For more than 100 years, one of the country’s most respected newspapers could be found near downtown Kansas City on Grand Boulevard. Blair Kerkhoff, a sportswriter, would walk in in awe most days. The Kansas City Star, and the exterior walls fitted in brick, likely elicited similar reactions from many others. “Something that made an… Read more »
News
Sport: Football
Frank Kirchmer
His passion for sports took root in south St. Louis, where he and his buddies played just about every sport you could think of. In the summers, they’d ride their bikes through south Kingshighway to Mertz Field, a sandlot really, and at night he would listen to the KMOX broadcast of the St. Louis Cardinals… Read more »
Geary Labruary
It’s often said that the wife of a high school football coach knows the coach the best. So when looking back at the career of the late Geary Labuary, his widow, Stephanie, has the stories – some that explain why so many folks in the central Missouri town of California still revere the coach to… Read more »
Dale Labruary
He used to pull up every morning at the Chrysler plant in St. Louis and take his lunch pail to work. This was in the early 1970s, not long after Dale Labuary had graduated high school. And he didn’t realize how unhappy he was until visiting his brother, a young high school coach running a… Read more »
Larry Lady
Very few people get the opportunity to have three different impactful careers. Larry Lady, however, is one of those people. A college basketball referee for 40 years, Lady also enjoyed a successful career in the financial sector as an executive. When he retired from his day job with Waddell & Reed in 1992, little did… Read more »
Lamar High School Football Program
To coach Scott Bailey, those who have watched the rise of the Lamar High School Football Program should know one thing: It wasn’t his doing alone. “In our town, the school is important, and our town supports all the things that our kids do, with football being one of them,” Bailey said. A turnaround known… Read more »
Mark Lamping
With all eyes on baseball’s player strike of 1994, one of the game’s few late-season transactions made headlines, centered in the heart of the Midwest. The signing of an ace pitcher? A big bopper? No. But he became just as significant. Mark Lamping was hired as the President of the St. Louis Cardinals. “I was… Read more »
Willie Lanier
A Kansas City Chief from 1967 to 1977, Lanier played in 8 Pro Bowls. Nicknamed “Contact” because of this ferocious tackling, Lanier was characterized as the defensive star in the Super Bowl IV victory. Lanier was named All AFL/AFC seven times, MVP of the 1971 Pro Bowl and the 1972 NFL Man of the Year.… Read more »
Danny LaRose
One of the greatest two-way talents in Missouri history, LaRose starred from 1958-1960 as an end who could dominate the line of scrimmage and as MU’s leading receiver as a sophomore and senior. He also punted for MU in 1960. A native of Crystal City, MO, LaRose won all-conference honors in 1958 and 1960 and… Read more »
Benny Lawson
He could have had a career as an accountant, handling the important work every year of doing other people’s taxes. Yet, deep down, Benny Lawson missed the game of football. In the mid-1950s, he had played on two conference championship teams at Seneca High School and so, after already having earned a bachelor’s degree, he… Read more »
Pat Leahy
A member of three St. Louis University Billiken NCAA national championship soccer teams from 1969-1972, St. Louis native Pat Leahy joined the New York Jets in 1974. The Most Valuable Player in 1990, Leahy finished his impressive 18 year career with the Jets as the team’s all-time leading scorer, a record he still holds. Pat… Read more »
Learfield
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 »
Jim Lemen
Sometimes, life pulls the string on your coaching whistle and leads you on a path you never envisioned – and for the better. Jim Lemen had never heard of The John Burroughs School in St. Louis until he was well into a master’s degree program at Harvard University in 1963. At the time, John Burroughs… Read more »
Dr. James Leslie
Dr. James Leslie was born on August 12, 1922, in Rhineland, Missouri, the sixth child of Dr. James and Ella (McAfoos) Leslie. His family moved to Jefferson City when he was 5, where he graduated from Jefferson City High School in 1940, having been a State Champion swimmer and accomplished golfer. Leslie attended college during… Read more »
Dr. Leo Lewis III
For the sons of successful pro athletes, it’s often a challenge to emerge out of the enormous shadows of their dads. Fortunately, Leo Lewis III carved out quite a football career for himself, with a lineage from Columbia Hickman High School, on to the University of Missouri and then the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings,… Read more »
Leo E. Lewis, Jr.
They called him the “Lincoln Locomotive.” So you can imagine the thoughts of a linebacker or free safety when they saw Leo Lewis, Jr., bursting off tackle and running full steam ahead directly at them on Saturday afternoons. “He was suited to play offense and the position of running back,” said his son, Dr. Leo… Read more »