Article Tag Archives: Coach

Remembering Coach Sam Lesseig

Sam Lesseig

Sam Lesseig

Just prior to the start of the fall season, Sam Lesseig, associate professor emeritus of mathematics and head women’s golf coach, passed away. Lesseig joined the University as a member of the Mathematics Department in 1963 and started the women’s golf program in 1985.

He was the only head coach in the 28-year history of the Truman women’s golf team after helping a motivated group of golfers initiate the program.

Lesseig coached two all-Americans and 14 academic all-Americans while leading the Bulldogs to 11 postseason appearances at the National Golf Coaches Association Division II National Championships and the NCAA Division II and III Women’s Golf Championships. In 1999-2000, four members of the team were named to the NGCA all-academic team, the most in school history.

The Bulldogs qualified as a team for the inaugural NCAA meet and returned as a squad after a thrilling second place playoff finish at regionals in 2006-07. Truman finished eighth that year at the national meet in Houston, Texas.

Lesseig served on the NCAA Women’s Golf Committee for a total of nine years and was Truman’s interim athletics director during the 1988-89 school year.

In 1961, he received a bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays State University (Kan.), and in 1963, he earned a master’s degree from Kansas State University.

He is survived by his wife, Dee, and their three children. Sons Vance (’87) and Corey (’89) both competed for the men’s golf team at Truman, while his daughter Kristen (’88) was a two-time academic all-American for the women’s squad.

Decorated Track Coach Credits Athletes

Rod Staggs

Rod Staggs

While Rod Staggs was inducted into the Truman State University Athletic Hall of Fame more than 16 years ago, his athletic achievements did not end there. Since his induction, Staggs’ coaching career went global as he mentored young track and field stars in world competitions.

Staggs, a Kirksville native, graduated from the University in 1966. During his time as a student, he played on the football team and was a member of Sigma Tau Gamma. After graduation, he began his 46 years of coaching in Iowa where he taught and coached for four years, until returning to earn a master’s degree in health-physical education and recreation in 1971.

From there, he took a job coaching track and field at Berkeley High School in St. Louis, where he would spend the next 32 years. Staggs, who had only coached at middle school, learned how to coach the sport through trial and error. And learn he did. When he came to Berkeley, the school had not won a single meet in seven years. When he left, they had 16 state championships.

After leaving Berkeley in 2003, Staggs coached at Lindenwood University for two years and won two NAIA national championships. He then moved to Loveland, Colo., for six years where his teams won three more state titles. After that, he went on to serve as a coach for the USA National Team, which competed in World and Pan-American championships in Australia, Argentina, Poland, the United Kingdom, Qatar and Mexico.

Throughout his career Staggs was twice selected as National Coach of the Year for Track and Field and has won the Missouri High School Track Coach of the Year 19 times. His name also resides in the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame and in the Truman State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

While Staggs said he is proud of the awards and championships his athletes have won, he believes he deserves none of the recognition.

“I didn’t run a single step. I didn’t win anything, my athletes won these titles,” he said.

Some of Staggs’ famous athletes include Olympic gold medalists Allyson Felix, Justin Gatlin and Carmelita Jeter, as well as other Olympians including Mike Rodgers, Kerron Clement, Ryan Bailey, Trell Kimmons, David Oliver and Bershawn “Batman” Jackson. In fact, at the 2012 London Olympics he had coached 35 of the track and field athletes at some point in their careers.

The hardest part of coaching, Staggs said, was keeping the athletes focused and on task.

His goal always was for his mentees to become not just athletes, but also well-rounded students and citizens as well. Coming from a small town himself, Staggs enjoyed working with athletes from across the country and around the globe.

“Kids are kids no matter where. As long as they come to practice and give their best, they deserve my best in return,” he said.

Staggs credits his success in coaching by his ability to motivate his athletes because of the relationships he has built with them.

“My strongest suit has always been relationships and rapport with my athletes, I care about them as a whole person, not just an athlete,” he said. “Kids can tell if you really care about them or are just using them.”

Today, Staggs has retired from active coaching with hopes of coaching future USA national track teams. He shares a home in Overland Park, Kan., and Cody, Wyo., with his wife and Truman alumna, Rhonda (Weiler) Staggs (’75). They have two daughters, Shayna and Shelby, and five grandchildren, Channing, Addison, Bennett, Dempsey and Deacon.

Despite all of the honors he has received, it is still the relationships he has built that are the most important to him. Even after everything Staggs has managed to keep up with hundreds of his former athletes.

“They become your extended family,” Staggs said. “And now I am proud to say I have family all over state, country and even the world.”

Men’s Basketball

The Truman men’s basketball team closed its 2012-13 season with a 10-17 overall record, qualifying for the MIAA tournament for the first time since the 2006-07 season before falling in the first round at Pittsburg (Kan.) State. Three Bulldogs earned MIAA honors, headlined by a third-team all-MIAA award for junior forward Mike Carlson and honorable-mention accolades for senior guard Tom Norton and sophomore guard Seth Jackson.

The Bulldogs improved on last season’s win total and won the most games by a Truman squad since the 2006-07 season (16). In addition, the Bulldogs won more road games this season (5) than the last four years combined (4) and tied the most in a single-season since 2006-07. The Bulldogs also won more MIAA regular season games this year (7) than any since 2006-07 (9), despite playing two fewer games.

Truman finished the season ranked in the top third of the MIAA in three-pointers made per game (7.5), free throw percentage (72.8 percent) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.1).

Tom Norton shoots the ball at a home game.

Tom Norton shoots the ball at a home game.

On an individual level, Carlson led the squad by averaging 17.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and ranked in the MIAA’s top 10 in scoring, free throw percentage, steals, blocked shots and defensive rebounding. Norton, meanwhile, led the MIAA in free throw percentage (89.5 percent) and in three-pointers per game (2.8). In addition, he became Truman’s all-time free throw leader by closing his career with an 85.8 percent clip from the charity stripe and finished 16th on the all-time scoring chart at 1,114.

Highlights throughout the season included a 57-point victory against Central Christian (Mo.), an MIAA-opening road win at Missouri Western, an eight-point road victory at 10th-ranked Washburn (Kan.), a one-point home win against Nebraska-Kearney in which Norton hit nine three-pointers, and an eight-point win at Northwest Missouri to close the regular season in which the Bulldogs trailed by 18 points with 15 minutes to play in the game.

This was the second season under Head Coach Matt Woodley, as the Bulldogs graduated seniors Norton and Matt Patterson while returning four starters for the 2013-14 season.

Women’s Basketball

The Bulldogs take on Southwest Baptist at home during the first-round of MIAA postseason tournament action.

The Bulldogs take on Southwest Baptist at home during the first-round of MIAA postseason tournament action.

The Truman Women’s Basketball team continued their rise to the top by posting their first 20-win season since the 1998-99 campaign. The Bulldogs, under fifth-year Coach Michael Smith, won every game in Pershing Arena this year. They were ranked in the Division II Top 25 Poll for 11 weeks and at one point, led all of the nation in three-point shooting.

The Bulldogs started the season winning 12 of their first 14 games. On Dec. 21, the team rewrote several school records in a 110-43 victory over Mount Mercy (Iowa) College. The team made 22 three-pointers and shot 71 percent from outside while freshman Courtney Strait made eight triples in the rout.

Truman edged out nationally-ranked Central Missouri 73-64 in Pershing Arena, and a week later before a large home crowd, rallied from seven points down in the final minutes to knock off Fort Hays (Kan.) State University 57-55 in double overtime.

The team finished fifth in the regular season standings and hosted a first-round MIAA postseason tournament game. The Bulldogs defeated the Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University Bearcats 65-56 to extend their home winning streak to 15 games dating back to last season.
In the second round game in Kansas City against Emporia (Kan.) State University, Truman fell behind by 12 but fought back to tie the game with just over two minutes left. The Lady Hornets would hold the Bulldogs to just three more points the rest of the way to win 61-56 to end the season.

Senior guard Becka McHenry earned her second straight second-team all-conference honor after leading the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. McHenry became just the second Truman women’s basketball player to score over 1,100 career points, pull down over 500 rebounds and dish out over 350 assists. The only other player to accomplish that feat in Bulldog history was Amy Eagan.

Sophomore guard Allie Norton was one of the nation’s top three-point shooters. At times, Norton led Division II during the season and finished with a school record 45.2 percent from beyond the arc. The previous record was held by Kathy Patterson in the 1990-91 season at 44.9 percent. Norton was an honorable-mention all-MIAA selection.

The team, as a whole, shot a school record 41 percent from beyond the arc. They led all of Division II in three-point shooting and at several times during the season were leading all of NCAA Women’s Basketball from three.

Alumnus Inspired to Create Endowed Scholarship

Ronald Thomas (’65) and his wife, Ann

Ronald Thomas (’65) and his wife, Ann

The Dr. Ronald E. Thomas Endowed Scholarship fund was created in 2012 by Ronald Thomas (’65) and his wife, Ann, to provide an opportunity for deserving students to receive a Truman State University education. The couple’s deep appreciation for education inspired them to establish a scholarship to help Truman students accomplish their educational goals.

A Truman alumnus, Ronald enrolled at the University after graduating from high school in Roxana, Ill. He earned a bachelor of science in education with an emphasis in physical education from Truman in 1965, then completed a master of science at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and received a PhD from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Ronald devoted his career to educational endeavors. Since 1999, he has served as the president of Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minn., and he plans to retire in July of this year. His career includes service as a junior high teacher and coach, director of international admissions at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and director of student services at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha. Ronald served as dean of educational services at Centralia College in Centralia, Wash.; dean and interim president at Rochester Community and Technical College in Rochester, Minn.; and president of Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kan.

During his career, Ronald has earned a number of professional accolades. He was the recipient of the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction for Presidential Leadership presented by Phi Theta Kappa in 1999, was named the College President Pacesetter of the Year by District V of the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations in 2004 and 2011 and received the Distinguished Star Education Award presented by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education in 2007. In addition, he has served as the board chair of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship and has been a presenter and author of numerous community college issues across the country.

The Legacy of Donald Parsons: Making a Difference in Students’ Lives

Don Parsons' photo in the 1956 Echo yearbook

Don Parsons’ photo in the 1956 Echo yearbook

The wife and son of Truman Hall of Famer Donald Parsons (’57, ’61) have established the Donald Parsons Endowed Athletic Scholarship through the Truman State University Foundation to benefit student-athletes attending Truman. Jean (Wells) Parsons, a 1967 Truman alumna, and her son, Devin Parsons, created the scholarship in honor of the late Don Parsons, a teacher, coach and administrator, who dedicated his life to education and athletics.

An All-State basketball player for Ottumwa (Iowa) High School, Don helped his team finish second in the state tournament in 1953. After graduating from high school, Don came to Truman where he joined the Bulldog basketball team. Collecting All-MIAA honors twice (1955-56 and 1956-57), he was named Most Valuable Player on the All-Conference team in 1956-57. Nearly three decades after Don graduated in 1957 with a bachelor of science in education degree, he was inducted into the Truman State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.

While serving in the military in Germany, Don played on his command’s basketball team. In 1959, he taught and coached sports at Greentop, Mo., and after earning a master’s degree from Truman in 1961, he taught science and coached at Evans Junior High School in Ottumwa, Iowa. He became an administrator with the Ottumwa School District and served as the assistant principal at Washington Junior High School followed by 12 years at Walsh Junior High School. He then served as principal at Eisenhower Elementary School and handled other district-wide duties, including directing the staff wellness program and the K-8 physical education and elementary athletic programs. Don retired from the Ottumwa School District in 1994. He died in February 2012.

Throughout his long and distinguished career, Don inspired countless young people, and the scholarship established by his wife and son ensures that his legacy will live on through future generations of Bulldogs.

The Bookshelf

Bookshelf_AnderSarah2-WEBA Real Cowboy
By Sarah Anderson (’98)
Producer Thalia Thorne’s career is on the line. She’s promised to lure James Robert Bradley back to the limelight, no matter what it takes. But once in Montana, she sees that J.R. has built a new life for himself­­—as a real-life cowboy—and Thalia finds it hard to resist the man he’s become. Then a blizzard strikes. Suddenly they’re alone, with only body heat to keep them warm. When the snow melts, she’ll have to choose: go back to the big city—or sacrifice everything for the man she can’t let go.

Bookshelf_AndersonSarah-WEBMystic Cowboy
By Sarah Anderson (’98)
Just who does Rebel Runs Fast think he is? Dr. Madeline Mitchell, the new doctor on the White Sandy Lakota Indian Reservation, knows there’s a good answer to that question. Somewhere. Sure, the Lakota medicine man is every cowboy-and-Indian fantasy she ever had, but he sends patients to sweat lodges instead of clinical trials, talks them out of flu vaccines. Even more irritating, he makes her heart race. Rebel swore off the white man’s world­­­—and its women—years ago. Madeline doesn’t speak the language, understand the customs or believe he’s anything more than a charlatan. Yet she stays, determined to help his people. And he keeps finding excuses to spend more time at the clinic. When he discovers her in the throes of dangerous heat stroke, Rebel’s efforts to cool her down set fire to a passion neither thought they wanted. But when the people start falling violently ill, the cultural gap stretches the connection between their hearts to the breaking point.

Bookshelf_Anderson3-WEBStraddling the Line
By Sarah Anderson (’98)
CFO Ben Bolton has enough on his plate running his family business. But when lovely Josey White Plume enters his office, his priorities shift. He refuses to let such a compelling woman walk away. The chase is on. All her life, Josey has sought one thing: to fit in with her Lakota family. She has no time for some sexy rich guy’s pursuit. But she can’t stop thinking about Ben. Yet falling for a wealthy outsider will destroy everything she’s worked for—unless she can find a way to straddle the line between his world and hers.

Bookshelf_Cooper_Haley-WEBThe Jade Lily
By Hayley (Kessler) Cooper (’05)
When Onnalee gets picked on for her “ugly” clothes, she will do anything to have a cooler style. A mysterious man invites her into his shop and gives her the Jade Lily, a brooch that will make her heart’s deepest desire come true. As she travels to her friend’s house, she helps people in need and in turn gets a lot of compliments on her cool clothes. Onnalee is so excited to show her friends her new clothes only to learn it’s not clothes that make someone cool, it’s who they are on the inside.

Bookshelf_DeWitt_Petra-WEBDegrees of Allegiance: Harassment and Loyalty in Missouri’s German-American Community during World War I
By Petra DeWitt (’98)
Historians have long argued that the Great War eradicated German culture from American soil. Degrees of Allegiance examines the experiences of German-Americans living in Missouri during the First World War, evaluating the personal relationships at the local level that shaped their lives and the way that they were affected by national war effort guidelines. Spared from widespread hate crimes, German-Americans in Missouri did not have the same bleak experiences as other German-Americans in the Midwest or across America. But they were still subject to regular charges of disloyalty, sometimes because of conflicts within the German-American community itself.

Bookshelf_Mielke_Bob-WEBKirksville: Poems
By Bob Mielke, Professor of English
See Kirksville through the eyes of Bob Mielke as he explores the people and places of the unassuming college town in Northeast Missouri. Walk in the footsteps of the poet as he shows you the natural beauty of its wooded parks and dives deep into the city’s colorful past. Along the way, meet Susan Sontag as she dances in a honky tonk, fireworks (perfectly legal) explode overhead and friends gather in saloons for a quiet drink. Mielke’s poems are fresh, clear and accessible. Kirksville is an honest and enthusiastic celebration of a city many have loved, and few can ever forget.

Bookshelf_RobertNorton-WEBRandom Tales of a College Math Professor, Over-Easy, on Wry
By Robert “Mick” Norton (’68)
Many believe that math and humor must be mutually exclusive, or that the life of a college professor must be boring. Ha! Not many careers would provide opportunities for someone to solve a geometry problem (what position was the body in when the bullet went through her head?) and thereby convince police that a death was a homicide. Or to collect and analyze data to show that wrestlers at a weigh-in can make a scale register less than their true weight—temporarily—if they stand on their heads before they step on the scale. Written for a popular audience, this book presents stories about expert witnessing, consulting, teaching, being a professor and about how probability (think random events) impacted someone’s life in a very direct way. And oh yes, the humor is wry.

booksThe Gurkha’s Daughter: Stories
By Prajwal Parajuly (’06)
A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha’s daughter tries to comprehend her father’s complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing and dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese diaspora—the people whose culture and language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India, Bhutan and beyond. From every perspective and on every page, Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour and vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world and its people.

Bookshelf_Shaffer_JodyJensen-WEBStars of Today Books
By Jody Jensen Shaffer (’88)
This series of children’s books the author wrote for The Child’s World Stars of Today Series includes biographies for Taylor Swift, Lea Michelle, Taylor Lautner and Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

Bookshelf_MulfordCarolyn-WEBShow Me the Murder
By Carolyn Mulford (’60)
After a bullet shatters Phoenix Smith’s career as a CIA covert operative, she returns to her rural Missouri hometown to recuperate and regroup. She arrives as her lifelong friend, civic leader Annalynn Carr Keyser, buries her husband, the sheriff. Everyone except the widow believes he shot his mistress and himself. Annalynn begs Phoenix to help prove he, too, was murdered. The old friends employ their diverse skills and conflicting attitudes to discover what really happened and to survive.

Bookshelf_LarissaReinhart-WEBPortrait of a Dead Guy
By Larissa Reinhart (’91)
In Halo, Ga., folks know Cherry Tucker as big in mouth, small in stature and able to sketch a portrait faster than buckshot rips from a ten gauge—but commissions are scarce. So when the well-heeled Branson family wants to memorialize their murdered son in a coffin portrait, Cherry scrambles to win their patronage from her small-town rival. As the clock ticks toward the deadline, Cherry faces more trouble than just a controversial subject. Her rival wants to ruin her reputation, her ex-flame wants to rekindle the fire and someone’s setting her up to take the fall. Mix in her flaky family, an illegal gambling ring and outwitting a killer on a spree, Cherry finds herself painted into a corner she’ll be lucky to survive.

Bookshelf_SeidelLinda-WEBMediated Maternity: Contemporary American Portrayals of Bad Mothers in Literature and Popular Culture  
By Linda Seidel, Professor of English
Linda Seidel explores the cultural construction of the bad mother in books, movies and TV shows arguing that these portrayals typically have the effect of cementing dominant assumptions about motherhood in place—or, less often, of disrupting those assumptions, causing us to ask whether motherhood could be constructed differently. Portrayals of bad mothers not only help to establish what the good mother is by depicting her opposite, but also serve to illustrate what the culture fears about women in general and mothers in particular. From the ancient horror of female power symbolized by Medea (or, more recently, by Casey Anthony) to the current worry that drug-addicted pregnant women are harming their fetuses, we see a social desire to monitor the reproductive capabilities of women, resulting in more (formal and informal) surveillance than in material (or even moral) support.

Bookshelf_Wyss_Geoff-WEBHow
By Geoff Wyss (’90)
If every story is born of a question­—How did we get here? How do you make your arm do that?—the stories in this book search for answers to the mysteries of an astonishing range of characters. In “How to Be a Winner,” a sports consultant “incents” a high school football team with his theory of history and a glimpse into his disgraced coaching career. The narrator of “How I Come to Be Here at the GasFast” explains why he hasn’t left a truck stop in the two days since he scratched a winning lottery ticket.  Lost in the mazes they’ve made of themselves, Wyss’ characters search for exits on ground that shifts dizzyingly from humor to pathos, from cynicism to earnestness, from comedy to tragedy. Although propelled by a razor-sharp contemporary prose, Wyss’ stories—many set in the New Orleans beneath the notice of television and tourists—have more in common with Chekhov and O’ Connor than with “Treme.”

Team Player

TennisTeam_BrianCampbell

Brian Campbell (’84) is shown second from the left in this photo of the championship tennis team.

Brian Campbell (’84) led the Department of State’s tennis team to its third consecutive Intergovernmental Agency Tennis League Doubles Championship title. Campbell, a former top singles and doubles player, was twice named All-American and is a member of Truman State University’s Athletics Hall of Fame. He is a special advisor in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.

“Brian is among the finest players to have represented the Department in my many years of coaching the team,” said team coach John Wilson. “We finished number one in a very competitive league, and Brian came through in the clutch time and time again.”

Founded in 1932, the Intergovernmental Agency Tennis League is said to be the longest-running athletic competition in the federal government. It was the Department’s ninth championship win, a record bested only by the Army and Navy teams, which hold 25 and 15 titles, respectively.

Two Games in Two Days

This past fall marked the 50th anniversary of a very unique moment in the history of Bulldog football. Alumnus and team member Shane Cavanah gives a first-hand account of the unusual weekend.

In the fall of 1963, I was a senior football player at Northeast Missouri State Teachers College. I was one of 12 returning seniors on the squad. We were expected to, and did, provide the necessary senior leadership that is required and desired in the one-for- all, all-for-one team concept.

We had an unusual scheduling fiasco to start the season that I have never seen or even heard of since that year. Because of some sort of a scheduling mix-up, we had two games on the same weekend at the beginning of the season. The only explanation given to us was that two contracts had mistakenly been signed and neither of the two opponents would budge on allowing us to be released from their particular binding agreement.

We reported to pre-season football workouts at the usual time in mid-August and our preparation procedure was the same as it had been in any other year. Our coach, Maurice “Red” Wade, would schedule three practices a day prior to the beginning of classes that started in September. The workouts would be scheduled for 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and again at 7:30 p.m. He attempted to limit practice time to 90 minutes each session and didn’t deviate from that time schedule very often. Sometimes we might go 10 minutes over, but not with any regularity.

I always thought Coach Wade scheduled the practice times this way to prevent a bunch of college-age guys from having idle time in the evenings. It was his way of gently reminding us we would have the same regimented activities the following day and we better be ready for them. We would do this for five consecutive days, Monday through Friday, followed by a scrimmage on Saturday morning. We had the rest of Saturday and Sunday to recover only to repeat the exact schedule the following week.

We had to be convinced, or maybe even brain-washed to a certain degree, by the coaching staff that playing two games in two days was no different from when we would hold offensive and defensive scrimmages two days in a row. Wrong!

Our first game of the ’63 season was a home game against Western Illinois University on Friday night, Sept. 20, at Stokes Stadium. Game time was 8 p.m., which was the usual starting time for night games back then. Though scouting reports were not as elaborate as they are now, we had information on Western Illinois from their previous season. We learned their formations and tendencies on both sides of the ball to assist in our game preparation. We approached the opener as we would normally prepare for any upcoming opponent.

TwoGamesProgramThe team looked forward to the first game as any team does—excited and ready for the regular season—as we were tired of hitting each other and were looking forward to seeing different faces on the other side of the ball. We had 20 returning lettermen from the previous season and even though Western Illinois was a quality opponent, we were prepared and proved it with our performance on game night. The final score was 22-0 in favor of the Bulldogs. Win number one was in the books, but now we had less than 24 hours to prepare for our game the next night against the Washburn University Ichabods.

Not only were we scheduled to play a second game in less than 24 hours, we were required to travel to Topeka, Kan., on top of that. Needless to say, we had very little preparation time for Washburn University, and even though we were favored going into the contest, we lost 7-6. Now, I can tell you in all honesty that had we been allowed the normal time to prepare and to recover both physically and mentally, I feel there would have been no doubt about the final outcome.

It is noteworthy to mention that although the University was awarded a 1-0 forfeit later when it was determined that Washburn had used an ineligible player in the game, we never really did consider it a victory. Our final ’63 record, without counting the forfeited game as a win, was 7-3.

At the time all this was happening, I didn’t think it was that much out of the ordinary. I guess I thought situations such as this were commonplace and this just happened to be our time to experience it. Now, as I look back some years later, I realize it was quite an unusual order of events.

Shane Cavanah coached high school football in Missouri for more than 40 years, compiling a record of 255-119-3 and winning a state championship with Princeton in 1968. He was inducted into the Missouri Coaches Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2012. Friends and teammates can reconnect with him at scavanah@shighway.com.