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 »
In the immediate years following passage of federal Title IX legislation – the 1972 law which created athletic opportunities for girls and women in public schools and universities – one thing was abundantly clear: Much work remained for competitors to be taken seriously. Fortunately, Patty Vavra was among those who led the way. When she… Read more »
When the Opfer Soccer Sisters at Glendale High School kept stockpiling award after award a few years ago, coach Jeff Rogers hoped the family tree would never end. “I would always tease the Opfers (Scott and Tracy) that I wished they had more kids,” Rogers said. “They were great athletes but even better kids.” The… Read more »
A 400-game winner who also struck out more than 5,000 batters in the Negro Leagues after growing up in north central Missouri has long been championed by The Donaldson Network. The organization is ramping up efforts even further in hopes Cooperstown gives the man a second look for induction. The documentary film “39 Seconds” about… Read more »
The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame will soon honor Jacquie Dowdy of John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts with the President’s Award and induct 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. It is set for 11 a.m. on March… Read more »
The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame joins the family of Willie Bowie in mourning the passing of the former great Paseo Academy boys basketball coach. Bowie, who won more than 400 games as Paseo Academy’s boys basketball coach in Kansas City and was a 2017 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, passed away… Read more »
The Springfield Sports Commission and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame are teaming up to continue a grand awards show for the top high school athletes from across southwest Missouri, its directors announced Tuesday. The Sports Commission Awards presented by Elliott Lodging will invite the top five finalists in 19 varsity sports and honor 10… Read more »
The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame ushered in its Class of 2018 on Sunday night during its Enshrinement presented by Killian Construction, inducting a group highlighted by Heisman Trophy winner & former Kansas City Chiefs running back Mike Garrett and St. Louis Cardinals closer Lee Smith. President & Executive Director Jerald Andrews presided over the… Read more »
In 1975, a quaint broadcasting company launched by Clyde Lear and Derry Brownfield struck a deal to provide radio network distribution of University of Missouri Athletics. It seemed simple enough. Carry all of the Mizzou Tigers football and basketball games and distribute the broadcast to dozens of other stations throughout the state. Little did anyone… Read more »
Tickets remain available for the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s Enshrinement presented by Killian Construction, set for Sunday, January 28 in Springfield. Call 417-889-3100. Missouri Sports Hall of Fame’s 2018 Enshrinement Ceremonies presented by Killian Construction When: Sunday, January 28 Morning reception: 11 a.m., presented by Meek’s The Builder’s Choice, at the Missouri Sports Hall… Read more »
The plan after four years of playing football at the University of Missouri seemed straightforward enough: Go to law school and then into the real world. However, Gary Barnett stopped himself. After earning a letter on the 1968 team and graduating, he still felt the pull of the sport: The times growing up in the… Read more »
It’s been deemed by the Sporting News as the most iconic play in Kansas City Chiefs history. The “65 Toss Power Trap,” ordered by coach Hank Stram and forever captured on the grainy footage of NFL Films, in essence secured the Chiefs’ Super Bowl IV victory in January 1970. Mike Garrett, the man who scored… Read more »
In 2003, just three years after earning the Gold Medal for best public parks system in the country, the phone rang into the offices of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. On the other end of the line was a representative from none other than Sports Illustrated. It still leaves officials shaking their heads in disbelief.… Read more »
She has spent her career living a dream. Of coaching college softball. Of the sun often anchored above her shoulders. Of readying young women for the real world. And compiling wins. Yes, good luck ever trying to pull Holly Hesse away from the game. “I like to say that when I was 18,” Hesse said,… Read more »
