For some high school football seniors, the frustrations of a season-ending knee injury can led to the usual frustrations: there is no way to make an impact and it’s the end of the road in athletics. Dr. Mark Adams has proven that it doesn’t have to be that way, that someone who loves sports can… Read more »
News
Year: 2019
Aurora High School Football Program
In Aurora, Kelly Stadium is a perfect setting under the Friday night lights of small-town high school football: See the graying grain elevators just down the road? They tower over everything, reminding all that this is a blue-collar community that proudly wears its red. Red, that is, for the Houn’ Dawgs. What a tradition. Grade-schoolers… Read more »
Dr. Cris Barnthouse
The signed National Football League game-day footballs sit on display at his home, some inscribed with personal messages from Kansas City Chiefs coaches and players themselves. From afar, one might assume those are for throwing a go-ahead touchdown pass or key blocks that led to the win column. In reality, they are for work that,… Read more »
Erle Bennett
Talk about being a testament to sticking it out, to putting in the hard work and believing. Back in 1989, newly hired assistant football coach Erle Bennett rolled into the rural community of Centralia at a time of low participation numbers and little success. And his previous stop had been a similar challenge. But …… Read more »
Berkeley/McCluer South Berkeley High School Track & Field Program
Stop by sometime and see the trophy case from all the years of the Berkeley/McCluer South Berkeley High School Track & Field Program. It’s a sight to behold. It also supported what coach Rod Staggs (MSHOF 2017) had long insisted: Track was a team sport. “Track is the hardest sport,” Staggs said, emphasizing athletes don’t… Read more »
George Bruto
In the late 1970s, George Bruto found himself at a crossroads. Yes, he loved football. In fact, he had played on an NAIA national championship team and, after serving in the military, saw high school football as his future. Yet, after a couple of seasons as a head coach at a rural school, began kicking… Read more »
Bob Burchard
Usually, newspaper photos of basketball coaches show them barking at the refs, hollering at players or drawing up Xs and Os in a huddle. Yet arguably one of the most memorable photos of Bob Burchard is of the iconic Columbia College men’s basketball in a tucked-away locker room of Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium on March… Read more »
Sharon Buschjost
The great thing about sports is that everybody has a neat story, some more remarkable than others. Consider Sharon Buschjost. Back in 1996, happy being a stay-at-home mom for a third year away from teaching, the phone rang and on the other end of the line was her brother-in-law, the Blair Oaks High School athletic… Read more »
Carlos Carson
You can watch all the old highlight reels you want, ooh and awe over the athleticism that made him a blur in cleats – those were a beat writer’s words – and wonder. Yet to understand the greatness of Carlos Carson, a Kansas City Chiefs receiver of the 1980s, just listen to those who knew… Read more »
Dr. Jerald “Thumper” Chaffin
He still remembers when it all began, particularly – get this – the date. That would be September 21, 1963, when the University of Missouri football team played host to the Northwestern Wildcats at Faurot Field, with Northwestern coached by future Notre Dame icon Ara Parseghian. Dr. Jerald “Thumper” Chaffin was a freshman and in… Read more »
Alan Cockrell
It’s almost as if Hollywood produced a movie classic: An Ozarks teen quarterbacks a high school team to a state championship, QBs a Southeastern Conference football power to big wins, then goes on to play pro baseball and later coaches a team to the World Series. However, it was all true, and Alan Cockrell still… Read more »
Chase Coffman
First and foremost, Chase Coffman thanks his dad for the hard work and leadership skills that propelled his rise to NCAA All-American and National Football League player. “Growing up, I was a hot-head,” Coffman said, laughing. His dad, Paul, was in the NFL 11 seasons, eight with the Green Bay Packers. “I would get after… Read more »
2019 Class – Diamond Nine
CLASS OF 2019 Nick Admire (Lebanon High School/University of Missouri) Charissa Fuhr (Kickapoo High School/Iowa State University) Hailee Hendricks Fury (Miller High School/Northwest Missouri State University), Colby Hughes (St. Louis Community College- Meramec/Missouri-St. Louis/Colorado Rockies) Logan Hughes (North Arkansas College/Missouri-St. Louis) Trent Oxenreider (Strafford High School/College of the Ozarks) Joey Rich (A.S.A./USA Softball) Brad Roweton (Bolivar High… Read more »
Emry Dilday
The call came in on a Thursday night of the 1964 high school football season, with the voice on the other end of the line asking if he could fill in the next night on an officiating crew. Having never worked a varsity high school football game, Emry Dilday agreed under understandable assumptions. “I figured… Read more »
Kelly Donohoe
When he was hired to coach the Blue Springs High School football team, you figured he wanted to raise the bar. Little did anyone know that Kelly Donohoe wanted to raise it clear the top of the goal posts. “I told our kids, ‘Our goal is to play at the standard of Rockhurst (High School)… Read more »
Drury Outdoors
The year was 1989. The Berlin Wall had just fallen. Cheers played on televisions in homes across America and, in Missouri, brothers Mark and Terry Drury were laying the foundation of what would become one of the biggest names in the hunting industry – Drury Outdoors. And it’s why the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame… Read more »