Inductees

Throughout her childhood and teenage years, playing softball was the focus. Summer teams and then for the local high school in Morrisville was the routine.

But after leaving the game behind, Amy Francka (pronounced France-kuh) found another calling with a bows and arrows. Initially, she aimed and fired to fill the time, inspired by an uncle and cousins. And then …

“In the early 2000s, archery was a part of the physical education curriculum at Willard Middle School,” Francka said. “Bea Miller and I taught archery in the girls PE classes. We began using fiberglass bows and cedar arrows shooting at hay bales. I learned of the National Archery in the Schools Program and became a certified Basic Archery Instructor and wrote a grant to get equipment for WMS. I was able to add lifetime sports to the curriculum and taught hunter education, archery and games.”

Francka has gone on to become one of the most respect archery instructors in the state – and a pretty fine competitor, too – and that’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted her with the Class of 2025.

A 1988 graduate of Marion C. Early High School in Morrisville and later at Missouri State University, she has worked for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board’s Community Sports Development Program since 2011.

She is its CSDP head archery coach, handling clinics, shooting classes, and offers private instruction. She also leads its USA Archery Programs and the Scholastic 3D Archery Club.

Francka has been an archery teacher for 18 years, including 14 as head coach of the Park Board’s Ozarks Target Archers. She also was an instructor for 12 years at Willard Middle School, including four years as the NASP coach, and two years as the Missouri Department of Conservation Outreach and Education Coordinator.

Francka has been a competitive archer for 10 years. Among her accomplishments is being named the Female Compound Shooter of the Year for the Missouri Archery Association (2015, 2016, 2017, 2020) and has been a champion or top placer in Archery Shooters Association competitions, the Missouri Bowhunters Association and Show-Me State Games. She won the 2022 Classic Championship and Shooter of the Year the same weekend. She also was the 2023 Archery Shooters Association Shooter of the Year.

The outdoors suits her well. Francka fished farm ponds as well as the Pomme de Terre River near her grandparents’ farm. At Marion C. Early High School in Morrisville, she helped the 1987 softball team finish as a state runner-up.

“Funny enough, I was an instructor before a competitor in archery,” Francka said. “My family would say I have been non-traditional in many things I do in my life, and I guess this is just another example.”

The Willard job led to working for the Missouri Department of Conservation. And when the Park Board job opened, she returned to Springfield in 2011.

Her work since then has enhanced the sport’s stature in the area. For instance, the Park Board runs the Springfield Archery Complex at the Davis House – located in southwest Springfield near Rivercut Golf Course – and offers quite a bit for archery shooters.

It features a 12-lane, 20-yard indoor range, practice range out to 80  yards, outdoor target range of 70 meters, 14-target field range and 20-target 3d range. Francka designed and built all the ranges with her staff and parks operations staff.

Roughly 6,000 people have been introduced to archery or took lessons at the complex, which averages north of 4,000 shooters per year, including the above, open range shooting, special programs and tournaments.

They certainly are in good hands. Francka has earned coaching certificates, and is a USA Archery Level 3 instructor, S3DA advanced instructor, National Archery in the Schools Program instructor trainer and Archery Trade Association bow technician.

Francka also gives southwest Missouri a voice by serving on the board of directors for the Alliance of Missouri Archers, as well as advising USA Archery and the Springfield Sports Commission. She is past board member of the USA Archery JOAD.

Even better, she hasn’t forgotten her mentors: the late Kurt Surber, Ellen Cameron-Rice, Jon & Cindy Tompkins, Mark Rarrick and assistant coaches.

Her parents, Frank and Nancy, and brother, Tim, and sister, Erin, have always had her support, too.

“I did not see archery in my career or personal path out of college,” Francka said. “But one thing led to another over the years and here I am. I feel blessed that archery is so much a part of my life.”