The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame soon will bestow its President’s Award on John Cyrus, who recently retired after almost 27 years with the Missouri Highway Patrol, and will recognize the Diamond 9, a group of former high school, college and pro baseball and softball standouts who made positive impacts in the game. The honors… Read more »
Former St. Louis Cardinal Rick Ankiel will headline the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s annual Baseball Luncheon presented by the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Company, set for 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 24 at the University Plaza Hotel & Convention Center in Springfield. President & Executive Director Jerald Andrews announced the luncheon Tuesday, unveiling the… Read more »
The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame honored Jacquie Dowdy of John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts with the President’s Award and inducted four individuals and three programs during its annual Women’s Sports Luncheon sponsored by the Bee Payne-Stewart Foundation and presented by Central Bank/Central Trust on Wednesday. President & Executive Director Jerald Andrews presided over… Read more »
She grew up a years before public schools fielded athletic teams for girls, but that didn’t stop her from playing sports against the neighborhood guys or hanging around the football field. Even better, Jacquie Dowdy never forgot the positive influence of athletics on young people. That was especially true in her nearly four decades working… Read more »
When she was growing up in Barbados, she would run sprints against anyone in the neighborhood. Eventually, Trudi Garrett Spain opened eyes and found her way to Missouri State University, and ran right into the history books. Now her career is being remembered by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. Spain will be among nine… Read more »
She once found a 1989 penny, slipped it into one of her shoes and, well, if that was a good-luck charm, maybe more folks should try it. After all, Shelley Seider Davis became a star in track & field for Rich Hill High School in the early 2000s, winning nine individual state championships and leading… Read more »
When she looks back at her volleyball success – first at Clever High School, then at Missouri-State West Plains and Evangel University – Bri Walsh thinks of all those who made it possible and why she is giving back to the sport. “My parents are absolutely at the top of my list of mentors,” said… Read more »
In August 1987, despite having never visited the Missouri State University campus, Lynnette Robinson pulled into Springfield with only a U-Haul and a dream. Truth is, others might have gasped and high-tailed it back home, given that her new boss, recently hired Lady Bears basketball coach Cheryl Burnett, needed an assistant coach to help carry… Read more »
As a track athlete at Branson High School, Brenda Hayes Raynor found inspiration through her brother, Bruce, a three-sport athlete who finished his prep career with an undefeated season in the 800 meters. Guess who also was a three-sport athlete? And undefeated in the 800 as a senior? “Watching his journey, I figured, ‘Why not… Read more »
Looking back at 1998, Sonia Eudy can’t help but break into a smile. That year, she and the women’s cross country team of Missouri Southern State University won the first conference championship in program history. And she still marvels about the roster, full of hidden gems. “I wasn’t a first- or second-place finisher even at… Read more »
Her family lineage includes numerous swimmers, so naturally Brianne McGuirk Madura found her way to the pool – and she didn’t care if she trained with or competed against guys. It’s what led to a tremendous career at Missouri State University. “They pushed me to not just be good for a girl, but just good,” Madura… Read more »
For Monett High School senior Caleb Long, receiving tips from any golf guru is nice. On Monday, it was even more special. “It’s definitely good to speak one on one with a pro,” said Long, who was among 90 teens who turned out for the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s 21st annual High School Golf… Read more »
In the early 1980s, even though she may not have truly realized it, Dana Ozbun Stillwagon was inspiring the next generation of young women who eventually would participate in athletics. After all, she was a multi-sport athlete at Doniphan High School and then Southwest Baptist University in the first decade after passage of Title IX.… Read more »
As Diamond High School chased a 1983 state volleyball championship, then-senior hitter Whitney Beckett Weakley remembers thinking, “We weren’t going to let anybody deny us.” As then-sophomore setter Beth Greer put it, “We thought we were going to go up there and meet some powerhouse and get destroyed. And we ended up being the powerhouse.”… Read more »
Back in the fall of 1975, Ann Gulshen couldn’t believe her ears. It had been three years since passage of federal Title IX legislation that forced public schools and universities to offer athletics to girls. And as she entered her senior year, Eldon High School planned to offer volleyball and called it, “the biggest thing… Read more »
It’s almost as if a Hollywood writer penned the script for a box-office smash. In fact, you can almost envision the movie trailer hyping it this way: Michelle Langsford Dickemann wasn’t your average swimmer. She soared in the pool, becoming the first girl from Springfield to win a high school state championship and eventually told… Read more »
