For the last 42 years, Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO), has been the leading sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities. The year round program, which offers 21 sports, promotes acceptance and inclusion. Through participation in those sports, it is proven that SOMO athletes perform better at school, home and in their places of employment. SOMO… Read more »
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Category: Teams/Programs
Springfield Catholic Lady Irish Basketball Program
Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s as girls athletic teams began to emerge in high schools and colleges across the country, most observers understood that it would take many programs several years – if not a decade or more – to find success. However, the Springfield Catholic High School Lady Irish Basketball Program… Read more »
1997 Springfield Catholic High School Football Team
In the nearly suffocating heat of late summer 1997, on a concrete-like dirt surface subbing as a football practice field, the Springfield Catholic Fightin’ Irish began their march toward history. So the cuts, bumps and bruises inflicted from that field? Call them a badge of honor. After all, with a ton of talent still around… Read more »
1959 St. Agnes Basketball and Coach Robert Taylor
– Recognized as one of the best Missouri High School coaches with an illustrious career of over 40 years, Coach Bob Taylor is a legend in southwest Missouri. A Conway, MO native, Coach Taylor led three high school basketball teams in Missouri; Conway, Marshfield and Springfield St. Agnes. Conway won a state championship under Coach… Read more »
St. Elizabeth High School Softball Program
When folks look at a road map of the Show-Me State and scan their eyes over mid-Missouri, they may spot the town of St. Elizabeth and move on. However, if they’re looking at a state sports map? Well, you certainly couldn’t miss it. From this rural community about 45 minutes south of Jefferson City –… Read more »
St. Elizabeth High School Baseball Program
Drive down two-lane Highway 52 east of Lake of the Ozarks, past the blooming springtime dogwoods in the valleys and along the Osage River, and you eventually pull into a town called St. Elizabeth. Here, they love their baseball. See the banners on the basketball gym wall? It’s decorated with success, including a banner that… Read more »
St. John Vianney High School Boys Soccer Program
One look at the trophy case is well, breath-taking. This is at St. John Vianney High School, proud home of one of the state’s most successful boys soccer programs. “It’s wonderful. To see that many first-place trophies. Just fantastic,” former coach Mike Villa said when touring the facility in October 2021. “The first one, they… Read more »
2002 St. Joseph Casino Players Softball
Success has followed the St. Jo Frontier Casino Players fastpitch softball team for quite some time, but the 2002 season was extra special for the squad. The Players won the 2002 International Softball Congress World Championship in Kitchener-Waterloo, Iowa. The team, which hails from St. Joseph, Missouri, became the first team from Missouri to win… Read more »
St. Joseph’s Academy Girls Tennis Program
Push through the double doors of a gymnasium lobby at St. Joseph’s Academy, and the scene can be breathtaking. On the left wall, from floor to ceiling and encased behind glass, are all of the state trophies earned by the school’s girls tennis teams. In fact, the display case is out of real estate. “My… Read more »
St. Louis University’s 50 Years of Soccer including 10 National Titles
Saint Louis University added soccer as a varsity sport in 1959, the same year that the NCAA established its first true national championship tournament. Led by Hall of Famer Bob Guelker, Saint Louis University immediately took command of the national tournament and won national titles in 1959. ’60, ’62, ’63 and 1965, becoming the first… Read more »
1998-2002 Era St. Pius X High School Football
The sign on their football coach’s desk simply read, “Win A State Championship,” but it had been gathering a thick layer of dust by October 1998. This was at St. Pius X High School, where earlier 1990s teams had been playoff casualties. And so the inspirational note was fuel for the Warriors. So was something… Read more »
Stockton High School Girls Basketball Program
In southwest Missouri, in the Cedar County town called Stockton, the girls basketball team has long galvanized the community. In fact, stand in the old gym, and one can imagine crowds packed elbow to elbow and roaring during state championship runs of the early 2000s. Over at the new high school, look to the left… Read more »
Stringer Football Family
When Sonny Lloyd Stringer strapped on a leather helmet and took the field for the first team in Willow Springs High School in 1925, it would have been hard to imagine the impact he was making on southwest Missouri football. A full century later, the Stringer family is synonymous with standout football after Sonny Lloyd’s… Read more »
1979 & 1992 Three Rivers Community College basketball teams
They lived in an old dorm in downtown Poplar Bluff and, because they didn’t have a gym on campus, had to practice either at area high schools or at a state youth correctional facility. And yet from those humble beginnings rose the 1979 Raiders of Three Rivers Community College, the school’s first men’s basketball team… Read more »
2003-2008 Era Tipton High School Boys Golf
dynasty dy·nas·ty – a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time You hear a lot about dynasties, especially in the sports world. Every sport has seemingly had its own dynastic teams. The New York Yankees won 16 World Series championships between 1936 and 1962. Hockey’s Montreal Canadiens captured 16 Stanley… Read more »
2003 University of Central Missouri Baseball Team
All these years later, Brad Hill and his players still laugh about it. But somebody had to say something. Had to put their foot down. Early in the 2003 season, the University of Central Missouri baseball team delivered a lethargic performance. Unacceptable, Hill recalled, especially in a premier program. And so he gathered the team… Read more »