Inductees

For years, southwest Missouri’s has been known for basketball. At times, however, the eyes of major college football powers can’t help but find their way to the Ozarks.

That was the case in the late 1980s, to the small community of Ozark just south of Springfield. There, a teenager was growing into a blue-chip football recruit.

What a story Rusty Medearis became. Recruited by everybody but the then-powerhouse Miami Hurricanes, he forced his way to South Beach and became a star.

That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Medearis with the Class of 2022.

Medearis starred for the Ozark Tigers in the 1980s, twice earning All-State honors at outside linebacker in addition to being the Central Ozark Conference’s MVP his junior and senior seasons. He also lettered twice in baseball, basketball and track & field.

At the University of Miami, when the Hurricanes all but ruled college football, Medearis finished his career with 22 sacks, the seventh-best total in Miami history, and helped the team to the 1991 national title.

He would have had more if not for a devastating knee injury in the third game of the 1992 season. Before then, Medearis had been an absolute menace. He had 5 ½ quarterback sacks in his first collegiate start against Texas Tech.

A year later, among his highlights were two sacks of Houston All-American quarterback David Klinger, 2 ½ sacks against Penn State, two more against Florida State and then four against mighty Nebraska in the 1992 Orange Bowl victory that gave Miami a share of the national title.

Overall, Medearis was a Freshman All-American in 1990 thanks to 10 ½ sacks and finished second in Outland Trophy voting behind teammate Russell Maryland. He was a second team All-American as a sophomore, and preseason All-American entering 1992.

So how in the world did he ever get from the Ozarks to South Florida?

Well, the story goes that Ozark High School coach Paul Skeans put him in touch with Don Soldinger, a Miami recruiter who had played at Southwest High School where Skean had attended.

“He said, ‘Is there anybody you’re not getting recruited by?’” Medearis recalled Skean asking him, and of course Medearis quickly pointed out Miami, which at the time had won national titles in 1983, 1987 and 1989. “If I could play at Miami, I new could have played at any other school.”

Recruited by Notre Dame and Washington – whose famed coach, Don James, had been an assistant at Southwest High School – Medearis was soon on a plane to Miami. And, ultimately, he signed his national letter of intent to play for the Hurricanes, as part of coach Jimmy Johnson’s final recruiting class in 1989.

A year later, Medearis began asserting himself.

“By 1990, I was a freshman and was going to long-snap to make the team,” Medearis said. “That’s a thankless, terrible job. You’re either the goat or you did your job.”

And he figured he would do that for the entire season as his only role. But …

“By the sixth game of the season, we were completely out of defensive linemen,” said Medearis, who soon drew the start. “That was the game where I had six sacks. And I’ll never forget Russell Maryland after one of the last one saying, ‘Geez, Rusty, let someone lese get some of these.’”

In 1991, his long-snapping proved valuable in the “Wide Right” victory against No. 1-ranked Florida State. The No. 2- ranked ‘Canes won 17-16 after the Seminoles’ game-winning, 34-yard field goal went wide right.

That day, Medearis was summoned into snapping duty because Miami had lost three long-snappers. And so he was ordered to do the “short snap” on the extra-point kick that would give the ‘Canes the lead with 3:01 remaining.

Miami went on to finish 12-0 in coach Dennis Erickson’s third season, and beat No. 11-ranked Nebraska 22-0 in the Orange Bowl to win the national title.

Unfortunately, a year later, Medearis’ knee was wrecked in the third game against the Arizona Wildcats.

He did mount a return and came back briefly the next season, to cheers from Miami fans.

“Playing at the University of Miami is all about finding the opportunities and improvising,” Medearis said. “At no time in my career did I walked out on that field with an entitlement. I never felt I owned that job.”