Inductees

May 27, 1934—June 14, 2020

If you’ve attended any athletic event across Missouri, you would know that people just refer to him as “Squeaky.”

He’s become synonymous around Mizzou athletics. His love for the Black and Gold has taken him all across the country to see his beloved Tigers play. In essence, he’s a genuine PR guy for the state university, but he also is loyal to high schools and other state college sports teams.

He’s Alvin “Squeaky” Marquart, 81, and hasn’t missed a Tigers men’s basketball game since 1986. And the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct him among its Class of 2015. He’s only the second fan ever to be enshrined.

Here’s a man who started as a shoe shine boy, then went to driving a potato chip and candy truck for 30 years. He also served as Franklin County treasurer for 20 years.

His passion for sports began in 1968 when the sports announcer, Chuck Otte, at radio station KLPW in Union fell ill, and the station was thinking of discontinuing its sports broadcasts. That’s when Squeaky stepped in.

“I didn’t want to see that stopped. It wouldn’t have been fair to the kids and the fans,” said Squeaky, who for the next 16 years was the man behind the mic at many basketball games.

When Ron Tobben bought the station and became part owner of KLPW in 1971, they expanded coverage to include high school sports such as football and basketball. They announced Washington and St. Francis Borgia games, but also the Four Rivers Conference schools of Union, New Haven and Hermann.

“When Ron Tobben started with me in broadcasting, it was really enjoyable because he knew sports. It made broadcasting much easier,” Squeaky said. “He became a best friend, and he made it so enjoyable that I just wanted to keep coming back.”

The first state high school championship that Squeaky broadcast was in 1969, when St. George of Hermann won the Class S title.

In 1970, Squeaky had the distinction of broadcasting two high school state championship basketball games in one day, in two cities. He and station owner Frank Lohmeyer broadcast the Class M state title game at Brewer Fieldhouse in Columbia, where they  had followed the Hermann team, and then drove to Rolla where New Haven won the Class S state championship.

Washington and area schools were receiving sports coverage like they never had before.

In 1973, Squeaky became president of the Missouri Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association, which was the first to publish and award an all-state girls basketball team. The association also started the first statewide basketball poll that year.

In 1972, Squeaky and his wife, Opal, bought their first season tickets for Mizzou football. But it wasn’t until 1986 that they started following Missouri football and basketball teams on the road.

Squeaky and Opal raised five sons – Duane, Kurt, Eric, Addison and Kyle – and have 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Opal passed away in October 2011.

When Washington High School cage star Mike Sandbothe committed to Mizzou in 1985, Squeaky consistently started hitting Tiger road basketball games.

It led to great friendships – among them being Mizzou Hall of Fame basketball coach Norm Stewart and Monsanto’s Walt Schoenke, a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee who was the sales manager and director of world sales for Astro-Turf football surfaces for 20 years.

Squeaky also began attending the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four in 1990, and it was always about seeing the Missouri coaching staff and Missouri high school coaches. When the late Gary Filbert started a Hall of Fame breakfast in conjunction with the men’s Final Four, Squeaky helped promote the event, and attendance grew.

He’s witnessed a lot of great games, too.

His most memorable game is the six-overtime thriller in 1982 between St. Francis Borgia and Bowling Green, a game that came on the day of Borgia coach Ray DeGreef’s passing.

Squeaky also recalls Mizzou’s three-overtime win against Illinois in St. Louis; Norm’s Tigers stopping the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels in Las Vegas; Anthony Peeler’s 25 free throws in a win at Iowa State; and the Tigers beating Kansas a few times in Lawrence.

Ever have your nurse drive you to a basketball game?

Well, Squeaky has.

While having his arteries checked, he muttered that he didn’t have a driver to take him to the 2014 finals of the NCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament at Evansville, Ind. Former Mizzou player and assistant Kim Anderson was coaching the Central Missouri State Mules in the championship.

The nurse, Amanda Winchester, made sure he had a ride.

Yes, what a great fan indeed.

  • Story by Don Kruse