Inductees

To coach Scott Bailey, those who have watched the rise of the Lamar High School Football Program should know one thing: It wasn’t his doing alone.

“In our town, the school is important, and our town supports all the things that our kids do, with football being one of them,” Bailey said.

A turnaround known as The Brotherhood has led to what no other Missouri school has achieved – seven consecutive state championships. It’s the reason why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the Lamar High School Football Program with the Class of 2018.

“My second year,” Bailey recalled, “we were 0-10 and there was a lot of support for our program even then. I think our community just gets behind whatever our kids are involved with.”

Lamar’s state championships, all in Class 2, have played out between 2011 and 2017. In that stretch, the Tigers are 98-5, including 43-0 in the past three seasons.

Along the way, 52 Lamar players earned All-State honors, and three teams won conference championships – with the 2015 team becoming the program’s first outright conference champion since 1932.

“It starts with the kids,” Bailey said. “You can have all the coaches you want. You can have all the support from the community. But you still have to have the kids. And even then, they have to have something inside them not to settle for past success.”

Prior to 2006, Lamar was 37 games below .500 between 1927 and 2005, with a record of 316-353.

But while the coaching staff and players tackled the rebuild as any group would – such as enhancing the weight training program, connecting with businesses and supporting other school programs – other turning points proved critical.

For instance, the 2007 season forced Bailey to look in the mirror.

“Scheme-wise, I was trying to fit these guys into what I knew best, not necessarily what they did best,” Bailey said. “Also, I did a very poor job of building relationships with the players. I didn’t see the importance of how our players interacted with our coaches. I feel like I short-changed the kids on those early teams.”

Change was afoot in the spring of 2008 when the returning junior players asked for a meeting.

“I still remember it,” Bailey said. “I told my wife, Donna, they were going to quit. When the meeting started, they were all looking at the floor, so I spoke up first and told them that they asked for a meeting and to speak up. Clayton Rice was the first to speak. All he said was, ‘We just want to know how to win again.’”

Months later, the 2008 season saw Lamar reach the second round of the state tournament.

A year later, Lamar advanced to the semifinals, losing to Maryville 21-7. It was the best program finish in program history at that point. However, the Tigers’ sense of satisfaction turned to heartache the next week when Maryville won the state title in a blowout, leaving the Tigers knowing they were oh-so-close to their first state championship.

Since 2011, the state championships victories have been blowouts and nail-biters. The first ended in a 49-14 win, and then 69-41 against Blair Oaks, followed by 42-0, 30-15, 37-0, 36-18 and 37-20.

Against Blair Oaks, Lamar built a two-touchdown advantage, only to see it nearly squandered in a second quarter dotted with verbal in-fighting.

“There was nothing about Brotherhood in the second quarter, and it started with me,” Bailey said. “But at halftime we all apologized for poor leadership, and I believe we reached another level.”

Or take the night before the 2016 playoff against Brentwood. Bailey sensed a lack of togetherness, so he gathered the team and let them have it, to the point that he broke a chair in the hotel lobby.

And then came an unexpected outpouring of emotions team-wide before the 2017 state game.

“It drained us,” Bailey said. “It was genuine. They enjoyed playing football together and they knew they weren’t going to get to do it again.”

The coaching staff has experienced little turnover in the run. Assistants have been Thad Lundine, Brett Pettibon, Steven Bailey, Colby Hall, Chris Wilkerson, Glen Cox, Johnathan Aldridge, Iver Johnson, Eric England, Rick Piper, Richard Grishow, Jeff Beshore and Ted Koopman along with trainer Dave Compton and statistician Robert Lehman.

“We’ve got people in town who take care of our program,” Bailey said. “You win with people and you don’t win so much with Xs and Os.”