Inductees

He had the script all but written, and it would have been one of those sweet homecoming stories you see in the movies.

John Mark Hale, right out of college and unable to land a high school coaching job in his home state of Kentucky, headed west to a southern Missouri community called Cabool. This was 1974.

“Our plan was to stay two years,” Hale said of him and his wife, Kaye. “Little did we realize that we were going to fall in love with the community, the people, the town, the school. We never regretted it. It’s still an amazing place.”

He has certainly made an impact. In fact, Hale is in his 49^th year on the football coaching staff of Cabool High School and has done just about everything. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Hale with the Class of 2022.

In the Texas County community of roughly 2,100 folks located off Highway 60, Hale served in numerous roles over the years. That included defensive coordinator and offensive coordinator, as well as special teams, wide receivers, centers and, in 1995, head coach. Primarily, he has consistently worked with defensive backs and has been a part of 193 wins, including two conference championships and six district titles.

He also handles the team’s laundry, drives the team bus and is the groundskeeper, and the school district in 2021 named its football field in his honor. And he has been here for just about everything, including a couple of conference championships and six district titles.

The 1987 team was the most successful in his tenure, as the Bulldogs reached the state quarterfinals and finished 10-2 after falling to eventual state champion Brentwood Academy of St. Louis.

“I’m addicted to Cabool schools,” Hale said. “If I’m not doing something up there on the fields, well, I try to help out as much as I can. If that can help our coaches have family time in the evenings during the season, I am going to make sure I get a lot done.”

A 1969 graduate of Murray (Ky.) High School, Hale knows the importance of high school sports. He was all-conference as a football defensive back and all-district as a catcher. That set him to attend Murray State University, from which he graduated in 1974.

At the time, coaching job in Kentucky didn’t materialize, and so he expanded his search. That took him to Cabool, where then-coach Bill Stringer brought him on staff.

Since then, he has worked with or for eight superintendents, 13 high school principals, 19 head coaches and 70 assistant coaches.

“As a young coach, I was pretty horrible, pretty over-intense,” Hale said. “But I had some people who pushed me along the way.”

That included head coaches Clark Kynion, Kevin Sadler and Kuper Kreul.

“(Kynion) was patient with me. He taught me about just being a coach,” Hale said. “(Sadler) graduated from Mizzou. He had a way of convincing a kid that, just because you can’t do something perfect, at least you can’t try. I credit Kynion for helping me grow.”

The 1987 season will always be special. In the previous years, Cabool was 2-8, 2-8 and 4-6 before earning a 10-2 record. The highlight was beating Salem for the district title, doing so with several sophomores as starters.

“But I also was part of an 0-10 group,” Hale said. “They played more for each other than other groups I’ve been around. They never quit.”

Hale also worked through adversity. He stepped up in 1995, serving as head coach due to a late-season departure. However, the next season, the school brought in a new head coach and returned Hale to assistant status.

As much as he was disappointed, Hale worked with the new coach and became good friends. Then again, that was no surprise to friends. Hale has long been a pro’s pro, willing to do whatever for the school. That’s why he would study on each new position he was assigned.

That also helps explain why he has received an NFL Hall of Fame/Army Leadership Award and was a recipient of the Doug Potts Right Hand Man Award from the Missouri Football Coaches Association, which inducted him in 2020.

What a run it’s been, made even better by the support of Kaye, his wife of 50 years, and their children, Chris and Elizabeth.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hale said of their support. “I told Kaye that, from July to December, I’m sorry.”