Inductees

On a 200-acre spread in Dallas County, in southwest Missouri, his childhood will always hold wonderful memories.

And so, from under a felt cowboy hat, Steve Dampier cannot help but break into a smile just thinking back.

“Dad (Frank) always had horses. We rode every day,” Dampier said. “The most important part was he would stay there with me, just horse-training more than anything else.”

With his brother, Justin, also a major influence, Dampier eventually created a life around horse training, and then became one of the best at it – as well as breaking, riding, training and showing. And it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct him with the Class of 2025.

A 1980 graduate of Buffalo High School, Dampier has been training and riding fox trotters since age 4 and training professionally since age 14. He made a name for himself in Douglas County in the southern part of the Ozarks, home to the Missouri Fox Trotters Horse Breed Association.

There, he has been the Senior Open World Grand Champion or Senior Open Reserve World Grand Champion 12 times in the Missouri Fox Trotters Horse Breed Association and Celebration. He rode Rex’s Golden Touch in 1987 for his first Reserve Champion title, and his Senior Open Grand Champion rides have been Missouri Red Wing (1988), Rex’s Golden Touch (1990), Touch’s Golden Taffy (1992), Teardrops on My Guitar (2011), Legend’s Wendy (2014) and King’s April Star (2024).

His Reserve Champion rides have been Traveler’s Perfect Lady (1999), Taffy’s Special Invitation (2003), Stratus’s Country Classic (2005), Back Alley Salley (2019) and King’s April Star (2021).

Dampier also trains Fox Trotters at his family’s stable north of Lebanon.

In 1986, he set a record with three horses that were championship contenders in their age divisions in one night, and the record was tied in 2016.

In 1988, he was asked to represent the MFTHBA to showcase the Missouri Foxtrotter at the National Western Stock Show in Denver for an exhibition and clinic. He exhibitioned Rex’s Golden Touch in all three gaits to a crowd of 60,000, along with the other three members.

Dampier is a member of the National Association of Breeders, the Mid-America Foxtrotting Horse Breed Association and the Missouri Fox Trotting Horse Breed Association. He also has earned the Mid-America Foxtrotting’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

And it all started back on a ranch outside of Buffalo, which is about 40 minutes north of Springfield.

“My dad trained and showed horses,” Dampier said. “He was a good horseman.”

He also was what those in horse training would call a ground coach, and his dad’s influence set him up for success.

Dampier won his first garland at age 18 when he showed Pistol Pete at the Mid-America 2-year-old Futurity, laying the foundation to his incredible career.

Well before his Reserve Champion ride in 1987, he was successful in other age divisions. Now folks in the industry will tell you that Dampier rides above his stock, quite the compliment, since he can turns almost any colt into a contender.

Perhaps that is no surprise. After all, Dampier loved everything about horse training. The walking out to the stable. The smell of the stable. The beauty of the horses. The development of a horse into a grand champion.

“This horse deal can get in your blood,” Dampier said. “The tougher it gets, the harder you try.”

The Denver show remains a great memory, and mostly because he was one of only four invited to show a fox trotter. And he knows, if not for his dad and brother setting him on his path, he probably wouldn’t have even been in a position to experience it.

That said, Dampier also credits other trainers for making him better.

Fortunately, he has long had the support of his wife, Tracy, and passed down the tradition from his dad to their kids and grandkids.

Their daughter, Sarah, has won several youth championships and Ladies World Grand Championships. Joe has won multiple youth and amateur world championships. Josh is a professional trainer, too, who has won several championships – with 2023 being his first Senior Open World Grand Championship. He has also trained multiple amateur riders over the years who have gone on to win championships in their divisions.

“What a life,” Dampier said. “And the boys and my daughter, and now grandsons, they are around this. That’s what makes it so good. And their mother, she has helped me in so many ways.”