Inductees
Tim Poe
Scroll down his list of achievements as a college golf coach, and it would be naturally easy to assume that he was groomed for this since birth.
However, that’s not quite accurate. You see, Tim Poe took, well, the scenic route, you could call it.
A five-sport high school letterman at Iowa’s Keokuk High School who joined the golf team only in his final two years, he headed to the University of Central Missouri on a baseball scholarship. And then he sat out his sophomore year while he and his wife, Rhonda, had their first child.
“That summer is when I met the golf coach, Norm Short,” Poe said. “We played only nine holes that day and, while walking off the ninth green, he shook my hand and said, ‘Welcome to Mules golf.’”
The game became his life that day and now look: This school year marks his 32nd leading UCM’s men’s golf program, and his track record is why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducted Poe with the Class of 2022.
His teams have earned 27 consecutive NCAA Division II postseason appearances, including six top-five finishes highlighted by the 2010 national runner-up.
They also won 15 MIAA championships – including six consecutive (1997-2002) — and seven regional titles. Poe’s teams count 96 All-MIAA golfers, 34 All-Region selections, 25 All-Americans, eight MIAA Players of the Year in the past 11 years and one All-Nicklaus Team Award winner. Sam Migdal won the 2015 national title and Arnold Palmer Award.
Additionally, Poe coached the winning 2011 United States’ Palmer Cup team – the collegiate version of the Ryder Cup.
“I feel a deep sense of gratitude to all my teams and players that have bought in and gotten us to this point,” Poe said. “They are the real reason I am receiving this award.”
Golf has been a part of his life since his youth. It just wasn’t No. 1. Poe grew up on the ninth fairway at Keokuk (Iowa) Country Club, with his parents among the top amateurs in that state. Yet, Poe focused on baseball for college.
However, after Short took him under his wing at UCM, Poe eventually found his calling. He captained the Mules in his final two years, when he earned All-MIAA and All-NCAA District 5. He also qualified for the D-II nationals as a senior.
That led to nearby Keth Memorial Golf Course hiring Poe as an assistant golf professional under Brian Maloney (now at Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield). Poe also played professionally, winning three tournaments and qualifying for three PGA Korn Ferry Tour events, before being promoted to head golf professional following Maloney’s hiring in Blue Springs.
Because the Mules played at Keth Memorial, Poe got the idea to coach them, and was hired in 1989.
His first recruit? Matt Roberts, who led Warrensburg High School to two state titles and convinced several teammates to join UCM’s team. That group became Poe’s first to reach the NCAA Tournament, in 1994, by winning the MIAA by one stroke, on Roberts’ 12-foot putt on the 18th hole.
The 2010 national runner-up finish was something else. The Mules surged on the final day in rainy and cold conditions, an advantage for UCM against warm-weather schools.
Poe’s recruiting the Midwest fed UCM’s success, with a sales pitch that Keth Memorial was only two minutes from campus. And now there’s an indoor facility. He sought out multi-sport athletes who understood the importance of team chemistry.
“I’ve always tried to find golf swings that were going to hold up through pressure and the test of time, which allowed me to focus more on teaching the mental side of the game along with course management,” Poe said.
He credits many mentors: Truman State’s Bill Richerson, Abilene Christian’s Vince Jarrett, Missouri-Kansas City’s Bill Ross, Central Oklahoma’s Skip Wagnon, Missouri-St. Louis’ Jim Niederkorn and University of Missouri’s Richard Poe (MSHOF 2015), all UCM coaches and UCM Athletic Director Jerry Hughes (MSHOF Legend 2016).
Poe is a 15-time MIAA Coach of the Year and 10-time Regional/District Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Hall of Fame in 2016.
The support from Rhonda and their children, Andrea and Aaron, meant everything.
“Golf has been such a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, so even though it’s gone from playing the game to teaching the game,” Poe said, “I still am having as much fun and enjoyment as ever.”