, was named to the NCAA Midwest Regional All-Tournament team and was selected to the Gateway Conference All-Decade Team.
Eventually, Rapier returned to SMS in 1994 as an assistant coach. The Lady Bears reached six additional NCAA Tournaments, including the 2001 Final Four.
“For me, it’s incredible,” Rapier said. “I played all the other sports – ran track, and played volleyball. I had not played basketball before the eighth grade.”
That was until a Jefferson City basketball coach approached her one day.
“Coach Donna Morris stopped me in the hallway and said, ‘Why weren’t you at practice?” Rapier said. “I said, ‘I don’t play basketball.’ She said, ‘Yes you do!”
After playing in the Show-Me State Games, Karen received her first recruiting letter from Missouri State University.
The following summer, she attended MSU summer basketball camp where she first learned the fundamentals of the game.
“I wrote down everything that I learned, went home and got up at 6 a.m. every morning and went to the YMCA to practice,” Rapier said.
From there, Rapier dedicated herself to basketball. Yes, the seed was planted for the daughter of Herbert and Virginia Rapier and the little sister to six brothers.
She soon roamed the basketball courts at Jefferson City, where Rapier set the single-season scoring record during her senior year and was first team All-State. She also set single-game school records for points scored (36) and rebounds (27).
For years, Rapier ran track, competing nationally in the heptathlon, but stopped before her senior year in order to concentrate on basketball.
“I had to put in extra hours to be good enough to go to college,” Rapier said. “I had the commitment and drive to play in college because I didn’t want to leave that opportunity on the table.”
Rapier’s work ethic dovetailed with Burnett’s relentless demands for greatness. However, Rapier is quick to credit all of her teammates’ commitment, determination and passion in raising the program’s national profile to a USA Today ranking of No. 4.
Academically, Rapier received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the SMS College of Business Administration in 1992 and graduated a year later with a degree in Computer Information Systems.
“I remember standing at the free-throw line late at night in an empty gym right after we had completed our 7-20 season my freshman year. I imagined that we were going to be one of the best teams in the country and that the entire Hammons Student Center was full of people.” Rapier said.
Three short years later, the dream actually came true.
“It took a special level of commitment by our team. We were self-policed. We set our own rules,” said Rapier, inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. “We didn’t drink. We didn’t party. We were going to study. We were going to get As. And we were going to play basketball. We were going to do whatever it took to be one of the best basketball teams in the nation.”
And they were.