Inductees

Growing up in the Kansas City area, Tim Crone was all about sports. He rooted for the Chiefs and Royals, followed the local high schools, and played on his neighborhood fields and courts.

At an early age, Crone knew that his future career would somehow be tied to sports.

“Looking back, I always wanted to be involved in athletics my whole life,” he said. “I was a three-sorts letterman in high school, and my coaches were such a positive influence for me both in high school and college.”

Crone turned those positive influences into a long and successful career in athletic administration, mostly at Blue Springs High School, where he oversaw the emergence of a number of dominant programs.

For that work and dedication, the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted into the Class of 2025.

Crone spent a majority of his career in athletic administration at Blue Springs High School, serving 21 years. He was the assistant athletic director beginning in the fall of 1986 until taking over as athletic director in the fall of 1996 – a position he held until retiring in 2007. In his time as the AD, Blue Springs saw 15 sports combine for 38 top four finishes in state tournaments. That included 14 state championships, including in baseball (1999, 2007), girls cross country (2001, 2006), football (2001, 2003), softball (1999), girls swimming (2005, 2006) and wrestling (1999). In 2007, Sports Illustrated honored Blue Springs High School as the top athletic program in the state and one of the top 50 in the nation.

“There were so many highlights over 23 years, but winning the school’s first state football championship in 1992 as a coach and assistant athletic director was special,” Crone said.

Crone also pointed out that one thing that has gone under the radar among Blue Springs’ success was the fact that during that era, the school won conference championships in all 15 sports at least once.

As a coach, his teams won 21 conference championships, 16 district titles, two state championships and three city titles. He also has served as president of the Missouri Athletic Director’s Association.

Crone’s passion for sports also led him to the media side of the game. He did radio broadcasts for William Jewell football, basketball and baseball for 10 years and calls games on Vision Sports and Insider Sports. He also wrote sports columns for numerous local and regional outlets.

In 2009, Crone was awarded the National Merit Award from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

Crone said that, as with any area, there were a number of changes throughout the years that forced him and his colleagues to make adjustments. Some of those changes took place on the fields and inside the classrooms, while others were off the field.

“I really think one of the biggest changes in high school sports during that time was the changing attitudes of parents,” he said. “They seemed to be putting so much pressure on their children.

“Technology also was a big thing to deal with student-athletes.”

Crone graduated from Independence’s William Chrisman High School in 1969. While at Chrisman, he was a four-sport athlete who received conference and district awards in football, basketball and baseball.

He was on the 1968 conference-winning baseball team and the Class 4 Final Four basketball team. He later graduated from Northwest Missouri State, having played on the 1973 MIAA championship baseball team.

Looking back at his early success and how that translated to a successful career, he credits his parents and all the coaches he learned from throughout his youth and high school years.

“I had such great parents who taught me that teachable moments were important,” he said. “Without teachable moments, it’s really hard to learn life lessons. Plus, my coaches, both in college and high school, were great role models. I tried to do the same thing for the athletes I worked with throughout the years.”

Crone said the environment around Blue Springs mirrored those philosophies, and it helped lead to the years of success that was recognized not only around Kansas City, but across the nation.

“We were a total team in all areas of Blue Springs activities,” he said. “Every person in the program was on the same page. And that led to us having the ‘it’ factor. That became a type of philosophy that is hard to beat.”