She has spent her career living a dream. Of coaching college softball. Of the sun often anchored above her shoulders. Of readying young women for the real world. And compiling wins. Yes, good luck ever trying to pull Holly Hesse away from the game. “I like to say that when I was 18,” Hesse said,… Read more »
News
Year: 2018
Myron Holtzman
Like any sports writer, Myron Holtzman enjoys telling stories. The funny ones are the best, of course. Even his. “I went to the University of Missouri to be a business major,” Holtzman said, “and figured out I couldn’t add 2 plus 2, so I found another major.” Well, he not only found sports journalism but… Read more »
Independent Printing
When Wally Hemingway purchased Independent Printing in 1971, the vision wasn’t necessarily to build record profits or woo hundreds of businesses for their printing needs. Those were important, yes. However, for Hemingway, so too were positive contributions to the Springfield community. To help others along the way. To help lift up those who truly could… Read more »
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
To a generation of kids who came of age in the 1980s and early 1990s, she will be the incredible track and field superstar forever remembered standing atop the Olympic podium, both of her arms raised in the air while sporting a stars and stripes jacket and hoisting flowers. To kids of this generation, they… Read more »
David Kendall
There are days when David Kendall kicks back and wonders how he ever pulled it all off. Even he can’t believe it at times. Back in college, a chance meeting with the then-head trainer of the Kansas City Chiefs led to an internship during training camp. Which would seem ho-hum except for the fact that… Read more »
Lamar High School Football Program
To coach Scott Bailey, those who have watched the rise of the Lamar High School Football Program should know one thing: It wasn’t his doing alone. “In our town, the school is important, and our town supports all the things that our kids do, with football being one of them,” Bailey said. A turnaround known… Read more »
Learfield
In 1975, a quaint broadcasting company launched by Clyde Lear and Derry Brownfield struck a deal to provide radio network distribution of University of Missouri Athletics. It seemed simple enough. Carry all of the Mizzou Tigers football and basketball games and distribute the broadcast to dozens of other stations throughout the state. Little did anyone… Read more »
Dan Lucy
Long before his TV sports broadcasting days, he developed his reporting chops as a free-lance writer the old-fashioned way: A student by day working his way into the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A beat writer at night covering the 1983-1984 Mizzou basketball team, even lugging around a portable typewriter and dictating two stories… Read more »
Martin Mac Donald
There is an old saying that, if you are living your dream, you’ll never really work a day in your life. That’s true for Martin Mac Donald, who since his college days has championed the outdoors and, even better, found a tremendous platform 24 years ago to showcase his passion. That’s when he accepted an… Read more »
Dr. Brian Mahaffey
The Mahaffeys are a baseball family. Professional career paths for family members have focused primarily on dentistry and medicine, but, make no mistake about it. The Mahaffeys are a baseball family. And so it is that Dr. Brian Mahaffey, a star baseball player for Missouri State University and then a team physician for 16 years… Read more »
Dr. Matthew Matava
You look at the resume and see all the years he has provided medical care for St. Louis’ premier NCAA Division III athletics department and the city’s National Hockey League and National Football League franchises and come to a conclusion. That is, that Dr. Matthew Matava planned this from the start. Not exactly. “I played… Read more »
Bill McDermott
The Saint Louis University men’s soccer team has played more than 400 home games since the start of the 1972 season. Bill McDermott estimates he’s missed no more than 15 of them since he became the Billikens’ first — and to this day, only — full-time public address announcer that year. Which means McDermott —… Read more »
Terry Michler
He laughs about it now, but there was a time when Terry Michler said no to his dream job as the head soccer coach at his alma mater, Christian Brothers College High School. That was in February 1969 and he had just signed a contract with a pro soccer team, the Kansas City Spurs of… 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 »
Monett High School Football Program
The story goes that, in 1967, a man by the name of Burl Fowler arrived to the southwest Missouri town of Monett ready to coach the high school football team. Some might have assumed he wanted a military unit. Not that the local barbershop was complaining. After all, only a buzz or burr cut was… Read more »
1978 Mount Vernon High School State Championship Football Team
Looking at the old black-and-white team photo, it’s easy to be left in awe of the 1978 Mount Vernon football team. See the guy on the front row wearing No. 60? That’s Michele McGehee, recruited by none other than coach Lou Holtz and the Arkansas Razorbacks. Look a bit to the left and wearing No.… Read more »