Inductees

In the tucked-way basketball office at a quaint college  on Springfield’s north side, a framed copy of a newspaper hung for years for all to see.

It captured the night of March 2002, with the headline splashed all over that the Evangel University men’s basketball team won the NAIA Division II national title.

“After 20 years, I still wish they had a little eligibility left,” coach Steve Jenkins joked. “They were a well-oiled machine.”

Certainly, that team’s talent left many simply breathless as Evangel went wire-to-wire as a No. 1-ranked team. That is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the 2002 Evangel University Men’s Basketball National Championship Team with the Class of 2021.

Then known as the Crusaders, Evangel stormed to a 35-1 record. In the national tournament alone, Evangel beat, in order, Saint Joseph 79-49, Black Hills 83-66, Holy Family 86-57, Northwestern of Iowa 81-79 and Robert Morris 84-61.

The team featured All-Americans in seniors Daniel Cutbirth and Bryan Osterloh, with Cutbirth named MVP of the national tournament. Junior Anthony Moore and sophomore Grant Curtis also earned All-Heart of America Athletic Conference honors.

Evangel’s roster also included seniors John Spears, Dimitrius Breedlove, Judd Broxson; juniors Wes Murphy and Tellus Truesdale; sophomores Bert Capel, Preston Ingram and Luke Arthur; and freshmen Luke Cooper and Chad Sleeper. Assistant coaches were Steve Shepherd and Steve Gause.

The reality was that the title was years in the making. Evangel had bowed out of the postseason in district tournaments in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and in three of the prior five seasons (before 2002) were second-round casualties in the national tournament. The Crusaders were 16-4 in 2001.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to be that good,” Jenkins said. “But I went into our first team meeting and they started telling me they were going to win the conference tournament and they were going to contend in the NAIA championship bracket.”

“I think that we were made more aware that we actually had the talent to take our team to a championship, but it was going to be a collective effort,” Osterloh said. “It wasn’t that we didn’t play as a team the year before, but at times we possibly relied too heavily on individual contributions and that all changed going into the championship season.”

Evangel certainly had the horses. Cutbirth had scored a program-best 2,858 points at Hurley High School. Osterloh was a standout at Marionville High School, and there was Grant Curtis, whose uncle had coached Evangel in the 1970s and early 1980s.Tellus Truesdale ran the point guard role.

Moore, a former Parkview High School standout, transferred in from Missouri State-West Plains juco. He and a deep bench were key.

“(Moore) could guard every position on the other team,” Jenkins said.

Evangel finished 20-0 in the conference regular season and then won the conference tournament. The team also set NAIA D-II records with most consecutive wins (27) and with most consecutive wins in a season (27).

This from a team that practiced from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. through most of the season.

“The best way I can describe our focus was ‘business-like,’” Osterloh said. “The coaches put together the business plan, we implemented it, we would get our win, and go home.”

Where are they now? Capel is Evangel’s head coach. Curtis is a pastor in Joplin. Cutbirth is a supervisor with Emory Sapp & Sons in Mount Vernon. Osterloh is an insurance claims supervisor in Colorado Springs. Stubbs is a medical director in Michigan. Truesdale is with FCA in Iowa. Petten coaches basketball in Fayetteville, Ark. Gabel is a freight driver in Portland, Ore.

Murphy owns a Marionville orchard. Cooper works for MODOT in Collins. Goodson is a Webconnex manager in Oak Grove. Spears works in orthopedics. Sleeper is a pastor in Birmingham, Ala. Broxson is a medical account manager in Tampa, Fla. Ingram is head coach of Missouri Baptist men’s basketball. Moore is a Vergy product manager in Rogersville. Gause is Evangel’s compliance director. Conley is a teacher in Blue Springs. Breedlove owns a Georgia company. Morantis is an engineer in Massachusetts. Shepherd is the coach at College of the Ozarks.

Jenkins retired in March 2021.

Said Osterloh, “I believe that team exemplifies that if you take great talent, combine it with a singular focus that puts the team’s interest above the individual, you can accomplish great things in this wonderful game that we all love so much.”