The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame joins with the family and friends of Walt Schoenke in mourning the passing of one of the state’s influential sports contributors. Schoenke passed away Saturday in St. Louis. He was 83.
Schoenke was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 as a sports contributor. He enlisted in the Air Force in 1941 and served four years as a crew chief on the F-86 Fighter Sabre Jet. After his military career, Schoenke eventually joined the Monsanto Company as a national sales manager for the AstroTurf division. He remained there for 20 years and became heavily involved with the University of Missouri athletic department and Tiger Scholarship Fund. Schoenke eventually was awarded the Faurot Field plaque for his service. In 1998, he was appointed the first commissioner of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC).
A Hawaii native, Schoenke became good friends with Mizzou basketball coach Norm Stewart as the two helped to form an annual Hawaii holiday basketball tournament, said Squeaky Marquart, a longtime Mizzou season-ticket holder and recent Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee. Schoenke also helped in bringing the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament to St. Louis and was a youth basketball coach.
Visitation is at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 12345 Manchester Road in Des Peres, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday. Funeral services are at 10 a.m. Friday at St. Paul’s, followed by a private burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Paul’s Lutheran School or the Early Childhood Center. Arrangements are by Ortmann Stipanovich Funeral Home in Creve Coeur.