Inductees

He used to pull up every morning at the Chrysler plant in St. Louis and take his lunch pail to work.

This was in the early 1970s, not long after Dale Labuary had graduated high school. And he didn’t realize how unhappy he was until visiting his brother, a young high school coach running a summer football camp.

“I was one of those kids who did not know what I wanted to do,” Labuary said. “I wasn’t really gung-ho about going to school. But I felt after working that camp that assembly line work wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Instead, Labuary wanted to coach football – and help teenagers along the way – and that’s exactly what he did. In fact, his success as the Monroe City High School football coach is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Labuary and his late brother, Geary, with the Class of 2022.

Dale worked for Monroe City from 1979 to 2005, with 1983 marking the start of his head coaching career. His teams were a combined 202-71 (.740), and won the 1994 (14-0) and 1996 (13-1) state championships in Class 2. Along the way, they played in seven state semifinals and also won 13 district titles and 11 conference championships.

Even better, a former big and tall lineman at Festus High School and William Jewell College, Labuary’s engaging personality not only allowed him to carry the room in the quaint town but also enhanced his relationships with teens – especially troubled teens.

“It was some of the best years of my life, just working with kids,” Labuary said. “What gave me the most inspiration was helping kids that people had kind of given up on. If I could get them on the football field, you would see that they just needed somebody to believe in them.”

Labuary had found his way to Monroe City by sheer luck. After college, he sent out resumes, and Monroe City was looking to start a weightlifting program.

Call it a perfect fit, considering Labuary and his brother used to train in football offseasons long before that was the norm in football.

“We ran a lot. And we would push vehicles to give us more leg strength,” Labuary said.

Upon his arrival, he realized equipment was scarce. A weight room, too.

“They had an old building and a weight machine, but it wasn’t worth a darn,” Labuary said. “We got some of the weights thanks to industries around here.”

The weightlifting program transformed Monroe City’s football fortunes. By the late 1980s, the Panthers had become a well-oiled machine, regularly threatening 10 wins a season.

Labuary’s offense capitalized on the hard-working mentality and country strong reality of local farm boys, as he often ran a wishbone offense. His teams pounded people. So did his defenses, often with five-man and four-man fronts.

“I’m not going to say we were gifted,” Labuary said. “We had a lot of farm kids, and they weren’t afraid of work. We had 140-pound guards. And at that time, we were bear-crawling on blocks.”

The 1990s elevated Monroe City in the eyes of football coaches across the state. From 1991 to 1999, the Panthers had the winningest record of any team in the state.

“1994 was a good football team, probably one of the best teams I ever coached at Monroe City,” Labuary said. “We had 15 seniors. And there were some good athletes. We knew we had a possibility of going a long way.”

A playoff exit in 1993 fueled that team’s fire. The Panthers ran the table, beating Warsaw 18-13 in the state championship game.

“We didn’t have a weak spot,” Labuary said.

Two years later, in 1996, the Panthers surged again to the state championship by beating Springfield Catholic 21-0.

“To be quite honest, they had the biggest hearts,” Labuary said of his players. “I don’t think we were ranked (much of the season).”

Looking back, Labuary credits area and conference teams for toughening up his Panthers.

Labuary also credits numerous mentors for his success. Among them were his dad and Geary, who implored him to earn a teaching degree and go into coaching. Geary coached for years at California High School.

Adam McCullough, a Festus coach, and William Jewell’s Vic Bonuchi shaped his coaching career – McCullough because he was tough, Bonuchi because of his overall guidance.

Best of all, Labuary long had the support of his wife, Suzettae and their children, Rebecca, Kimberly and Catherine.

“There’s no doubt winning makes a lot of it fun, too,” Labuary said. “And Monroe City is a football town now.”