Inductees

Years before the arrival of Duane Brandsgaard and then B.J. Curry as coaches – and long before the trophy case became crowded – the Smith-Cotton High School Girls Golf Program was lurking just beyond the fringe.

Suddenly in 1984, only 10 years after their inaugural season, the Lady Tigers found themselves – get this – finishing as a state runner-up.

“I don’t think we knew,” said Christie Howard Blasi, a junior on the 1984 team, “we could do that.”

Call it the rise of a dynasty and worthy of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, which proudly inducted the Smith-Cotton High School Girls Golf Program with the Class of 2019.

Between 1984 and 1995, Smith-Cotton placed in the top three of the state meet 11 times. In fact, the Lady Tigers own the third-most state championships (six) of any girls golf team in Missouri – and the most for a public school.

The state titles cover 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993. The 1990 team carded a sub-700 (697) and all five golfers placed in the top 15, marking the first time in which the state girls golf meet had seen either accomplishment.

Additionally, the program finished as state runners-up twice (1984, 1989) and third three times (1986, 1994, 1995).

Eighteen Smith-Cotton golfers have earned 40 state medals. Among them was Libby Howard Ecker, the only Lady Tiger to win an individual title, a feat she pulled off twice (1992, 1993) within the four-peat.

Overall, Smith-Cotton has had 14 state teams and earned the same number (10) of conference and district titles. Since the program’s induction, Smith-Cotton has added a state champion in Kiser Pannier, who won Class 3 in 2020.

“We were really fortunate to come up during that time,” said Ecker, who later golfed for the University of South Carolina. “While we were there, we didn’t realize how big of an accomplishment it was until we were a few years removed.”

The program took root in 1974 with humble beginnings. Then-juniors Jane Hennigsen, Christy Clary Smith, Kitt Pugh-Woods, Demare Muzum and sophomore Valeri Walker traveled in an eight-passenger van that lacked a heating unit, an obvious, late-season issue.

“I remember being curled up in a ball and freezing our butts off,” Pugh-Woods said, laughing.

However, parents and grandpas were teaching them the game. Said Clary-Smith, “A couple of years later, (being on the team) was just a cool thing to do.”

One of the first breakthroughs was Sandy Schulz earning Smith-Cotton’s first state medals (ninth in 1978, eighth in 1979). At the time, a group of neighborhood middle schools girls were on the way.

State medalists (top 15 state finishers) have been Julie Balke, Sarah Bode, Richelle Bond, Shannon Davis, Lisa Dugan, Karen Farkas, the Howard sisters (Christie, Libby and Katie), Kim Jenkins, Marcie Mize, Michelle Rank, Aimee Rinehart, Mendy Rinehart, Trichelle Rinehart, Emily Schulte and Amy Smethers.

The state title teams featured:

• 1985: Jenkins, Christie Howard, Aimee and Trichelle Rinehart, and Schulte
• 1988: Smethers, Schulte, Aimee and Mendy Rinehart and Farkas. Smethers placed second
• 1990: Libby Howard, Davis, Mendy Rinehart, Bond and Rank.
• 1991: Libby Howard, Rank, Smethers, Bode and Bond
• 1992: Libby & Katie Howard, Rank, Smethers, Bode
• 1993: Libby & Katie Howard, Bode, Mize and Emily Wolper

The program has had only five coaches in Scott Everett (1974), Ron Henke (1975-1978), Brandsgaard (1979-1989), Curry (1990-2013) and Chris Guffey (2014-current). Brandsgaard’s calm demeanor set the tone in the 1980s.

Curry, a 1977 Smith-Cotton graduate who had played professionally, immediately placed a focus on small details, right down requiring matching uniforms of collar shirts and khakis – one of the first in the state to do so.

Among his daily challenges? Each Lady Tiger had to make 25 putts from three feet without missing.

“I inherited a really strong program,” Curry said. “They all worked hard at it, but it wasn’t all about winning. Now, winning was our ultimate goal. However, I was interested in getting them better and thought the winning would take care of itself.”

Curry’s passion was contagious. The 1990 team – still seething over Notre Dame de Sion overcoming a 16-shot lead to win in 1989 — even volunteered to practice on weekends.

Davis won a tournament in a playoff during the regular season over a Columbia Hickman player, setting the tone that Hickman was beatable. In the last match of the year, the team beat Hickman for the first time all season.

“B.J. had the vision,” Ecker said. “He had goals, and he was bound and determined to show us how to reach those goals.”

From the fringe to first, what a run it’s been.