Inductees

During his tenure as Southeast Missouri State University’s football coach from 1932-1946, Abe Stuber’s teams won 17 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles in football, track, and basketball. He captured more championships than anyone in the school’s history.

In the fall of 1986, the Board of Regents named the university’s track complex in his honor.

In 1974, Stuber was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame after retiring as director of player personnel for the St. Louis Football Cardinals.

Stuber’s coaching career spanned 50 years, beginning in the steel mill town of Middletown, Ohio, in the 1920s and ending in the professional ranks.

From Southeast, Stuber went on to coach at Iowa State, the University of Washington, and the professional level as an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Chicago Cardinals.

When the Cardinals moved to St. Louis in 1960, he came with them as director of player personnel and held that post until 1973. He remained affiliated with the Big Red for eight more years as a “super scout.”

One of Stuber’s most notable achievements with the Cardinals was convincing the team to draft Larry Wilson. Though not considered a top prospect in the draft, Stuber said there “was a lot of tigers” in Wilson. He became an All-Pro Safety for the Cardinals and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Stuber also spent three years at Westminster College in Fulton before coming to Southeast.

As track coach at SEMO in 1935, Stuber directed the Indians to their first MIAA title ever during the outdoor season. He followed that with seven straight outdoor conference titles and five indoor titles.

Stuber also directed the Southeast football teams to three conference championships while compiling a record of 69-43-7 from 1932-46. His 1937 team finished 9-0; in 1946, his team went 8-0-1.

He also served two stints as basketball coach of the Indians, from 1932-35 and 1943-46, compiling a record of 60-42. His team won the MIAA championship in 1946.

A native of St. Joseph, Stuber played quarterback at the University of Missouri in 1924, 1925, and 1926 and also participated in basketball and track for the Tigers.

Stuber was grand marshal of the 1986 Homecoming Parade, the day the Southeast track complex was dedicated in his name.

In learning that the regents had decided to name the complex in his honor, Stuber was quick to single out the athletes as the key to his success.

“I feel extremely honored,” Stuber said at the time. “I have to give credit to the athletes that played for me. They were responsible for all the success we had.”