Inductees

Back in his National Football League days with the New York Jets, Dr. Tommy Burnett and teammates played handball as a way to cross-train, given the way it enhanced hand-eye coordination, bi-lateral movement and more.

So years later when he was the head of the Missouri State University Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Leisure Studies, Burnett decided to launch the MSU Handball Program for men and women in 1987. Part of it was personal. His son, an All-State football player, missed competing athletically while on a full academic scholarship.

“The success of the handball program was easy to figure out. Students want to be involved,” said Dr. Burnett (MSHOF 2009). “Students love playing sports, and this opportunity provides students the chance to still compete.”

For the Missouri State Women’s Handball Program alone, it not only competed but set the trend – which is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct the program with the Class of 2021.

It has won 16 national championships, with the years covering 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Those national titles have helped MSU’s overall handball program win 15 combined national titles (based on men’s and women’s team points at one national tournament). The MSU Handball Program was inducted in 2011.

It’s a remarkable feat considering the women’s program is among almost 40 teams at the national tournament annually and competes as a non-scholarship entity. It relies on donations from national handball clubs as well as sponsorships to help cover travel costs.

The program has seen 18 players earn 32 All-American honors: Paige Applegate, Cara Arsenault, Jeni Burnett Hopkins, Baily Chandler Nett, Robin Collins, Alyssa Donaldson, Maggie Grelle, Beth Heim, Beth Korsi Blackstone, Heather O’Bryan, Amber Rounesville, Mandy Rounesville, Mikaila Mitchell, Suz Koeller Entzroth, Laura Blankenship, Christina Pecaut, Taylor Rumping and Gretchen Gregory.

Burnett saw to it that the program had a fighting chance, and could take the fight to every handball court across the country.

Specifically, he recruited from different angles: junior events and handball clubs across the country, hosting tournaments and events on campus and teaching a handball class every semester at MSU. He also had an uncanny way of finding students on campus and encouraging them to play.

The program grew in the early 1990s when Plaster Stadium was being renovated. Dr. Burnett lobbied for additional courts to be added to the construction and found support from the administration. It also provided more courts for students to reserve and for the club racquetball team. In 2017, those courts were named the Dr. Thomas H. Burnett Handball Courts.

The recruiting paid off numerous ways. In 1994, Mary Dean Coleman was working out at McDonald Arena – Burnett had his office there – when the coach approached her about joining the team. She had never even heard of it. In 1996, an unranked Coleman beat a Lake Forest girl in a tie-breaker to give the Bears enough points to win a national title.

In 2020, Taylor Bell – whose parents, Amy and Mike, played MSU handball – was unranked but upset two opponents while scoring more points for the team than expected.

All this came after early successes. O’Bryan was the program’s first All-American, in 1992.

The women’s program won its first national title in 1993, highlighted by a drama-filled match.

Hopkins upset multiple players to reach the quarterfinals, where she then beat the No. 1-ranked player from Texas A&M and secured the team’s national title – even though she didn’t know the gravity of the situation until late in the match.

The player had a tremendous zig-zag serve and beat Hopkins 21-4 in the first game. Her dad, Dr. Burnett, had her practice against that serve during intermission, with the thinking that if Hopkins could return the serve, she could win the rallies.

Hopkins won the second game 21-19 and then captured the tiebreaker, even after a surprise official’s ruling that extended the match to seven serve switches after Hopkins had appeared to win 11-10.

The program has been successful thanks to numerous assistant coaches: Brian Watson, Terry Thomas, Doug Carson, Tom Dearing, Clint Johnston, Sam Esser and Mikaila Mitchell.

Watson has been with the program for 27 years. Esser and Mitchell are former All-Americans.

“A great success to our success is that handball is a lifetime sport,” Dr. Burnett said. “Alumni come back and challenge players often and play in tournaments throughout the year. Once a Handball Bear, always a Handball Bear.”