1910s <\/b><\/p>\n
The Junior College was just one year old when it started a men\u2019s basketball program, and there has been a team every year since. An attempt to field a football team was made in 1916, but it was not to be.<\/p>\n
Sometime in the 1917-18 school year, the Griffon was adopted as the college mascot.<\/p>\n
1920s<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>A women\u2019s sports club, the first of many over the years, formed teams in basketball, swimming, tennis and roller skating. In 1922, a second attempt was made to field a football team; this time they played for three seasons.<\/p>\n
In 1927, the Junior College won the men\u2019s basketball state championship.<\/p>\n
1930s<\/b><\/p>\n
Throughout the 1930s, the Junior College hosted three and sometimes four men\u2019s sports teams, including basketball, track, tennis and golf.<\/p>\n
1940s <\/b><\/p>\n
For the first time, females joined the cheerleading squad in the 1940s. Men had been cheering at the Junior College since the 1920s. Due to the men serving in WWII, there were barely enough males to make a basketball team, but they managed to do so by pulling in players who had never played.<\/p>\n
1950s \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
In the 1950s, the basketball team tied for second in the state Junior College tournament, and the team played in the national regional tournament two other years.<\/p>\n
The basketball Homecoming became a bigger deal than decades past in the 1950s, with the addition of a parade and themes. Queens had been a part of Homecoming since the Junior College\u2019s earliest days.<\/p>\n
1960s<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0John Chavez \u201962 was a track and field standout for the Junior College, winning two individual national championships in the sport.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Charlie Burri \u201955 was hired as athletic director in 1966. In 1969, he hired Harold Cagle as football coach and Doug Minnis as baseball coach to begin those programs at the four-year institution. Minnis coached for 30 years.<\/p>\n
The basketball team won the conference championship in 1965 and 1968.<\/p>\n
1970s <\/b><\/p>\n
Baseball began in the spring of 1970 and football arrived that fall. For the first time, Homecoming was centered around football instead of basketball. There were five men\u2019s sports in the 1970s: baseball, basketball, football, golf and tennis.<\/p>\n
Throughout the University\u2019s history, women had always played on a variety of sports teams, but it wasn\u2019t until 1975 that women\u2019s intercollegiate sports became official. The first women\u2019s sports were basketball and volleyball in the fall of 1975, and tennis and softball in the spring of 1976. Bonnie Greene coached tennis and Rhesa Sumrell coached the other three.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s basketball team earned second place in the state tournament its first season. Volleyball won the state tournament its second season, followed by several appearances in regional and national postseason tournaments in the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n
In 1975, the baseball team played in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) World Series at Phil Welch Stadium in St. Joseph, Mo. The football team played in its first Mineral Water Bowl, beating Graceland College 44-0.<\/p>\n
The 1973-74 men\u2019s basketball team was the first basketball team from Missouri Western to qualify for a national tournament and the team was in the district playoffs three other years. Additionally, basketball player Larry \u201cGator\u201d Rivers \u201973 went on to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.<\/p>\n
Missouri Western also joined the NAIA in the 1970s and became a founding member of the Central States Intercollegiate Conference.<\/p>\n
At the end of the decade, Spratt Memorial Stadium was built. The football team had been playing at Noyes Field by Central High School in St. Joseph prior to the new stadium.<\/p>\n
Since the 1970s, Missouri Western has had many athletes play professionally in baseball, football, basketball, golf and softball. <\/b><\/p>\n
1980s\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n
In 1982, the softball team won a national championship, Missouri Western\u2019s only national championship. The team returned to the national tournament the next four years. Cheri Kempf \u201985 racked up several honors, including All-American, and broke many school records as both a softball and basketball player throughout her college career.<\/p>\n
Men\u2019s basketball player Arthur Cooks \u201987 broke many records throughout his career and still holds several school records today.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s basketball saw some stellar seasons in the 1980s, as well, winning conference and district championships. The men\u2019s basketball team advanced to the NAIA tournament in 1984. Additionally, the men\u2019s golf team played in the national tournament three years and the women\u2019s tennis team advanced to the NAIA tournament in 1985 and 1987.<\/p>\n
In 1985, Spratt Memorial Stadium received lights.<\/p>\n
Missouri Western joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II in 1988 and the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Conference (now Mid-America), in 1989. Tom Smith, who remained coach until 2013, was hired in 1989.<\/p>\n
1990s<\/b><\/p>\n
Both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball teams saw great success in the 1990s. The women earned a spot in the Elite 8 national tournament two years in a row, and were conference champions several years. The men were the conference regular season and postseason champions in 1990, the first year Missouri Western joined the MIAA Conference. They had several great seasons in the 1990s, including a school-record 26 wins in 1994-95 and three conference championships.<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s golf team was ranked 13th<\/sup> nationally in 1995-96 and the women\u2019s tennis team advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1998.<\/p>\n The softball team played on campus for the first time in 1995, and football coach Jerry Partridge \u201986 was hired in 1997. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n 2000s<\/b><\/p>\n The decade of the 2000s saw the addition of two new sports \u2013 women\u2019s golf in 2002 and women\u2019s soccer in 2005.<\/p>\n The football team advanced to the DII postseason tournament for the first time in 2006, and in 2009, the softball team had a 32-game winning streak. The women\u2019s basketball team won the conference championship in 2002.<\/p>\n Men\u2019s basketball won the conference regular-season title in 2002, and the 2003 team won the conference postseason tournament. Women\u2019s basketball won the MIAA championship in both the regular season and postseason in 2002.<\/p>\n Golfer Brice Garnett \u201906 was named NCAA Division II All-American three times and was Missouri Western\u2019s first-ever MIAA Player of the Year.<\/p>\n 2010s\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n The 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons were standout seasons for the football team. The team played in the DII postseason tournament all three years, advancing to the quarterfinals in 2012. Additionally, the football team broke more than 40 team and individual records in 2012.<\/p>\n In 2010, the Griffon Indoor Sports Complex opened in time for the Kansas City Chiefs to hold their summer training camp on campus. The next year, the baseball team played on campus for the first time when the Spring Sports Complex opened.<\/p>\n In 2013, the baseball team won the conference championship and had a record 40 wins, and Natalie Bird qualified for the NCAA tournament, a first for women\u2019s golf. In 2014, the softball team was named conference champion and the baseball team advanced to the conference championship game.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1910s The Junior College was just one year old when it started a men\u2019s basketball program, and there has been a team every year since. An attempt to field a football team was made in 1916, but it was not to be. Sometime in the 1917-18 school year, the Griffon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4279,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1136\/revisions\/4279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.missouriwestern.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}