News

Category: Teams/Programs

Lockwood High School Volleyball Era 1983-2008

Three years into the coach Cheryl Shores tenure, the Lockwood High School volleyball team pushed through and won its first district championship in 1983. “It was exciting. The girls were freshmen when I started in 1980,” Shores said. “They were on board with all the changes I made to improve play.” That team planted a… Read more »

1993-1996 Lockwood High School Boys Basketball Final Four Teams

Thumb through an old scrapbook that Dennis Cornish kept from his days coaching the Lockwood Basketball Tigers, and it’s hard not to shake your head in awe. See the headlines from the mid-1990s? They scream, “Tigers quickly learn how to enjoy state a title” and “The Tigers did the impossible” and “Lockwood has reloaded for… Read more »

1982-1986 Era Logan-Rogersville High School Boys Basketball

It all started at the top. That’s what the players will tell you. By a basketball coach who could have doubled as a drill sergeant and, on game days, wore suits as if he was readying for a GQ cover shoot. What a time it was for the the Logan-Rogersville High School boys basketball teams… Read more »

Logan-Rogersville High School Girls Cross Country Program

Imagine presenting this idea to a high schooler: Run a 5-kilometer race once a week, often on rugged terrain and then run some more – or quite a bit more, actually – in weekday practices. And expect the gut to ache and the finish line always to seem as if it’s a mile away. “I… Read more »

Mansfield High School Baseball Program

To hear the “Old Guard” tell it, Mansfield is a Norman Rockwell painting in real life: Kids riding their bikes across town in the summers, trying to round up enough buddies for a baseball game. In the evenings, dads coaching their sons in youth leagues. The box-office draw? Not a movie house but the high… Read more »

1987-2008 Era Marion C. Early High School Softball

When folks talk about the powerhouse high school softball programs around the Show-Me State, the Marion C. Early Lady Panthers are certainly in the conversation. And why not? They gave all who saw them play plenty to discuss. Over a 22-season stretch, the Morrisville school logged an unprecedented string of success spanning the tenures of… Read more »

Marionville High School Boys Basketball State Tournament Teams

For the past six decades, the Marionville High School boys basketball teams have been among some of the best teams in Missouri. Since 1970, the Comets have had 17 state tournament teams. That covers six Final Fours (1978, 1982, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006), as well as six state quarterfinalists (1970, 1981, 1998, 2007, 2019, 2023).… Read more »

Marshfield Lady Jays Basketball Program

Thumb through the Marshfield High School yearbook of 1975 and eventually you’ll land on a four-page section devoted to the inaugural Lady Jays basketball team. Splashed with old black-and-white photos, the opening pages also feature headlines reading “Girls Shine In First Season” and “Show Potential for the Future.” Amazingly, it was prophetic. Just outside the… Read more »

1988, 1989, 1990 Marshfield High School Lady Jays Basketball

The term “dynasty” is often used to describe great teams who win a series of national or world championships. It is rarely associated with teams at the collegiate or high school sports levels. From 1988 through 1990, though, the Marshfield High School Lady Jays Basketball teams were just that…a true dynasty. Under the direction of… Read more »

1980-1983 Era McDonald County High School Girls Basketball

The story goes that, after a few years following passage of the federal Title IX legislation which required public schools to offer sports to girls, a group of McDonald County High School girls marched to the superintendent’s office. That led to the school offering girls basketball in November 1976. Two years later, Jerry Davis returned… Read more »

1974-1979 Era Mexico High School Track & Field

If you ever travel to the north-central Missouri community of Mexico, it’s best to stop at the high school’s track that doubles as a football field. There, beyond the north end zone and affixed to the scoreboard is a metal banner touting the success of the Bulldogs’ track & field teams. In fact, be prepared… Read more »

1974-79 Mid-State Oil Softball Teams

In the day when everybody played softball, Mid-State Oil distinguished itself as a dynasty in the mid to late 1970’s. Playing in the Open Division, which included the best teams in the state, Mid-State Oil won the state slow pitch softball championship an unprecedented 6 consecutive years. Prior to this, no team had ever won… Read more »

Midway High School Football Program

If you ever need a Friday Night Lights football fix 1950s-style, drive to Highway 71 south of Kansas City and head west on Highway 2. There, while meandering down the curvy two-laner and cutting through scenic farm country of Cass County, you’ll find one of the state’s great football powers. From here have risen the… Read more »

1972 Missouri Southern State University National Championship Team

They’ll forever be one of college football’s most cherished rags-to-riches stories, a team that rose from almost nowhere and is still talked about among the old-timers in Joplin. In 1972, the Missouri Southern State University Lions hit two-a-days in August following a four-year stretch of struggles. At season’s end? They were atop NAIA Division II.… Read more »