When Sonny Lloyd Stringer strapped on a leather helmet and took the field for the first team in Willow Springs High School in 1925, it would have been hard to imagine the impact he was making on southwest Missouri football. A full century later, the Stringer family is synonymous with standout football after Sonny Lloyd’s… Read more »
News
Sport: Football
Kevin Stubblefield
On a farm outside of Stoutland in mid-Missouri, he practiced jump shots on a goal in the barnyard and, in the summer, day-dreamed of being a big-leaguer by picking up rocks and swinging a wiffle ball bat. See the tree line to the left at the bottom of the hill? That was the outfield wall… Read more »
Emmett “Abe” Stuber
During his tenure as Southeast Missouri State University’s football coach from 1932-1946, Abe Stuber’s teams won 17 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles in football, track, and basketball. He captured more championships than anyone in the school’s history. In the fall of 1986, the Board of Regents named the university’s track complex in his honor. In… Read more »
David Sturm
In 1976, his dreams of becoming a big-league baseball umpire were pulled away, as a pro umpire evaluator questioned his commitment to the profession. Call it a tough day for David Sturm. After all, years before, his doctor said he would have been legally blind if not for a pair of thick eyeglasses. And, if… Read more »
Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor played wide receiver for the Chiefs from 1965-1975. He was a three time All-Pro from 1971-1973. At the time of his retirement, Taylor was the Chiefs all-time career reception leader and was second in the AFC in career receiving yards. Taylor led the Chiefs in pass receiving in 1970, ’71 and ’72. He… Read more »
Terry Metcalf
Long before he starred for the St. Louis Football Cardinals of the mid-1970s, Terry Metcalf wasn’t exactly a known commodity. After all, his journey meandered through places not recognized nationally as football hotbeds – the prep ranks of Seattle, a nearby local community college and then Long Beach State University in California. But just down… Read more »
Thayer High School Football & Community
Since first fielding a team in 1932, the Thayer Bobcat football program has been one of Missouri’s shining examples of how a school and community can work hand in hand to create a long-lasting success and enthusiasm. That’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame n 2025 bestowed its inaugural Friday Night Lights Trophy on… Read more »
Emmitt Thomas
Emmitt Thomas returned to his football roots in Kansas City in 2010, joining the Chiefs as the defensive backs coach. Thomas played cornerback for 13 seasons with Kansas City (’66-78) and finished his career with a franchise-record 58 interceptions. 2011 marked Emmitt’s 31st season as an NFL assistant coach and his 44th overall NFL campaign.… Read more »
Mark Thomas
Back in 1981, after his first head football coaching job made him realize that he wasn’t ready to be a head coach, Mark Thomas got a call from none other than Jefferson City High School coach Pete Adkins (MSHOF Legend 2013). On his way to becoming the winningest coach in state history, Adkins needed an… Read more »
Derrick Thomas
The dreams are roughly the same for every athlete: Leave a legacy both for the team you play for and the under-served of the community. Yet the reality is that it’s tough to do, for obvious reasons. And yet Derrick Thomas made it all look so effortless. Back in the late 1980s, the Kansas City… Read more »
Kurt Thompson
Sometimes, a job that you don’t pursue ends up being the spring-board to huge success. Which is why Kurt Thompson’s start as a head football coach seems almost to believe. Back in 1990, at age 23 and after his second season as an assistant coach at Webb City High School, Thompson’s phone rang one February… Read more »
Denny Thum
In 1988, a dozen years after joining the Kansas City Chiefs as an entry-level accountant in the ticketing office and then slowly climbing the ladder, Denny Thum found his career in the big-time of a National Football League front office. That’s when the Chiefs hired Carl Peterson (MSHOF President’s Award 2022) as team president, general… Read more »
Mel Tjeerdsma
Completing his 16th season at Northwest Missouri State and his 26th as a collegiate head coach, Tjeerdsma has guided the Bearcats to eleven MIAA Championships overall. In the past 11 years, the Bearcats have won three National Championships and the have made seven appearances in the championship game. Tjeerdsma has more postseason victories than any… Read more »
Vince Tobin
Following a successful football career at MU, Vince Tobin joined the Tiger coaching staff and by 1967, was the full time defensive end coach. Tobin joined the Chicago Bears in 1986. In Chicago, Tobin’s defensive unit ranked first in 1986, allowing only 258 total yards per game and just 94.2 rushing yards per game. Tobin… Read more »
Bill Tobin
A native of Burlington Junction, MO, Bill Tobin’s collegiate football career started at the University of Missouri, where he lettered from 1960-1962 on teams that had a cumulative record of 26-3-3. A halfback and kicker, Tobin was the MVP of Missouri’s 14-10 win over Georgia Tech in the 1962 Bluebonnet Bowl. He was the Houston… Read more »
George Toma
At age 10, he went to work on a vegetable farm, but not by choice. The family needed the money after his dad, a coal miner in eastern Pennsylvania, passed away. Fortunately for George Toma, the minor leagues rescued him as a teenager in the 1940s. But not because he could hit or pitch. Instead,… Read more »