Born in Mountain Grove, Wade was one of the star halfbacks for Don Faurot’s innovative Split-T formation at the University of Missouri in the early 1940’s. After a stint Armed Services during WWII, Wade transferred to the University of Tulsa, helping the Hurricanes to a Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl appearance. After graduation, Wade joined the… Read more »
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Sport: Football
Lawrence Walls
From the 1960’s through the 1980’s, when the Public High League dominated St. Louis area football, Lawrence Walls, who retired in 1998, presided over a dynasty at Sumner High School. His coaching career at Sumner began in 1971 and continued until his retirement in 1998. When Coach Walls totaled his record at the end of… Read more »
Don Walsworth
In 1957, after walking across the University of Missouri campus following graduation, Don Walsworth figured that somehow, some way he would return. No, not simply to visit or watch ballgames. But to give back, to provide something meaningful to a campus that had positioned him for success – a success that even he didn’t know… Read more »
Seth Wand
It’s a long way to the NFL from Northwest Missouri State. The path is even longer when you begin at Springfield Catholic. But Seth Wand took the path less travelled, and parlayed small-college success into a six-year NFL career. One of just three small college players drafted in the first three rounds of the 2003… Read more »
1988-1995 Era Warsaw High School Football
Dynasties come in all shapes and sizes. One of the greatest football dynasties in Missouri sports history comes from the Benton County town of Warsaw. From 1988 to 1995, the Warsaw Wildcats were arguably the top Class 2 program in the state, winning state championships in 1990 and 1993, and reaching the state Final Four… Read more »
1973 Washington High School State Championship Football Team
Motivation from a disappointing ending the year before. Undersized guys willing to roll up their sleeves and put in the hard work, if not “run through brick walls,” as the old saying goes. And a little bit of luck. All of those descriptions seem suitable when talking about the 1973 Washington High School football team.… Read more »
Sean Weatherspoon
Sean Weatherspoon’s legacy as one of the top defensive players in the history of the University of Missouri football program is secure. But it isn’t the big games or the individual accolades that Weatherspoon remembers or values most about his time in Columbia. “I remember the summer workouts and downtime with my teammates more vividly… Read more »
Webb City High School Football
Days before Webb City High School football would win its 13th state championship since 1989, coach John Roderique made one thing clear: Winning, especially the dominating way the Cardinals win, never gets old. Clearly, it’s fun, and there are so many reasons why it’s become a way of life in their southwest Missouri community. To… Read more »
Harry Weber
Walk outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis or around Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, and you’ll see his work. Or, drive to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, where you’ll find his largest collection. That is, a collection of bronze busts and statues. For Harry Weber, call it all a labor of love… Read more »
Roger Wehrli
A standout sprinter at King City High, Wehrli was offered only one scholarship to play college football, at the University of Missouri. At the end of his senior year in 1968, Wehrli was picked to ten different All-American teams. He played in the Hula and Senior Bowls, as well as the Coach’s All-Star game. Although stationed… Read more »
“Red” Weir
Harold “Red” Weir was raised in Fayette, Missouri, and was a member of the 1950 Central College basketball team that finished third in the NAIS national tournament. He became a high school coach in Stockton and Eldon, officiating when his team was not playing. Weir joined Snowden-Mize Sporting Goods Co., came to Columbia in the… Read more »
Devin West
In the mid- to late-1990s, after years and years of trying to earn respect, a group of talented athletes converged on Columbia and showed what could be possible for the University of Missouri football team. Among those athletes was a young man from Moberly High School, a running back whose decision to stay in state… Read more »
Jason Whittle
Talk about living a dream. In 1998, three games into an improbable National Football League career, Jason Whittle found himself in a New York Giants uniform and about to play his boyhood team, the Dallas Cowboys – all on ABC’s Monday Night Football. “There’s no way I should have been playing in the NFL,” said… Read more »
Casey Wiegmann
It’s often said of athletes that their most important ability isn’t speed, or strength, or stamina. The most important ability an athlete can have is availability. Perhaps no one in Missouri sports history personifies that belief more than Casey Wiegmann. The Iowa born-and-bred Wiegmann became a folk hero of sorts during his nine total seasons… Read more »
Eric Williams
He was introduced to organized football at a Kansas City Boys Club on 43rd street in the 1960s. That is, despite his mom’s fears of an injury, which were understandable, given Eric Williams was basically 5-foot-nothing, 100-and-nothing. By the time he graduated high school, he was a 6-foot-2, 225-pound wrecking ball. “I always played in… Read more »