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: Wrestling
Ben Askren
The story goes that, when college coaches tried to recruit him to their campuses, they cautioned against the University of Missouri. Ben Askren heard it over and over: Mizzou’s wrestling program had never had a national champion, let alone a team national title. However, he ignored them and listened to his gut, sensing that he… Read more »
Vic Bonuchi
In 1960, a recent college grad was hired as a football coach at Excelsior Springs High School. Little did the community know that Vic Bonuchi would make quite an impact for the next several decades. And not simply because his teams won. Instead, he molded teens into young adults who could find success beyond high… Read more »
Barbara Brummet
Sometimes in sports you get called into duty. And usually the folks getting called are much more ready than they even believe. In the winter of 1997, after five years of coaching a local youth wrestling club and having spent the past decade closely following her own son’s career, Barbara Brummet was approached about this… Read more »
Phil Dorman
Like many kids in Missouri, Phil Dorman grew up playing mostly baseball and football. Wrestling, the sport where he would make a significant mark, wasn’t even on his radar until eighth grade. “Some of the high school wrestlers I knew told me I needed to wrestle when I got to high school,” Dorman said. “I… Read more »
Farmington High School Wrestling Era 1996-2004
In 1999, with the Farmington High School wrestling program having been led most of the decade by the Krause coaching brothers, there was a sense of optimism. “I personally remember telling a former college teammate that coached for a rival team in January 1999, ‘We are a year away,’” then-assistant coach John Krause said. “He… Read more »
The Fry Family
Had anyone in Oak Grove been asked about The Fry Family in the late 1980s, locals might have told you this: There won’t be a trophy case large enough to house all their hardware. At Oak Grove High School alone between 1986 and 1995, Shaon won three state wrestling titles, Ryan a baseball state championship… Read more »
Bob Glasgow
Back in 1983, Bob Glasgow was right of college and looking for a high school wrestling job when he heard of two, including the head coaching role at Oak Grove High School. In fact, Oak Grove was seeking its fifth head coach in 10 years but had enjoyed some success stories, with three state champions,… Read more »
Helias High School Wrestling Program
Helias High School had the dominant wrestling program in the state of Missouri in the 1980’s, 90’s and into the new millennium. In one 26 year period, the Crusaders finished in the top three at the State Tournament an incredible 25 times. Altogether, the Crusaders won 12 State Titles, finished in second place six times,… 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 »
Bob Kinloch
In the mid-1960s, as he began his teaching and coaching career, Bob Kinloch floated an idea to then-Springfield Public Schools athletic director Orville Pottenger. Having wrestled in U.S. Army, Kinloch asked if the school district could launch a wrestling program. “He said, ‘We’re not starting wrestling,’” Kinloch recalled, adding that he then ramped up his… Read more »
Dr. Ed Lampitt
It’s a story that writers for the big screen usually dream of: A freshman strolls through the University of Missouri campus figuring he’ll focus on academics and nothing else, and yet detours to the wrestling room at old Brewer Fieldhouse and becomes a star. Ed Lampitt, of course, can’t help but offer a sheepish grin… Read more »
Mike Machholz
Tucked away on a quiet little campus in the heart of mid-Missouri is one of the best-kept sports secrets in the state. Few programs on any level in any sport can boast the success of the Missouri Valley College men’s wrestling program, especially the era from 1996 to 2005. During that 10-year stretch of success,… Read more »
1996-2005 Era Missouri Valley College Wrestling
Tucked away on a quiet little campus in the heart of mid-Missouri is one of the best-kept sports secrets in the state. Few programs on any level in any sport can boast the success of the Missouri Valley College men’s wrestling program, especially the era from 1996 to 2005. During that 10-year stretch of success,… Read more »
Sam Muchnick
Muchnick was born in Ukraine to a Jewish family, but moved to the United States in 1911. He grew up in St. Louis, and his name was changed to Samuel when his father decided that Jeshua (Jesus or Joshua) was an inappropriate name for a Jewish child. In 1926, he joined the sports staff at… Read more »
Oak Grove High School Wrestling Program
The old practice room at Oak Grove High School probably sums up the Panthers wrestling program the best: It resembled an Army concrete bunker, wedge into a roughly 38 foot-by-38 foot area and no apologies. “You could build up heat and humidity in five minutes,” longtime assistant coach Clif Cromer remembered. “And it was funny… Read more »