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 »
News
Sport: Running/Cross Country
Ron Clawson
Imagine a childhood as one of 16 siblings, including eight brothers, five who had a thirst for running. And, more often than not, Ron Clawson would be right in the thick of it all. This was back in the 1960s in Meadville. “With all these family participants, we would host track meets in our backyard,… Read more »
1991-1993 Era Clinton High School Girls Cross Country
In the summer of 1993, several girls cross country runners from Clinton High School made it a point to meet up daily and hit the pavement. Well, that wouldn’t be quite accurate. Not only did they hit the pavement, but they all but wore a groove on city streets and the local park. Partly, the… Read more »
Joe Bill Dixon
Joe Bill Dixon is a life-long resident of West Plains, Missouri. He attended West Plains High School and competed in basketball and track. Dixon’s teaching and coaching career began in 1968 at Richards R-5 School in West Plains. He transferred to West Plains High School in 1978 and started a new cross country program for… Read more »
Mary Phyl Dwight
There weren’t many opportunities for sports-minded young girls growing up in Missouri in the 1960s. So maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise to learn Mary Phyl Dwight couldn’t quite help herself once she arrived on Missouri State University’s campus in the fall of 1970. A graduate of Raytown South High School, Dwight grew up yearning… Read more »
Mike Griggs
Mike Griggs knew from a young age working in parks and recreation was going to be a part of his future. Griggs, former director of the Columbia Parks & Recreation Department, spent most of his childhood playing sports and participating in community events at various parks in and around Columbia. “It seems like I’ve been… Read more »
Terry Higgins
In the early 1980s, when he first began teaching at Carl Junction High School, Terry Higgins was asked to be the public address announcer for junior varsity and freshmen football games. He still remembers that first contest – a 6-0 JV Bulldog victory against East Newton – but little did he know that press boxes… Read more »
Kansas City Corporate Challenge
When the United States boycotted the Moscow Summer Olympics in 1980, the man who cared deeply for public parks and recreation in Kansas City’s largest counties sprung into action. No, Leon Younger didn’t save the Games. Instead, he called several businesses and created what he called the Corporate Olympics, with Kansas City-area businesses entering employees… Read more »
1993-1995 Era Kickapoo High School Boys Cross Country
Sift through the old scrapbooks of Kickapoo High School’s boys cross country teams of the mid-1990s, and you might be left in awe – even more so than if you happen to stroll by the trophy case at the Springfield school. There’s one touting the 1993 team competing in the University of Kansas Invitational and… Read more »
Don Knapp
We no longer live in a time where people stay in the same job for 30-plus years. We’re more transient now, able to move from place-to-place and job-to-job without much of a second thought. Spend 37 years working in one place? Who would do that? Don Knapp, that’s who. The former Rolla High School cross… Read more »
1972-1979 Lindbergh High School Boys Cross Country
The story goes that Tom McCracken, still young and passionate as a 20-something track & field coach, successfully lobbied the athletic director of Lindbergh High School to make him the head coach of the boys cross country program. This was in 1969. “I didn’t know any better and said, ‘If you give me this job,… Read more »
Harry Lineberry
In 1979, with his heart tugging on him to return to coaching high school runners, a northern Missouri native turned his eyes to the southwest corner of the state and a town called Neosho. Harry Lineberry didn’t know what he was getting into. And Neosho didn’t know what it was truly getting. For both, fortunately,… Read more »
Logan-Rogersville High School Girls Cross Country Program
Imagine presenting this idea to a high schooler: Run a 5-kilometer race once a week, often on rugged terrain and then run some more – or quite a bit more, actually – in weekday practices. And expect the gut to ache and the finish line always to seem as if it’s a mile away. “I… Read more »
Missouri Southern State University Women’s Cross Country and Track & Field Programs
Looking back at 1998, Sonia Eudy can’t help but break into a smile. That year, she and the women’s cross country team of Missouri Southern State University won the first conference championship in program history. And she still marvels about the roster, full of hidden gems. “I wasn’t a first- or second-place finisher even at… Read more »
1983 & 1984 Neosho High School Girls Cross Country State Championship Teams
For the girls who ran cross country for Neosho High School in the early 1980s, running was just a way of life. After all, their town in the far southwestern corner of the state had found its niche, with competitive running. The NEMO Track Club was affiliated with the AAU, or Amateur Athletic Union. Ramping… Read more »
Dr. E. L. Niedermeyer
Dr. E.L. Niedermayer served as a team physician for Tarkio College for over 30 years. In addition to being part of the MSHOF class of 1983, he was also inducted into the Tarkio College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1967, the Tarkio City Council voted to rename North City Park to Niedermeyer Memorial… Read more »