Inductees

Back when she was in high school, golf wasn’t even offered. And so she played volleyball, basketball and ran on the track & field team. Years later, while living in Kansas City, the sport sort of found her.

And then, in the late 1990s, a job coaching golf found Leah Clark. At the time, she was teaching in Mount Vernon High School.

“I felt honored and yet not even qualified,” said Clark, who had been asked to lead the newly formed Mount Vernon girls golf program. “My husband started teaching me how to play golf when we lived in Kansas City in 1990 to 1993. Once I started teaching in Mount Vernon, I began taking lessons from Leon Faucett, Ping Golf clubs’ first salesman. I started playing in a Monett ladies league on Thursday nights after work. My mother watched my two boys, so I could play golf. My husband was traveling with work at the time, and golf was the one stress reliever.”

Clark went on to lead Mount Vernon girls golf to notable success over the next 16 seasons, and that’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted her with the Class of 2025.

Her hiring ahead of the 1999 fall semester turned out to be one of the most important hires in the athletic department’s history, as Clark coached until the 2015 fall season.

The team secured 10 top 10 finishes in her 16 seasons as coach. That included a state championship in 2002, and fourth-place finishes in 2000, 2011 and 2012. She also coached two state champions in Tonya Choate McCall, in 2003, and Ashley Childers Barnes, in 2014. Additionally, the team produced 13 individual district champions.

“Honestly, I was just a motivator for the girls,” Clark said. “I came up with all types of things to keep practices exciting. One example was a prize bucket full of all the things a teenage girl might like – locker magnets, candy bars, etc.”

“Ultimately,” Clark said, “it was Leon Faucett who had allowed the girls golf team to use his driving range and hit balls for free. He showed me what each girl should be working on and taught me how to be a coach.”

Clark had grown up in Pierce City, and was an athlete herself. In addition to playing three sports, she also was the aide for football coach Bits Brown, who allowed her to practice with the boys. And she never forgot middle school basketball coach Dale Witt, who inspired her to become a coach.

After graduating from Missouri State University, Clark coached junior high school basketball at Purdy in 1989, and fifth- and sixth-grade volleyball at St. John LaLande in Blue Springs in 1990 to 1992.

When she relocated to Mount Vernon, Faucett proved to be a valuable resource.

“He showed me how to watch a golf swing and analyze it. It all starts with the grip,” Clark said. “I have realized that all sports have so much in common. Having been a basketball player, golfer and high school girls golf coach, tennis player and high school boys tennis coach, certified paddleboard instructor and now pickleball instructor, I have realized how these sports transfer.”

Clark also put a premium on integrity, reminding players that, if they cheat in golf, they’ll cheat in life. She also made leather strings beads to be clipped to skorts, shorts and pants. It had two strands so they could keep track of their personal score and their opponents’ score. At Island Green Golf Club, Clark had volunteers mark the girls’ scores, just like at a district or state meet.

“I wanted to give them a taste of what to expect at a real tournament,” Clark said. “So many strokes were missed and lost in regular-season matches. To be genuinely good, you had to be legit.”

Clark coached unpaid that first season, and the 2002 state championship was made even sweeter because her team budget was only $500. Mount Vernon beat Richmond by six strokes, with two private schools – Villa Duchesne and Visitation Academy – placing third and fourth.

All along, Mount Vernon had competitive teams, often sending a full team to state meets.

“Personally, I did not raise the bar alone,” Clark said. “I’ll say it again. It was a team effort. It was a fun ride for the Mount Vernon Lady Golf Team, and I hope there will come a day that they strive to be at the top of the pack in the future.”