Back in the late 1970s, on the campus of Lincoln University, the men’s basketball team created a real sense of pride. The 1978 team reached the Elite Eight the NCAA Division II Tournament. Around that time, people were already talking about two comebacks: a preseason tournament title against none other than Saint Louis University, after… Read more »
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Category: Coaches
Pete Adkins
Pete Adkins is the most successful high school football coach this nation has ever seen. His winning percentage is the best in the country for coaches with 100 or more games and he is the third-winningest coach in football history, at any level. Adkins’ overall record is 392-60-4, an 86 percent winning percentage. He began… Read more »
Randy Albrecht
He had grown up not far from St. Louis, just to the southwest of the metro area, and basically lived and breathed the game of basketball. For Randy Albrecht, you could say that coaching the sport was his destiny. After all, he lived right across the street from the local high school and often attended… Read more »
Steve Alford
A few years back, sports journalists and fans around in the basketball-crazy state of Indiana, created an unofficial list of the five greatest products from the state’s prep ranks. It was a list that went beyond normal all-state or all-America honors or college or even professional heroics. It’s not clear if the list was written… Read more »
Forrest “Phog” Allen
Forrest C. “Phog” Allen was a basketball legend in his incredible 39 years at the University of Kansas, winning 771 games. Phog was born in Jamestown, Missouri in 1885. Allen had a remarkable record in which all but the first 10 years of coaching were spent at the University of Kansas. He won 31 conference… Read more »
Larry Anderson
Every institution has its so-called “old guard,” a select few who have been on campus for decades and naturally care deeply about it. Larry Anderson fits that description. He’s in the middle of his 37th school year – 32nd consecutive – at Central Methodist University, an NAIA school in Fayette. A 1967 graduate of Central… Read more »
Jill Angell
Some folks don’t know what they want to do in life until after they reach college age. Others try to map it out even in high school. For Jill Angell, she found her calling in life well before then. “When I was in the fifth grade, I had a P.E. teacher (Carol Gross) I idolized”… Read more »
Tony Armstrong
It’s almost as if an author dreamed up one of the most compelling American sports stories, grabbed a notepad and, lo and behold, produced a New York Times best-seller. After all, how else to explain Tony Armstrong’s coaching career? He was the kid who once shot hoops in a southwest Missouri armory and years later,… Read more »
Forest Arnold
Upon graduated from Puxico High School, he then attended Memphis State University. A giant of a man by 1950’s standards at 6’4″, he was the first All-American basketball player for the University of Memphis and still holds the following records: Third leading rebounder and the fifth leading scorer and one of three players who scored… Read more »
Volney Ashford
Volney Ashford attended and graduated from Marshall High School in 1927, Missouri Valley College in 1931, and the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1949. Ashford returned to Missouri Valley College in 1937 as Chairman of the Department of Physical Education and Head Football Coach from 1937 to 1971, moving into the Vice-President of Development position… Read more »
Horner Askins
For some former athletes, sports has a way of keeping them around, to feed their passion but also to make a major difference in the lives of young people. An excellent case in point is Horner Askins. A former high school football standout in Arkansas, he found his way to southwest Missouri as a teacher… Read more »
Larry Atwood
Larry Atwood spent 26 years teaching and coaching at Greenwood High School in Springfield and also directed the Blue and Gold Tournament until 1990, “Larry Atwood was the Blue and Gold, and the Blue and Gold was Larry Atwood,” longtime assistant coach Paul Mullins said. “He loved this town and he probably loved running (the… Read more »
Jim Aziere
On a warm afternoon in early spring of 1965, Jim Aziere ran a 5-mile warmup on the back roads of Central Missouri before track practice at the University of Central Missouri. He set a goal to accomplish what few people do in a lifetime. From that moment, he began leaving footprints everywhere he went. Students… Read more »
Jodie Bailey
One of the true coaching legends of coaching in the St. Louis area, Bailey compiled a tremendous record of 824 wins and 198 losses in a great career that spanned 42 seasons. Along the way, Bailey managed to touch the lives of countless young men, helping them to become good men as well as good… Read more »
Rex Bailey
After coaching for six years in Arkansas, Rex Bailey began his 25-year Missouri career at Caruthersville. After the initial season, he spent three years each at Steele, Wardell, and Couch High School. Bailey then began his illustrious 18-year tenure as head coach and athletic director at Potosi High School. After 31 years of coaching, he… Read more »
Jim Ball
A native of Camdenton, Jim Ball was a three-year basketball letterman at Missouri State University from 1941 through 1943 and he was one of the numerous Bruin athletes whose playing career was interrupted by World War II. The SMS center, Ball led the 1942 SMS team in scoring with 222 points as the Bears won… Read more »