He burned up under the sun and burned up his summers playing baseball because, well, that’s what kids did the 1970s in Springfield. And the evenings? For Tim Blasi, was there anywhere else to be? “I grew up at Fassnight Park with the AAA softball. That was the only show in town,” Blasi proudly says.… Read more »
Summers used to mean meeting up with buddies not long after breakfast and playing some form of baseball, returning home for lunch and then heading back out the door again. Jim Lumpe cherishes those days, as you might imagine. He and several of his childhood friends went on to further the tradition of Glendale High… Read more »
The nostalgic Coca-Cola paintings hang along a hallway to his office, naturally evoking memories of Norman Rockwell covers of the Saturday Evening Post. This is in east Springfield, at the Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper bottling company, and it’s easy to see why all employees seem to have a bounce in their step. For John Schaefer, the… Read more »
Looking back, sure, Marionville native Janice Crumpley-Bluebaum wonders what might have been had high schools of the late 1960s offered softball for girls. However, in what’s a terrific reminder about the value of fighting through roadblocks, Crumpley-Bluebaum still found a way to enjoy the sport she loved. The southwest Missouri farm girl became a fixture… Read more »
In some towns, kids who love baseball have no choice but to ride their bikes to the other side of town just to find a ball field. So imagine Jack Burrell’s childhood. “I grew up in Humansville, and (baseball) was all there was. We played all the time,” said Burrell, now working for Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr… Read more »
It’s amazing if you think about it. In sports, you can be a kid just hanging around a ball field and, years later and thanks to happenstance, you’re traveling across the country getting to play a game you love. Roy Burlison was one of the lucky ones in life. In fact, he still remembers the… Read more »
For kids growing up in small communities such as Mansfield, where the quaint town square has all the basics save for a stoplight, a pro baseball career seems thousands of miles away. However, Barry Short is proof that dreams can come true. The 1992 Mansfield High School graduate parlayed a successful prep career into nine… Read more »
SPRINGFIELD – Missouri Tigers basketball coach Kim Anderson in attendance. A 1940s-style big band playing on stage. And a more than 60 items up for auction, from Mizzou football tickets to a getaway at a seaside resort on the Mexican Riviera. Join us on Thursday night, May 7 for the Mizzou Alumni Association Tiger Ball… Read more »
Up in the left corner of a poster board-turned-scrapbook – the one dedicated to St. Elizabeth High School’s 2002 state championship softball team — the headline screams, “Lady Hornets sting ‘em at state.” It’s a newspaper clipping from the Miller County Autogram-Sentinel, and see the other scrapbook items glued to the board? Look closely, because… Read more »
All Caitlin Chapin wanted to do in fast-pitch softball was help raise the profile of the Ozark High School program. She and her teammates made it happen, as in the fall of 2007 the Lady Tigers reached the program’s first final four. “When we first started, we were playing in shorts and playing in little… Read more »
OSAGE BEACH – Former big-leaguer Scott Bailes, a 2013 inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, led the Price Cutter team to a co-victory in the Lake of the Ozarks Celebrity Golf Classic at the Club at Porto Cima. Nearly 30 teams competed in the Hall’s April 13 event sponsored by Missouri Eagle and… Read more »
SPRINGFIELD – The letter from a player’s mom, written in 1992 but never revealed to her son during her battle with cancer, rarely sees the light of day. Which is understandable. Byron Hagler, a longtime high school baseball coach set to be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, tears up just reading it.… Read more »
INDIANAPOLIS — What a great way to end a basketball season. The Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame concluded the college basketball season with a Final Four Reception sponsored by the O’Reilly brothers, as coaches, athletic directors and fans from the state caught up over the weekend.Murr Missouri Sports Hall of… Read more »
SPRINGFIELD – The old saying is that you don’t forget where you came from. For former Hillcrest High School baseball standout Kelly Snider, that means more than you would know. You see, long before he went on to star in college baseball and tore through the minor leagues, Snider listened and learned from Hillcrest’s legendary… Read more »
It has long served as a reminder of what sports can and should be. Of the star athlete never forgetting the fans. Of a child’s love for the game and his hero only growing. “The Boy and The Man” life-size bronze statue – which depicts former St. Louis Cardinals great Stan “The Man” Musial signing… Read more »
2015 Baseball Luncheon Information & Details SPRINGFIELD – The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to announce that it will honor former St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa as a Missouri Sports Legend in a ceremony on May 27 in Springfield. The honor highlights the Hall’s annual Baseball Sports Enthusiasts… Read more »
