Inductees

He took on two monumental coaching tasks in high school swimming in Missouri – first in St. Louis, where the Parkway South program had had almost no success, and the next in Springfield, where a Hall of Famer left him the keys to the competitive Glendale program.

Steve Boyce stared down both and, it seems, never blinked. And why would he? Back in college, the Oklahoma native relocated from Columbia University to compete for Drury University’s swim team and helped raise the bar.

“I love seeing the kids grow and succeed,” Boyce said. “I love the daily work and its translation to racing success.  The lessons are all throughout. Success is showing up each day and working hard while there.”

Boyce certainly has made a splash in the sport, and his success is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted him with the Class of 2024.

Now in his 24th year of coaching high school swimming, Boyce has led nine teams to state championships. Those cover the Parkway South boys (1999, 2000, 2001), the Glendale girls (2013, 2014, 2018), and the Glendale boys (2019, 2020, 2021).

Overall, his teams have had 19 top four state finishes, including state runner-up finishes with the Parkway South boys (2002), Glendale girls (2012, 2015) and Glendale boys (2010, 2018).

Boyce, who also coaches Ozark and Republic, has overseen 43 state champions – 26 in individual events, and 17 in the relays, with his athletes taking 237 All-State honors, which cover top eight finishes at state.

From 1996 to 2002, he coached Parkway South’s boys and girls program following the retirement of a 20-year coach. The program had never won a conference meet and had only one state trophy, a fourth place in 1980.

Boyce built it into a winner, with eight practices a week – five afternoons, two mornings before school and Saturday morning.

“That practice attendance requirement really was a game changer for them,” Boyce said. “It takes the decision each day out of the process. You learn to think that practice is just part of your day instead of an extra thing to do.”

In Year 3, a local newspaper called Boyce for a season preview story, leaving the coach puzzled. The reporter then told him that none other Jim Halliburton (MSHOF 2018), the Marquette High School coach, had called Parkway South the team to beat.

“I did not know anyone else was looking at us,” Boyce said.

That season, his team won every meet and took 12 swimmers to state, which came down to the 400 freestyle relay – which Parkway South won.

Tons of success followed.

However, Boyce moved to Springfield in 2002, a year after the death of his brother. His wife’s family lived in Springfield, which also was a halfway point between his mom (St. Louis) and his dad (Oklahoma City).

In Springfield, Boyce coached Parkview High School (2003-2006, 2009-2010), and then Parkview, Ozark and Glendale (2010-2011), and then since 2011 has guided Glendale, Ozark and Republic.

Glendale was coached for 34 years by Jim Whytlaw (MSHOF 2021), who recommended Boyce as his successor. Boyce had done his student-teaching for Whytlaw in 1992.

Boyce continued his strategies from his Parkway South days – working hard with numerous practices, team-building such as sleepovers, focusing on depth for relay teams, which account for a lot of state points.

He soldiered through initial attrition on the girls team, but a core group fueled Glendale’s run of success. In recent years, all eyes have been on the boys team.

“When you have great talent working in practice each day, it raises the level of everyone,” Boyce said.

That Boyce has enjoyed success in Springfield is notable.

A former All-State swimmer at Lawton, Oklahoma’s Eisenhower High School, Boyce swam collegiately in Springfield at Drury. There, he earned All-American honors in his three final seasons and helped the team to NAIA national titles. He was part of seven relay national championship teams.

Looking back, he thanks several mentors – Lawton coach Chris Tidwell and Drury swim coach Brian Reynolds (MSHOF 2007), and Parkway Swim Club’s Duffy Dillon.

He also thanks all of his swimmers, as well as his parents, Jacqueline and Steve Sr., and his wife, Julie, and their daughters, Jordan and Kelsey.

“I started going to the pool daily back in the fall of 1983,” Boyce said. “With just a couple years of interruption, I am now at 40 years of going to the pool.  It is a part of me.”