Inductees

When he was growing up, Edwin “Cookie” Rice was like a lot of kids in the Ozarks who always found something to do, and usually it revolved around sports.

In high school, he played football until a knee injury wrecked his career. But he also spent summer evenings working on stock cars and then could be found at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds raceway on the weekends.

Even better, he came to realize the real value of sports in a community, and made certain to carry on his father’s sports-minded legacy once Rice began to lead the Springfield-based Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company.

Well, carry on may not be accurate. It’s more like ratcheted up that legacy, and it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly bestowed Rice with the President’s Award during the 2021 Enshrinement presented by Killian Construction.

The award is bestowed on individuals who champion the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as well as sports across the state, and it comes as Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper celebrates its 101^st anniversary in 2021. The company was founded by his father, Edwin C. Rice, Sr., who supported local athletics.

“He set a standard that l aspired to go by,” said Rice, who officially joined the company in 1953 and has been its longtime CEO. “I never felt like I quite measured up. He was a wonderful man, worked hard and was quick in his step. He was a man who loved his family and his extended family as well.”

That extended family was more like the community as a whole, as his father was among Springfield’s early supporters of local athletics as they began to gain a foothold.

Rice has built on the legacy. He has seen to it that Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper has been a corporate sponsor of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame since its inception in 1994, with the company’s products available at every event.

Additionally, the 700-employee company is the presenting sponsor of the Hall of Fame’s Baseball, Football and Outdoor Sports Luncheons.

Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper also is a lead sponsor of the PGA Korn Ferry Tour’s Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, which has gifted more than $17.3 million to Ozarks children’s charities in the past 31 years. Dr Pepper has been a presenting sponsoring of the tournament for 17 years.

“The Hall of Fame recognizes outstanding athletes,” Rice said of why he supports the 501c-3 not-for-profit organization, noting that the athletes’ inspiring stories resonate with young people.

Among his favorite stories is that of Bill Virdon (MSHOF Legend 2012), a West Plains standout who became a big-league outfielder and then big-league manager.

“I admired him for his ability and his spirit,” Rice said.

Youth and local sports also have been a priority for Rice, who made certain that the company has sponsored numerous sports, from softball to auto racing. In fact, he sponsored several of the Ozarks’ top racers as well as renowned engine builder Joe Naegler (MSHOF 2020) beginning in 1970.

“The sporting community is a positive influence on young people,” Rice said. “That’s why my father started it, and he convinced me it was the right thing to do.”

Rice has sponsored golf teams over the years as well as a company fastpitch softball team, which hired pitchers, too. At one point, they had John Higgins.

“He wore glasses that were as thick as the bottom of Coke bottles,” Rice said. “We told him to throw his first pitch to the backstop and, after that, nobody wanted to dig in against him.”

The outdoors also has held a special place for Rice, who hunts quail and enjoys float trips, especially on the Niangua River and Pomme de Terre River. Fishing off Cape Verde Island in Africa, he once caught an 830-pound marlin that took 3 ½ hours to reel in.

Rice attributes his success to many, especially his late wife, Phoebe, and their two daughters, Sally and Peggy. Phoebe was a terrific angler.

During his tenure, Rice and his sister, Virginia Heer, received the Hall of Fame’s first John Q. Hammons Founder’s Award in 2003. Rice, among the Springfield Business Journal’s Men of the Year in 2017, has served on the American Beverage Association Board of Directors and has held roles of treasurer, vice president and president of the Coca-Cola Bottlers Association.

Overall, he hopes other business leaders continue supporting youth sports.

“We have a great opportunity through our educational system and sports,” Rice said. “It’s part of learning how to be an adult.”