Inductees

Since first fielding a team in 1932, the Thayer Bobcat football program has been one of Missouri’s shining examples of how a school and community can work hand in hand to create a long-lasting success and enthusiasm.

That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame n 2025 bestowed its inaugural Friday Night Lights Trophy on the program and the community, as Thayer has worked to greatly enhance the sport of football in the state.

“We travel as well as just about anybody in the state,” said former coach Billy Webber, who led the Bobcats from 1999 until 2022. “Overall, (our home games at Louis Bozeman Stadium) are a great atmosphere. In a big game, whether it’s a conference game or the playoffs, it’s so loud that the players can’t hear you and you can’t get the play in to them. But that was the atmosphere we wanted to play in.”

Thayer has been among the most successful programs in the Show-Me State over the past four decades. The Bobcats have accumulated 17 playoff appearances since 1981, including state runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008. The program reached the state quarterfinals every year from 2015 to 2021, and also advanced to the postseason eight other times – 1981, 1982, 1990, 1994, 1995, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Thayer also boasts South Central Association championships from 1942, 1955, 1957, 1980, 1981 and 2020.

Athletic Director Matt Pitts says all of that success is a byproduct of support that comes from those in charge and filters through coaches and teachers at all levels working together to make it all work.

“I believe it starts at the top with the support of the administration and carries down to all of our coaches supporting all of our programs, even those other than their own,” Pitts said. “We all have to share kids in order to make this thing go and, over time, I feel like we have done an exceptional job of doing this.”

Consistency has also played a key role.

The Bobcats were led by just two head coaches over a stretch of nearly 40 years. David Meek – who had led Thayer from 1953 to 1957 – returned to serve as head coach from 1983 until 1999. And then there was Webber.

Meek’s full-back traps and trick plays  frustrated opponents, and he handed off a good situation to Webber.

In 2006, the Bobcats did well with a young group that eventually led Thayer to its first state championship game in school history the next season. In the 2007 playoffs, the Bobcats beat Greenfield, Marionville, Miller and Hayti to advance. The next year? Thayer was oh so close to winning it all, with Orrick eking out a two-overtime state championship game. That came after Thayer knocked off powerhouse Valle Catholic.

It was in the Webber era when players started eating Thursday night meals together at Riverbend in Mammoth Springs, and lifting weights on game days.

In 2012, after 12 seasons coaching in Arkansas, Meeks retired – until Webber asked if he’d like to come back and help the Bobcats. Meeks, at age 88, did just that.

Both Meeks and Webber have been inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“We have been so blessed to have many great coaches throughout the history of our program, but Coach Dave Meek and Coach Billy Webber are not only Hall of Fame coaches, more importantly they are both Hall of Fame individuals,” Pitts said. “The standards and the expectations that those two set for nearly 40 years is a huge piece in the success of our program! Without stability at the top, long-term success is almost impossible to achieve and with these guys being able to pass the torch to our current head coach Briar Hancock the program is in great shape moving forward.”

The community threw its support behind the program with extravagant homecoming parades through downtown Thayer. The booster club helps provide a gameday experience like no other. Fans sit in lawn chairs up on a hill near the field, and the stands are packed.

Cheerleaders, band members and booster club members have made it even better – along with longtime radio voice Mike Crase at K-Kountry 95.1 FM.

“The community and fan base is so tight-knit and has a family feel,” Pitts said. “Bobcat football is a way of life for a lot of us, and we all know that at 7 p.m. every Friday night in the fall, we can all come together and cheer for our team.”