She still remembers it like yesterday: A basketball in her hand, dribbling and shooting baskets, and competing in summer camps. And this was years before she starred for West Plains High School and the University of Missouri basketball teams.
Yes, Kerensa Barr Cassis breaks into a smile just reminiscing about it all.
“I was probably 8 years old when I started going to Gene Bess’ boys basketball camp,” Cassis said, referring to the Three Rivers Community College coach, a 2016 Missouri Sports Legend. “And, for four or five years, I was the only girl.”
In time, she soared to great heights in the game, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Cassis with the Enshrinement Class of 2018.
Her induction is part of the Enshrinement presented by Killian Construction, set for Sunday, January 28 at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield. (For tickets, call 417-889-3100 & see details below.)
Cassis was Miss Show-Me Basketball for West Plains High School in 1999, when she graduated having held 11 program records. A year earlier, she helped the 29-win Lady Zizzers capture the Class 4 state championship.
She then went on to star for the Mizzou women’s basketball program, becoming a three-year captain and guiding the 2001 team to the NCAA Sweet 16 and three WNIT berths. Ultimately, she was voted to Mizzou’s All-Decade Team.
At the time of her graduation from there, Cassis held program career records in assists (489) and free-throw percentage (.812), was second in career steals (242) and scored 1,161 points. She also was a member of the Big 12 All-Star European Tour and invited to the 2001 USA Basketball tryouts.
This from the daughter of Kathy and Coach Tom Barr, a former Bess assistant and the longtime head coach at Missouri State University-West Plains.
“I just always loved sports and competing,” Cassis said. “Compared to who I played with and against in college, I wasn’t gifted athletically. But I was particularly gifted with parents who provided opportunities to play sports and learn hard work.”’
Talk about hard work. You want dogged determination? You want someone who rolls up their sleeves and gets the job done? Well, Cassis was your player.
Just ask West Plains coach Scott Womack. He recalled an off-night for Cassis in a Saturday game during her sophomore year, then an hour later heard the thump-thump-thump sound basketball on hardwood in what was supposed to be an empty gym. It was Cassis, who two nights later converted all 16 of her field goal attempts and sank both free throws en route to a school-record 34 points.
“I never thought of myself as a great player,” said Cassis, whose 1,914 career points stood as West Plains’ best until 2013. “I loved playing and working to get better and helping my team win.”
“I was lucky to have Coach Womack as a high school coach,” Cassis added. “He was always supportive of me, but he was always hard on me.”
Cassis was the first recruit of then-Mizzou coach Cindy Stein and chose Mizzou, in part, because she had been a longtime Mizzou fan and her grandparents could attend games in Columbia.
However, the Big 12 Conference was an animal.
“That year, going to play in the best conference in the country, I’d even go to practice and struggle,” Cassis said.
“(Stein) really challenged me my freshman year,” Cassis said. “She knew there was an opportunity for me to make an impact and be a leader.”
The learning experience led to a pivotal summer. The next season, Mizzou advanced to the Sweet 16, its first since March 1982 under Joann Rutherford (MSHOF 2017).
Cassis was a Sporting News/March of Dimes Socrates Award national finalist, a Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year national semifinalist and Academic All-American.
After graduation, she was an assistant coach at Mizzou, Murray State and Wichita State, but is now an attorney at law with Shook Hardy & Bacon in Kansas City. She and husband, Luke, are parents to Leo and Jett.
Cassis said her parents and brother, Jared, were pivotal. For instance, because her dad coached her in summer basketball for years, it would be easy to assume he was overbearing. Not the case.
“After a game, my dad never said a word. He always wanted me to ask for his opinion before he told me what he thought. He was always a supporter more than coming down hard on me,” Cassis said, and later noted that her mom never missed a home game at Mizzou, saying, “’We’d play on Wednesdays, so I can’t imagine the long, seven-hour roundtrip drives.”
Then again, it was a show nobody wanted to miss.
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Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s 2018 Enshrinement Ceremonies presented by Killian Construction
When: Sunday, January 28
Morning reception: 11 a.m., presented by Meek’s The Builder’s Choice, at the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, 3861 E. Stan Musial Drive in Springfield.
Afternoon festivities: 4 p.m. reception, 5 p.m. dinner & ceremony at University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center, Springfield
Class of 2018: Mike Garrett (Kansas City Chiefs), Lee Smith (St. Louis Cardinals), Howard Richards (University of Missouri football), Jim Otis (St. Louis Football Cardinals & Kansas City Chiefs), Martin Mac Donald (Conservationist, Outdoorsman, Runner), football coach Gary Barnett (Northwestern University & University of Colorado), softball coach Holly Hesse (Missouri State University), Doug Elgin (Missouri Valley Conference Commissioner), Dr. Brian Mahaffey (Missouri State University, St. Louis Cardinals), shot putter Christian Cantwell (Eldon High School/University of Missouri/Olympics), basketball standout Kerensa Barr Cassis (West Plains High School/Mizzou), Dan Lucy (KOLR 10 TV Sports Director), Rockhurst High School football coach Tony Severino, basketball coach Steve Tappmeyer (Northwest Missouri State University, UMSL), Rick Grayson (PGA teaching professional), Learfield, the Lamar High School Football Program, Springfield-Greene County Park Board, Independent Printing – John Q. Hammons Founders Award, Rick Todd of Herschend Family Entertainment – President’s Award.
Sponsorship opportunities: Tables of 10 are $1,500 and include an autographed poster (a rendering by renowned artist Dayne Dudley), recognition in the printed program and at the table. Individual tickets are $150. Numerous other sponsorships are available, including congratulatory ads, trading cards and 20-month calendars.
Call the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame: 417-889-3100.
