Melin received both his bachelor’s (1944) and master’s (1948) degrees from the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty and athletic staff of Washington University in 1949 and served for 28 years before retiring in 1977. He continued working as an athletic trainer for some time after his retirement. In 1986, Melin received the Washington… Read more »
News
Sport: Running/Track and Field
1974-1979 Era Mexico High School Track & Field
If you ever travel to the north-central Missouri community of Mexico, it’s best to stop at the high school’s track that doubles as a football field. There, beyond the north end zone and affixed to the scoreboard is a metal banner touting the success of the Bulldogs’ track & field teams. In fact, be prepared… Read more »
Jack Miles
Jack Miles counts himself among the fortunate ones in life. While most others have no choice but to hang up their cleats after playing their final game in high school or college, he spent his adult life working in sports. That’s not to say Miles simply held down the fort, so to speak, in his… 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 »
Herschel Neil
Herschel Neil’s nod for his all-around excellence as an athlete came unfortunately 10 years after his death. In 1936, he earned All-America recognition when he set NCAA records in the triple jump. He also won the 100-yard dash in 1936 in both the Kansas and Drake Relays and later was a Drake Relays’ Hall of… 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 »
Becky Oakes
Becky Oakes – Sports Administration A native of Rolla, Missouri, Becky Oakes began a lifelong love and appreciation of sport in elementary school playing softball and making the decision to become a physical education teacher. In high school Becky participated in intramurals and community sports, music and student government. Oakes attended Southwest Missouri State University… Read more »
Kirk Pedersen
For Kirk Pedersen, his arrival to the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg in the mid-1980s wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a pit stop on the way back to rural Iowa. There he was, a college graduate in need of a job, so he figured a graduate assistant role for UCM track and… Read more »
Jason Pyrah
Willard, Mo., native Jason Pyrah is no stranger to Halls of Fame or track and field championships. He is a five-time high school track All-American and a six-time Missouri track champion (800, 1,600, and 3,200 meters). He still holds two Missouri state records, and in 1987 ran the faster mile of ANY high school athlete in… Read more »
Tom Rackers
Growing up in Jefferson City, with his dad, Robert, working as the advertising manager at the News Tribune, Tom Rackers spent his days reading all about the sports stars of Kansas City, St. Louis and in his hometown. Back then, five newspapers combined from those I-70 cities were delivered to the family’s doorstep – two… Read more »
Tom Rutledge
Tom Rutledge came to Missouri Southern in 1988 as an assistant football coach and in 1989 became the first head cross country and track and field coach for both the men’s and women’s programs. Since that time, Rutledge has been named MIAA Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year five times and Indoor Coach of… Read more »
Santa Fe High School Volleyball and Girls Track & Field Programs
Just a few miles north of I-70, there in the middle of the quaint farm country of Lafayette County and just east of a two-laner, sits Santa Fe High School. Don’t be fooled by the district’s R-X designation. It’s firmly on the state sports map, put there by the volleyball and girls track & field… Read more »
Aldo Sebben
Aldo Sebben has cast a long shadow across the face of Missouri State University athletics with his close involvement in all phases of the program and related activities over some three decades. His service to the University as a coach and administrator made him a respected figure in both regional and national circles and brought… Read more »
Bob Simpson
Robert Ingalls ‘Bob’ Simpson was an American hurdler and track coach. Born in Bosworth, Missouri, Simpson set several world records in the 120-yard hurdles, equaled the world record in the 220-yard hurdles, and won two gold medals at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games. Simpson entered the University of Missouri in 1913 and found success as a… Read more »
Miles Smith
Looking back on a storied career in track, Miles Smith himself cannot believe some of the things he achieved. After all, Miles missed most of his high school career because of injuries, had a modest senior season at St. Louis’ Riverview Gardens High School and yet became arguably the greatest athlete, in any sport, at… Read more »
Rod Staggs
When Rod Staggs coached high school track and field athletes, he tried to avoid calling them “kids” or even boys and girls. “If they did my workload and put up with me, they were men and women,” Staggs said, and later added this: “If you could handle my workouts, you could be in the Marines.”… Read more »