Walk by the indoor swimming pool at College of the Ozarks, and it may seem like just another athletic facility. In reality, it’s steeped in history – as the place where Dora Quinn Arney Meikle began to make her mark as a pioneer of women’s athletics. “Women athletes today maybe wouldn’t realize all we went… Read more »
News
Year: 2016
Ken Meyer
For more than 35 years, one of Ken Meyer’s radio stations has delivered St. Louis Cardinals broadcasts to the Ozarks. Several other stations have carried a combination of the Kansas City Royals and the sports teams of Missouri State, Missouri Tigers, Drury, Evangel and Southwest Baptist universities as well as local high schools and the… Read more »
1966 Missouri Tigers Sugar Bowl Champions
The grainy videos – the ones of the Mizzou Tigers’ 1966 Sugar Bowl team – are simply beautiful nostalgia archived on YouTube. See the black jerseys, gold pants and the helmets with the player’s number? And No. 16? That’s quarterback Gary Lane. Plus, one news reel shows Johnny Roland tossing a touchdown pass to Earl… Read more »
Eddie Moss
It’s amazing how one idea can change an athlete’s life. In Eddie Moss’ case, there were two: His Poplar Bluff High School football coach moved Moss from the defensive line to the offensive backfield for his senior season. Then, after college, Moss returned home to assist the football program, where one player encouraged him not… Read more »
Gary Pinkel
Paging Gary Pinkel … you are wanted by the statues … Gary Pinkel. Indeed, had public address announcers of press boxes across the Show-Me State bellowed those words, they would have been met with applause. After all, he is the man who rode off into the sunset in 2015 as the winningest football coach in… Read more »
Nate Quinn
The Christmas holiday break back in 1976 came at just the right time. For Nate Quinn, a freshman basketball player and yet-to-be standout, his first semester at Drury University had been the School of Hard Knocks. So upon returning home, his dad — a longtime high school basketball coach in Oklahoma — took him to… Read more »
1990 Raytown South Boys Basketball Team
In early January 1990, the difficult news could have rattled an already talented Raytown South boys basketball team. There in the living room of coach Bud Lathrop, they learned that their star center who had committed to the Kansas Jayhawks, Chris Lindley, had a foot severed in a train accident and could no longer play.… Read more »
Jerry Reuss
Quick, remember the moment you knew what wanted to be in life? Jerry Reuss does. He was 8, and had just attended his first St. Louis Cardinals game at old Sportsman’s Park. This was, of course, long before he led St. Louis County’s Ritenour High School to the 1966 and 1967 Missouri state baseball championships… Read more »
Lana Richmond
Long before her team would ever secure the first of 884 wins, long before the conference championships and the NCAA Tournament appearances, Lana Richmond had one demand. As coach of the Southeast Missouri State softball program, academics would be priority No. 1, as it would create the foundation to all other successes. And now look.… Read more »
Bill Rowe
Story by Mark Stillwell If the truth be told, Bill Rowe wouldn’t have minded a few more years coaching the Missouri State baseball Bears. After 19 seasons, his program was enjoying its longest run of sustained success when he answered the University’s call in 1982 to step aside from his diamond duties and spearhead the… Read more »
Joe Scott
For successful athletes, writing the next chapter of their lives can be a challenge. However, Joe Scott offers a blueprint. Once a basketball standout known as “the Gainesville Gunner” in high school and who later starred for the University of Missouri, Scott has become an integral part of the Poplar Bluff community over the past… Read more »
Scott County Central Boys & Girls Basketball
For years, they played in a crackerbox gym perfect for small-school basketball, with the locals in their community north of Sikeston packing the place on winter Friday nights. Banners of success and retired jersey numbers now decorate the new place, named for its patriarch, Ronnie Cookson. So one can imagine if there ever was 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 »
Art Stewart
When longtime Kansas City Royals scout Art Stewart talks about his 60 years in baseball, it’s like flipping through a scrapbook of old black-and-white photos. The stories are almost too hard to believe, and yet you can listen for hours. This is a man who has scouted every Kansas City Royals player from rookie ball… Read more »
Mark Stillwell
In his 40 years covering and writing about college athletics, 2016 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mark Stillwell steered a different course from his fellow sports information professionals. Working as Sports Information Director at Missouri State University, Stillwell shared his Bears’ weekend sports competition assignments with active participation in the U.S. Navy Reserve. From… Read more »
Bob Stolzer
There’s an old saying in sports that goes something like this: Never forget who helped get you here. Whenever former Ste. Genevieve High School football coach Bob Stolzer kicks backs and reminisces about times gone by, rest assured that he lives by that motto. Names of former assistants, players, administrators and community leaders crop up… Read more »