Inductees

They’ll forever be one of college football’s most cherished rags-to-riches stories, a team that rose from almost nowhere and is still talked about among the old-timers in Joplin.

In 1972, the Missouri Southern State University Lions hit two-a-days in August following a four-year stretch of struggles. At season’s end? They were atop NAIA Division II.

“It just ended up being magical at the end,” tight end Dave Evans once told The Joplin Globe, “but I don’t think there was ever a time that I said we’re going to go undefeated and win a national championship.”

The Lions accomplished just that – marking the program’s only national title in history and the first for a D-II school in the Show-Me State. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted the 1972 Missouri Southern Football Team with the Class of 2020.

Coached by Jim Frazier, the Lions finished 12-0 in a season when they stunned the University of Nevada-Las Vegas 7-0 in Vegas and later captured the NAIA D-II crown with a 21-14 victory against Northwestern of Iowa. That was back at a time when the D-II postseason had only a final and semifinal, which the Lions won 24-6 against Doane University in Nebraska.

The Lions had won only 10 games in their first four years of existence.

“I think we had a chip on our shoulder,” head coach Jim Frazier was quoted as telling The Joplin Globe. “The lack of respect that was given to them as players and to the program, I think we kind of fed off that.”

Members of the team included: Jerry Adkinson, Neal Alkire, Kerry Anders, Ron Barnes, Joe Balentine, John Busalacki, George Bruto (MSHOF 2019), Larry Cameron, John Carter, Mike Cole, Bob Danner, Jack Duda, Doug Efird, David L. Evans, David S. Evans, Randy Fidler, Marty Galbraith, Fred Gnerlich, Randy Hacker, Roger Hall, Steve Hamilton, Ray Harding, Tedd Heflin, Charles Hendricks, Larry Hill, Tyrone Hill, Randy Hocker, John Howard, Ken Howard, Terron Jackson and Jack Jewsbury.

The team also included Sam Keohala, Barry Korner, John LaBlank, Mike Mitchell, Max Mourglia, Steve Muehling, Jim Nieman, Dennis Pendergrass, Bill Ruble, Ed Ryan, Paul Sallie, Terry Starks, Kent Stracke, Jack Varns, Stuart Ward, John Watson, Melvin Wilson and Jeff Wolverton.

Assistant coaches were Tony Calwhite, Charlie Wade, Jim Hoots and Ed Wuch. Managers were Ron McReynolds, Doug Guier, Henry Moyer and Doug Dodd.

In the championship game, defense proved to be huge. Cameron recovered a second-half fumble, setting in motion the key plays that would allow the Lions to raise the D-II trophy later that day.

Harding, who quarterbacked the team, soon followed with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Anders, pulling the Lions to within 14-13.

However, a two-point, go-ahead conversion failed, leaving Missouri Southern to find magic again.

Which the Lions did. The defense forced a punting situation at the Northwestern 19 late in the fourth quarter. However, the snap went high and into the end zone, where Kealoha recovered it with 88 seconds left.

Earlier, Hall blocked a punt and Hocker recovered for the Lions’ first score, in the third quarter.

“One thing that I do remember is there was never, ever any concern in the huddle. We never had any doubt in our mind that we were going to win that ball game,” said Varns, a defensive end.

That season had all sorts of highlights, fueled by recruits who were downright burners in Williams, Anderson and Buskin. Team speed ruled.

“That was probably the shocker,” Frazier told The Joplin Globe.

“That ’72 season was something else,” said Duda, a defensive back. “Everything just came together.”

Williams returned a kickoff for a TD in the season-opener at Fort Hays State and sprung the Lions for a 40-15 victory.

From there, they beat Southeast Missouri 7-6, College of Emporia 33-7, Missouri-Rolla 39-7, UNLV 7-0, Pittsburg State 21-6, Washburn 14-3, Emporia State 14-9, Missouri Western 52-7 and Culver-Stockton 63-12.

At UNLV, the team was greeted by the headline of the local paper’s sports section reading, “Missouri Who?” The next morning, the headline read, “Missouri Southern, that’s who” as a tribute.

“Some of us guys who had been around here a while and took some butt-kickings, we were tired of it,” Varns was later quoted as saying. “I knew then that we were going to do something. I didn’t know it was going to be a national championship mind you, but I knew it was going to be a special year.”

— Jim Henry of The Joplin Globe contributed to this story