You could call them football’s version of Band of Brothers, constructed much the way a sturdy home is built brick by brick. It wasn’t just one man doing the heavy lifting, either. Head coaches, longtime assistants and teenage players – some who went on to fame, most who were overachievers who sacrificed their bodies for… Read more »
News
Sport: Football
Dr. Mark Adams
For some high school football seniors, the frustrations of a season-ending knee injury can led to the usual frustrations: there is no way to make an impact and it’s the end of the road in athletics. Dr. Mark Adams has proven that it doesn’t have to be that way, that someone who loves sports can… Read more »
Pete Adkins
Pete Adkins is the most successful high school football coach this nation has ever seen. His winning percentage is the best in the country for coaches with 100 or more games and he is the third-winningest coach in football history, at any level. Adkins’ overall record is 392-60-4, an 86 percent winning percentage. He began… Read more »
Mike Alden
Mike Alden has been at the helm of Missouri athletics since 1998, and it’s no shock his tenure has produced the most comprehensive run of athletic and academic success in school history. Through capital campaign efforts, Alden has overseen more than $265 million in private gifts for Tiger Athletics and, in 2014, Mizzou’s Memorial Stadium… Read more »
Mahlon Aldridge
Mahlon R. Aldridge, Jr., also known as the“Voice of the Tigers” for 28 years, started his career as a reporter for the Jefferson City News-Tribune and by officiating basketball games in the late 1930s. He initiated Missouri Tiger football and basketball play-by-play on KFRU in 1946, and after buying the station he started the Missouri… Read more »
Marcus Allen
Marcus Allen was a highly recruited Parade All-American high school star. The fleet footed running back chose to attend the University of Southern California. His first two seasons saw him serve mostly as a blocking fullback. He returned to tailback as a junior and set 15 NCAA records and went on to win the Heisman… Read more »
Larry Anderson
Every institution has its so-called “old guard,” a select few who have been on campus for decades and naturally care deeply about it. Larry Anderson fits that description. He’s in the middle of his 37th school year – 32nd consecutive – at Central Methodist University, an NAIA school in Fayette. A 1967 graduate of Central… Read more »
Fred Arbanas
He began his professional football career as a member of the Dallas Texans Football Club, after being selected in the 1961 AFL/NFL Draft in the seventh round by Dallas in the AFL and the second round by St. Louis in the NFL. He played for Dallas from 1961 to 1962, where he gained All-Pro honors… Read more »
Volney Ashford
Volney Ashford attended and graduated from Marshall High School in 1927, Missouri Valley College in 1931, and the University of Missouri–Kansas City in 1949. Ashford returned to Missouri Valley College in 1937 as Chairman of the Department of Physical Education and Head Football Coach from 1937 to 1971, moving into the Vice-President of Development position… Read more »
Horner Askins
For some former athletes, sports has a way of keeping them around, to feed their passion but also to make a major difference in the lives of young people. An excellent case in point is Horner Askins. A former high school football standout in Arkansas, he found his way to southwest Missouri as a teacher… Read more »
Aurora High School Football Program
In Aurora, Kelly Stadium is a perfect setting under the Friday night lights of small-town high school football: See the graying grain elevators just down the road? They tower over everything, reminding all that this is a blue-collar community that proudly wears its red. Red, that is, for the Houn’ Dawgs. What a tradition. Grade-schoolers… Read more »
Dr. John D. Bailey
Dr. John D. Bailey is a distinguished orthopedic surgeon, specializing in general orthopedics, sports medicine and spine surgery. John attended Northeast Missouri State University, graduating in 1986 and then moved on to Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, where he graduated with a D.O. degree in 1990. His connection with sports is well known in northeast… Read more »
Dr. James Baker
A football tackle at the University of Missouri in 1929-30, Baker later became its first team physician in 1938. During a 40-year career, Baker served football coaches Don Faurot (MSHOF 1953 (Coaches) and 2001 (Legends), Frank Broyles, Dan Devine (MSHOF 1973), and Al Onofrio (MSHOF 2012). He also worked with basketball coaches George Edwards (MSHOF… Read more »
Jim Bakken
Jim Bakken was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He quickly displayed his all-around physical talents as he became an all-state high school player in football, basketball and baseball. Bakken played for the hometown University of Wisconsin Badgers as both a place kicker and punter. He was originally signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 1962,… Read more »
Randy Ball
It’s the stuff of storybooks. As a teenager, he played high school football at Columbia Hickman. In his 60s, he became a National Football League scout, assisting in the Kansas City Chiefs’ turnaround. And, in between, Randy Ball lived a dream as a football coach and enjoyed incredible success in colleges. Put it this… Read more »
Empire Bank
Empire Bank has been serving the Ozarks since 1956 and offers a host of community based banking and financial services in Springfield, Nixa, Ozark, Highlandville, Marshfield, Strafford, Fair Grove, Pleasant Hope, Republic, and Battlefield. Empire Bank’s holding company, Central Bancompany, has been ranked four years in a row by Forbes Magazine as one of America’s… Read more »