UCM Notable Alumni and Faculty University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg

Notable faculty

• Curtis Cooper - Mathematician
• Christopher Jargocki - Physicist
• Dane C. Miller - Attorney

• Prominent Athletic Coaches with UCM

  • Phog Allen - coached at UCM 1912-1919; compiled 84-31 record before returning to coach his alma mater, the University of Kansas.  Allen Fieldhouse is named for this legendary coach from UCM.
  • DR. FORREST C. "PHOG" ALLEN,
    1908-1909 and 1920-1956
                                                                    
    
    
    PHOG ALLEN (Player 1905-07, Coach 1908 to 1909, and 1920-1956)         
     “The game and the sport that it brings is the thing that makes it all worthwhile, not the winning.” – Phog Allen

    
    

    Dr. Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen is widely recognized as the ‘Father of Basketball Coaching’, and his legacy is forever etched into Kansas basketball history.
    His nickname was originally Foghorn, stemming from his days when he umpired baseball games and bellowed his decisions.  A sportswriter named Ward (Pinhead) Coble shortened and fancified it to Phog.  Actually, his players and most people around the KU campus called him Doc although his grandchildren called him Phoggy.
    Early years
    When basketball was only ten years old, he and his brothers formed the Allen Brothers Basketball team and played all comers. Basketball was only 10 years old, and the early rules of basketball specified that one member of the team should toss all the free throws.  Phog performed that duty for the Allen boys, and he was very good at it. It was reported that their father, William Allen, had to buy so many shoes for his athletic sons that he gained the nickname ‘Shoe’.
    In 1905 he joined the Kansas City Athletic Club, nicknamed the Blue Diamonds and became their star forward, free thrower and manager.  Phog came up with a plan to invite the Buffalo Germans, named by the AAU as the mythical national champion in 1904, to play the Blue Diamonds, a game he billed as the ‘World’s Championship of Basketball’.  He rented the enormous Convention Hall for the match, which was to be the best of three games.  The Germans won the first game, refereed by a Buffalo substitute.  The second game was won by the KCAC, which was refereed by a Kansas City local.  The Germans suggestion of James Naismith as the referee for the third game was accepted by the KCAC and Phog sank 17 free throws to lead the KCAC to a 45 to 14 victory in front of 4,000 fans.
    Boxing was his second favorite sport.  Mick Allen said his grandfather boxed as a teen-ager under an assumed name to keep knowledge of his bouts secret.
    Going to CollegePhog began as a student at the University of Kansas in 1904, where he lettered in basketball under Dr. James Naismith’s coaching.  He also played baseball, lettering two years.
    
    During his college tenure, he married Bessie E. Milton and started a family that eventually consisted of two sons and two daughters.
    He succeeded Naismith as KU's second coach in his senior year in 1907-08 at KU, where he led the Jayhawks to an 18-4 record.  The next year he also coached at two nearby schools, Baker University and Haskell Indian Institute. Kansas was 25-3 that season, Baker 22-2, and Haskell 27-5 for a combined record of 74 wins and 10 losses.
    When Allen was first thinking about making a career of coaching he talked with Naismith and was told, "You don't coach basketball, Forrest; you play it." "Well," Allen replied, "you can coach them to pass at angles and run in curves." Despite the bit of advice, Allen went ahead with his career and disproved Naismith. 
    Becoming a physicianAfter coaching KU for two years, Allen took a hiatus for three years to study osteopathic medicine at the Kansas College of Osteopathy, gaining the skill he became famous for in the treatment of athletic injuries. 
    He returned to coaching in 1912, to coach all sports at Warrensburg Teachers College (now Central Missouri State), from 1912-13 through the 1919 season.  His basketball teams won championships all seven seasons, with an astounding record of 102-7.
    Back to Mt. OreadAllen left Warrensburg to become Kansas’ Athletic Director in 1919 as well as football coach. He only coached football for a single season where he had a record of 5-2. After the first basketball game of the season, KU coach Karl Schlademan left the job to concentrate on his duties as track coach, so Phog took over the team.  After a couple of mediocre seasons in 1920 and ‘21, the team jelled and the Helms Foundation named his 1922 and 1923 squads national champions. His 1924 book, "My Basket-Ball Bible," helped set a course for college basketball. During the next four seasons, his teams compiled a 64-8 record and won four league championships.
    When the dribble was abolished in basketball in 1927, Allen became so angry that he quickly formed a meeting of coaches in Des Moines, Iowa, after the Drake Relays.  He spread so much dissention toward the new rule that it was overturned, and the dribble was back in the games.  From that protest, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) was formed and Allen served as its first president.
    In the fifteen seasons from 1930 through 1943, the Jayhawks captured the conference crown eleven times, during which they became the NCAA national runner-up in 1940. While Phog’s technical competence was extraordinary, his greatest asset was his ability to motivate players and establish a winning attitude.  “Somehow he convinced you that when you played for Kansas you were supposed to win”, recalled Ted O’Leary, former player and later journalist at Sports Illustrated.  “He was a very enthusiastic, positive man, and he made you share his enthusiasm.” Ray Evans said "He could get you fired up to the point you wanted to knock the door down."
    Above his office desk hung a portrait of the late Dr. Naismith, inscribed in 1936: “With kindest regards to Dr. Forrest C. Allen, the father of basketball coaching, from the father of the game.”
    Allen coached two of his sons, Mit, who won letters in 1934-36 and went on to law school and Bob, who lettered in 1939-41, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and went on to medical school. He became, in time, the progenitor of a long line of prominent coaches, including Hall-of-Famers Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, Dutch Lonborg at Northwestern, Dean Smith at North Carolina, Frosty Cox at Colorado, and Ralph Miller a Wichita State, Iowa and Oregon State.
    He was the driving force behind basketball becoming accepted as an official sport in the Olympics in 1936, and later became an assistant coach on the 1952 Olympic team.   He was also instrumental in the creation of the NCAA tournament established in 1939. In January 1943, the Helms Foundation named Allen as “the greatest basketball coach of all time”, based on their survey of coaches and basketball authorities across the country. 
    During the war, Doc Allen began his "Jayhawk Rebounds," a series of 18 newsletters communicating with his players and close friends in the armed forces. Allen, who also served and headed the Douglas County Draft Board, wrote to the guys about everything, reprinted some of their replies and compiled an ever-growing list of addresses so they could reach each other.
    He was a colorful figure on the University of Kansas campus, coaching all sports and becoming widely known for his osteopathic manipulation techniques for ailing athletes. Dr. Allen was a legend in the field of treatment of athletic injuries and included a long list of high-profile performers, especially baseball players such as the likes of Mickey Mantle, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Johnny Mize.
    Although there were some relatively down years after WWII, Allen did an excellent job of recruiting in the late 40’s, building a team led by All-American Clyde Lovellette that culminated in winning the national championship in 1952. After the NCAA title game, which the Jayhawks won, 80-63, over St. John’s, Phog wrote a letter to his players, saying: “It’s been great fun. But twenty-five or thirty years from now you boys will radiate and multiply the recollections of your struggles and your successes and your defeats and your dejections. All these will be rolled into a fine philosophy of life which will give you durable satisfactions down through the years.”
    Allen long campaigned loudly to increase the height of the basket to 12 feet.  “The tall men are killing the passing, the dribbling, the teamwork that makes basketball exciting.”   “If we raised the goals” he said in 1940, “these mezzanine-peeping goons wouldn’t be able to score like little children pushing pennies into gum machines.  They would have to throw the ball like anyone else.  They would have to make the team on real skill, not merely on height.” However, after recruiting Wilt Chamberlain, he said with a quiet smile: “Twelve-foot baskets?  What are you talking about?  I’ve developed amnesia.”
    Allen Fieldhouse, opened in March 1, 1955, was named for him, and is still the home court for KU basketball. A mandatory retirement age of 70 forced him from the bench against his wishes after the 1956 season. He said with some bitterness he had reached the state of “statutory senility”.  Nonetheless, he then established a successful private osteopathic practice and many he treated contended he had a "magic touch" for such ailments as bad backs, knees and ankles.
    
    

    The legacy

    
    

    He coached college basketball for 49 seasons and compiled a 771-223 record, retiring with the all-time best coaching record in collegiate basketball history.
    The fruits of his efforts are forever etched into Kansas basketball history. In 39 seasons at KU, Allen won an amazing 590 games, a winning percentage of 73%, including three national championships and 24 conference championships.
    He was named National Coach of the Year in 1950 and was a charter inductee to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.  He was also inducted into the University of Kansas Athletic Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
    Phog died on September 16, 1974 at the age of 88 and is buried in Lawrence Oak Hill Cemetery, not far from the grave of Dr. Naismith.
  • KU Record:  590-219, .729, 39 Seasons
  • Phog was born in 1885 in Jamesport, Missouri, the fourth of six boys in the Allen family.  He grew up in Independence and lived on the same street as future President Harry S. Truman. It was there that he learned and exhibited the athletic and organizational skills that garnered him so much success in later years. 
  • Gene Bartow - coached three seasons at UCM, 1961-1964; coached for 34 seasons at the collegiate level, including succeeding John Wooden at UCLA in 1975 and creating the basketball program at UAB.
  •  Dr. Millie Barnes, who coached the Jennies for nine seasons (1971-80), is credited with laying the foundation for the current Jennies' basketball program. She never had a losing season in her nine-year career, compiling a 156-63 record and winning two AIAW state championships. The Jennies were 26-5 in her final season (1979-80) as coach and reached the AIAW national tournament. Highly respected in women's basketball circles nationwide, Barnes became the first woman to serve on the board of trustees of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (1977-86), and was the only woman out of 50 trustees until the late 1980's. Barnes has served on numerous other national committees and boards, as she was also the first female to be appointed to the Board of Directors for the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, to be appointed to a U.S. Olympic Committee by the NCAA, and to be elected Vice-President of the Amateur Basketball Association of USA.
    She served on the U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Committee as the chair and was instrumental in bringing the first U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team to Warrensburg to train prior to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The team earned a silver medal at the Olympics and featured such prominent women's basketball names as Pat Summit, Nancy Lieberman and Ann Meyers. In addition to the Central Missouri Hall of Fame, she is in four others including the Northeast Women's Hall of Fame (1994), the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame (2005), the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame (2000), and the Boston University Athletic Hall of Fame (1978) where she was the first woman ever inducted. Barnes retired from Central Missouri in 1991 as professor emeritus of physical education, following 22 years of service to the university.
    As an athlete, she was a member of the U.S. National Lacrosse team and competed nationally in field hockey, tennis, and badminton. She was drafted by the women's professional baseball league, and was on the All-American Lacrosse Team 12 years in a row. She earned her bachelor's from Boston University, and her master's and doctorate degrees from Surgent University. She was also a nationally rated basketball, lacrosse, softball, and volleyball referee. She was the President of the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport from 1974-1975.
    She was the Chair of the basketball rules committee and the official rules interpreter for all high schools and higher education institutions from 1966-1969. She was the Chief of the Delegation for the U.S. Women's Basketball team at the World Championship in Columbia, South America in 1975, was the manager of the U.S. Women's Basketball team at the Pan American Games in Mexico City in 1975, was the Chief of Delegation for the U.S. Women's Basketball team at the Jones Cup in Taiwan and Japan in 1976, and was the coach of the U.S. Women's Basketball team at the Jones Cup in 1977.
  • Joe B. Hall - followed Bartow as coach for the 1964-65 season before going to the University of Kentucky, where he would eventually succeed the legendary Adolph Rupp in 1972.
  • Dr. Earl Keth
    
    
    Earl Keth 

    Induction Class of 2010, MIAA Sports Hall of Fame

    
    

    Earl Keth

    Men's Basketball Student-Athlete/Coach

    Central Missouri (UCM) (1936-61)

    Keth led the Mules basketball team to national prominence in the late 1930's. He was the star of the 1937 and 1938 teams that won the first two National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) championships. He was chosen to the Chuck Taylor All-America Team for the 1937-38 season, becoming the Mules' first All-American in basketball. In 1972, Keth was selected as one of 10 players for the All-Time NAIB All-Tournament Team and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame.

    Following his playing career, he returned to UCM to serve as the Mules basketball coach from 1946-1961. He ranks third all-time in wins for the Mules basketball program. He also served as the Mules' golf coach from 1961 until the time of his death in 1972, and served on the football and tennis coaching staffs as well. He was the original architect of The University's golf course at Pertle Springs, which is named in his honor. Keth Memorial Golf Course is a full service, 18-hole public golf course located about one hour from Downtown Kansas City in Warrensburg, Missouri. The facility is owned and operated by UCM, and is the home of the Mules' golf team. On June 30, 1990, Dr. Keth was inducted into the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame
  • Lynn Nance - came to UCM from Iowa State in time for the 1980-81 season. Nance led the Mules to their third national championship in 1984. He stayed at the helm until 1985 and finished with a record of 115-35. He went on to coach at the University of Washington.
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  • Lynn Nance, Men's Basketball Coach

    Central Missouri (UCM) (1980-85)

    Nance led the basketball Mules to the 1984 National Championship, and posted a 114-35 overall record in five years as the head coach, winning almost 77 percent of the games he coached at Central Missouri. He won 20 or more games and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of his five seasons.
    Nance earned National Coach of the Year honors with a 29-3 mark and National Title during his fourth season at Central Missouri. He still holds the school record with a 26-game win streak overall, and won a record 46 in a row at home.
    Nance's Mules teams went 48-14 in MIAA play, winning 3 MIAA titles and 2 MIAA Tournaments. All five of his UCM teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament and the Mules were an amazing 76-7 at home during his tenure at Central Missouri. He went on to become a successful Division I head coach at St. Mary's in California and his alma mater, the University of Washington.
    He returned to the MIAA in 1996 to coach Southwest Baptist, where he was an All-American in 1963 before transferring on to Washington, where he was an All-American player at the Division I level. He is presently serving as an assistant coach at LSU under his former assistant at Washington, Trent Johnson. Nance entered the SBU Hall of Fame in 1983, the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 and has since entered others, including the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.
  • Jim Wooldridge - followed Nance, coaching 1985-91, in which he compiled a record of 131-48. His final three squads made the Sweet Sixteen in Division II. He coached in the Big 12at Kansas State University from 2000-2006. 
  • Jorja Hoehn 
    Induction Class of 2011, MIAA Sports Hall of Fame
    Jorja Hoehn, Women's Basketball Coach

    Central Missouri (UCM) (1980-85)

    Hoehn began her collegiate coaching career in 1977 as a graduate assistant at Central Missouri under leadership of her mentor and 2010 MIAA Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Millie Barnes. Hoehn completed her master's degree in 1979 at Central Missouri and after three seasons as an assistant, Hoehn became head coach of the Jennies in 1980.

    With Hoehn in command for five seasons, the Jennies amassed a 118-34 record while claiming the NCAA Division II National Championship in 1984. She was twice named the MIAA Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year at Central Missouri. Her Jennies teams went 34-2 in MIAA play, and 66-9 at home. She led the Jennies to the Final Four in three consecutive seasons, the only coach in school history to do so.

    After her career at UCM, she became the head coach at her alma mater, Indiana for three seasons, and from 1988-1998, she was the head coach at the University of California-Davis, leading them to 6 conference titles, 8 NCAA Tournament appearances and 5 Sweet 16's. She has also served as the president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and coached several USA select and Olympic festival teams. Hoehn entered the Central Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997 and the UC-Davis Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.

    
    
• Emmitt Thomas, ex NFL Player, Former Coach UCM
• Lee Hunt, former asst. coach Memphis, Former UCM Asst Coach
• Kim Anderson, former great at Mizzou, long time asst  basketball coach at the University of Missouri, today head coach of UCM
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  Tad Reid 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2012

  
  

  
  

  Tad Reid

  
  

  Men's Basketball Coach

  Central Missouri (1923-38)

  
  

  Reid won two National Championships at Central Missouri, in 1937 and 1938, and was presented with the first-ever collegiate championship trophy by Dr. James Naismith himself in 1938.

  He is the second-winningest coach in school history with a career record of 178-110 (.618). He took the 1936-37 team to a 17-3 record, and the 1937-38 team to a 24-3 mark.

  Reid entered the Central Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1992.

MIAA Unveils Inaugural Hall of Fame Class

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Fifteen Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association legends and five historic national championship teams have been elected to the inaugural MIAA Hall of Fame class, the conference office announced Wednesday (June 2). The Class of 2010 will be officially recognized at the annual MIAA Spring Awards Dinner June 10 at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City, Mo.

Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri will be represented by five inductees apiece, Missouri S&T (formerly Missouri-Rolla) will have two members, Missouri Southern and Truman will both have one inductee, and Ken B. Jones, the first commissioner of the MIAA, will also be honored in the Class of 2010.

Dr. Forrest "Phog" Allen, Kathy Anderson, Dr. Mildred "Millie" Barnes, Vernon Kennedy and Earl Keth will be inducted for their accomplishments at the University of Central Missouri.

Allen, a football and basketball coach at UCM from 1912-19, is a legend in basketball circles. Allen gained most of his fame during his 39 years as head coach at Kansas, but as the Mules' basketball coach from 1912-19 he compiled a record of 84-31, and as the football coach from 1912-1917 he was 29-17-2.

Anderson, the current Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations at Central Missouri, will be recognized for her athletic accomplishments for the Jennies. Anderson helped bring the UCM women's basketball program into prominence during her career from 1976-1980, leading the Jennies to an 82-31 record.

Barnes coached the Jennies basketball team for nine seasons, from 1971-80. She is credited with laying the foundation that helped make the Jennies' basketball program one of the best in the nation, never having a losing season while compiling a 156-63 record and winning two AIAW state championships.

Kennedy was a football and track standout from 1926-29. He was a three-time All-MIAA selection in football and helped the Mules to four straight MIAA track and field championships. He set school records in the javelin, shot put, and discus. In 1927, he won the decathlon at the prestigious Penn Relays.

Keth led the Mules basketball team to national prominence in the late 1930's. He was the star of the 1937 and 1938 teams that won the first two National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) championships. The Mules' first All-American in basketball, Keth is also a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame, and the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame.

Vernon Kennedy 

Induction Class of 2010

Vernon Kennedy

Football, Track Student-Athlete

Central Missouri (1926-29)

Kennedy was a football and track standout from 1926-29. He was a three-time All-MIAA selection in football and helped the Mules to four straight MIAA track and field championships. He set school records in the javelin, shot put, and discus. In 1927, he won the decathlon at the prestigious Penn Relays.

Following his Central Missouri athletic career, Kennedy played professional baseball for over 20 years, including 12 seasons playing Major League Baseball. He won 21 games for the White Sox in 1936, pitched the first-ever no-hitter at Comiskey Park in 1935, and made the American League All-Star Team in 1936 and 1938. After leaving organized baseball, he spent a number of years scouting and teaching at baseball camps. He then used his teaching degree for 12 years at Brookfield, Missouri High School before retiring in 1972.

An avid railroad buff his entire life, after retirement he and his wife began to collect railroad memorabilia as well as other antiques. This hobby gave them many years of activities and pleasure. Also a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame (inducted in 1955), he competed in the Senior Olympics and Missouri Show-Me State Games each summer into his mid-80's before his death in 1993. He was the oldest participant in the Show-Me State games at that time. He borrowed a discus, shot put and javelin from his alma mater for practice and during the games.

The University of Central Missouri football field bears his name, and the award for the most outstanding athlete of the year at UCM is in his honor. He was honored as a UCM Distinguished Alumnus in 1983, and was inducted into the inaugural class of the University of Central Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. Also in 1992, Kennedy received the American Legion Department of Missouri Distinguished Service Award. Kennedy passed away in 1993 at the age of 85.

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  Jim Crane 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2012

  
  

  JIm Crane

  
  

  Baseball Student-Athlete

  Central Missouri (UCM) (1973-75)

  
  

  A graduate of Lutheran North High School in St. Louis, Crane was a dominant pitcher for the Mules in the 1970s. He had a four-year career record of 21-8 with an earned run average of 2.42. His best season was in 1974, when he helped lead the Mules to a fourth-place finish in the NCAA College Division and was named the MIAA Most Valuable Player. He was 7-2 that season with a 1.86 ERA and 77 strikeouts. He finished 2nd in Division II that season with 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. With Crane on the mound, the Mules beat then Mankato State 5-2 at the Midwest Regional in Mankato, Minnesota en route to the first of now 16 regional titles for Mules baseball.

  
  

  In the Mules’ opening game of the College Division World Series in Springfield, Illinois against Ohio Northern, Crane struck out 11 straight batters and set the Mules’ single-game strikeout record with 18K’s in a 2-0 shutout win. That 1974 Mules’ team was inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. Crane was an honorable mention All-America and first-team All-MIAA selection in 1974 and 1975.

  Despite his teams playing an average of only 29 games per season, he ranks first in the Mules’ baseball record book in career complete games with 23 and career shutouts with seven. Crane ranks third in career strikeouts with 215, and is in the top ten in career wins with 21, career earned run average at 2.42 and career innings pitched with 216. He is one of only two pitchers in Mules’ history to be ranked in the top 10 in career wins, ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched. He was inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

  Crane is now CEO and President of Crane Capital Group, and is the owner of Champion Energy Services and owner of Crane Worldwide Logistics, a premier provider of customized transportation and logistics services. He became the fifth owner of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball Franchise in November, 2011. In 1996, Crane provided the funding for the construction of the Mules baseball facility, now known as Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field to honor his late coach, Bob Tompkins. He has continued his generous support of numerous projects in support of Mules baseball since that time.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Central Missouri Baseball 1994 NCAA National Champions 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2012

  
  

  Central Missouri Baseball

  
  

  1994 NCAA National Champions

  
  

  Head coach Dave Van Horn was hired just six weeks before the start of the season and would later be named the NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year after guiding the Mules to a 51-11 record on the season.

  UCM beat South Dakota State by a combined score of 39-15 (20-8, 19-7) in two games to win the regional and advance to the World Series.

  The Mules defeated California-Riverside and Armstrong State at the World Series before falling to Delta State 10-3. They came back to later beat Delta, 8-2, to advance to the title game.

  In the championship game, Central Missouri twice faced four-run deficits against Florida Southern, 4-0 and 6-2. The Mules rallied, scoring 6 runs in the sixth and then 6 more in the top of the 9th to break an 8-8 tie, and went on to win 14-9 and claim the national title.

  Rick Ladjevich was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year after hitting .460 with 14 home runs and 97 runs batted in.

  
  

  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball 1937 NAIB National Champions 

  Induction Class of 2010

  
  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball

  
  

  1937 NAIB National Champions

  
  

  Central Missouri's 1937 championship team was the first national title by an MIAA institution. The 1937 squad finished with a 17-3 overall record (9-1 MIAA), won the MIAA Championship and defeated Morningside (Iowa), 35-24 to win the first-ever NAIB National Championship.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball 1938 NAIB National Champions 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2010

  
  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball

  1938 NAIB National Champions

  The 1938 Mules compiled a 24-3 overall record, including a perfect 10-0 mark in MIAA play, to win their second consecutive conference title. They went on to win their second NAIB national title in a row with a 45-30 victory over Roanoke (Virginia).

  
  

  
  

  Rosie Jones 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2012

  
  

  Rosie Jones

  Women's Basketball Student-Athlete

  Central Missouri (1981-85)

  
  

  Jones enjoyed a standout four-year career for the Jennies, helping them make three straight trips to the NCAA Division II Final Four in the mid-1980s. A graduate of Central High School in Kansas City, Jones helped the Jennies compile a 104-21 record during her career. The starting center on the Jennies’ 1984 national championship team, she led the team in rebounding that season, averaging 7.9.

  
  

  The following season she led the Jennies both in scoring (19.0) and in rebounding (8.8) and was rewarded with the NCAA Division II Player of the Year Award, as the Jennies finished second in the NCAA Tournament. She also was the MIAA Most Valuable Player in 1985.

  The Jennies’ 1984 and 1985 teams were UCM Hall of Fame inductees in 1992 and 1996, respectively. Jones ranks fourth on the Jennies’ career scoring list with 1,792 points and tied for fourth in career rebounding with 850.

  Jones was a three-time All-MIAA First Team Selection (1982-1985), was the 1982-83 Regional All-Tournament Team Most Outstanding Player, and was a 1984-85 Regional All-Tournament Team Selection. Jones was an All-Region/All-District Selection by Kodak Large College Division and Fast Break College Division in 1983-84, and was a 1984-85 Kodak Division II All-Region Selection.

  She was a 1983-84 and 1984-85 NCAA Division II Championships All-Tournament Team Selection, and was a Kodak Division II 1984-85 All-America Selection.

  Jones’ number 33 has been retired by Central Missouri, and she was inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

  
  

  

  Bill Fennelly 

  Induction Class of 2012

  
  

  Bill Fennelly

  Men's Basketball Student-Athlete

  Central Missouri (1977-81)

  Fennelly played for Mules Basketball from 1977-1981 and was a 1978-79 All-MIAA First Team Selection. In 1979-80, he was named the MIAA Most Valuable Player and was an All-MIAA First Team Selection. He earned his third All-MIAA First Team award in 1980-81.

  Fennelly was a three-time All-American (1979: AP Honorable Mention All-American; 1980: NABC 2nd Team All-American; 1981: NABC 1st Team All-American). His No. 40 was the First Central Missouri Mules Basketball number to be retired.

  Inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. Fennelly is the most prolific scorer in Central Missouri and MIAA basketball history. Playing in a period (1977-81) that did not have the three-point shot, Fennelly scored 2,819 points (25.4 average) in his four-year career. That point total still stands as both the MIAA and the Mules’ career scoring record.

  He also holds nine other UCM game, season or career records, including most points in a game -- 54. A graduate of Raytown South High School, he led the Mules in scoring all four years of his career. As a freshman, he averaged 19.7 points per game, improved to 29.7 points as a sophomore, led the nation as a junior with a 30.8 average and finished with a 21.4 average as a senior.

  He scored in double figures in 106 of the 111 games he played, including a streak of 68 consecutive games in double figures. In addition to his scoring records, he also ranks ninth in career rebounding for the Mules. He had a career field goal percentage of 49.2 and a career free throw percentage of 80.4.

  
  

  
  

  Carla Eades 

  Induction Class of 2011

  
  

  Carla Eades, Women's Basketball Student-Athlete

  
  

  CentralMissouri (1980-84)

  The second leading scorer in school history at UCM, Eades is the only player in school history to earn All-America honors three times. She was named 1st team All-MIAA and MIAA MVP the first two years that honor was available, as well as first-team all-region three times.

  
  

  Eades was also a two-time Academic All-American and Academic All-District selection three teams. She helped the Jennies win the 1984 National Championship as a senior, and earned NCAA Division II National Player of the Year honors in the process, averaging 18 points per game and shooting 87 percent from the free throw line.

  Her number 22 jersey has been retired at UCM. Eades led the MIAA in scoring as a junior, and led the team in scoring and free throw shooting three times. Her career scoring average was 17.5 points per game, amassing 2,098 career points. Her free throw percentage of .792 and rebound total of 752 are still ranked the in school's top 10 for a career. Eades entered the Central Missouri Athletic Hall of Fame in the inaugural class of 1992, and has entered numerous others since.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball 1984 NCAA National Champions 

  
  

  Induction Class of 2011

  
  

  Central Missouri Men's Basketball

  1984 NCAA National Champions

  The '84 Mules went 29-3, winning the MIAA with an 11-1 record. They also won the MIAA Tournament. The '84 Mules went 11-0 in games decided by 5 points or less.

  The Mules hosted and won the South Central Regional, going 5-0 in the NCAA Tournament, including a heart-stopping 89-85 overtime win against North Alabama in the Final Four. In the title game, the Mules beat St. Augustine's 81-77 to win the national title.

  MIAA Hall of Famer Ron Nunnelly scored 71 points in the final four, Brian Pesko added 55 and 2011 MIAA Hall of Fame inductee Lynn Nance was named Division II Coach of the Year.

  Two hours later, the Jennies won the national title on the same floor, making Central Missouri the only school to win national championships on the same court, the same day.

  
  

  

  
  

  Ron Nunnelly 

  Induction Class of 2011

  
  

  
  

  Ron Nunnelly, Men's Basketball Student-Athlete

  
  

  Central Missouri (1981-85)

  Nunnelly is the Mules' second-leading career scorer with 2,468 points during his four-year career for the Mules from 1981 to 1985...... That point total ranks third in MIAA history...For his career, he averaged 20.6 points per game, 4.1 rebounds per contest and had 130 steals.

  
  

  The star of the Mules' 1984 national championship team, Nunnelly led the team in scoring that season with a 23 point per game average. He scored 33 points in the semi-final win over North Alabama and 38 points in the national championship game, earning the Final Four Outstanding Player Award.

  He was a three-time first-team All-MIAA selection, a two-time MIAA MVP, a third-team All-America pick in 1983 and 1984 and a first-team All-America choice in 1985. The Mules were 94-26 during his career, winning an MIAA title in 1984 and sharing the title in 1985. Nunnelly is one of only two Mules' basketball players whose uniform number has been retired, as no Mule will ever wear the number 14 again. Nunnelly was inducted into the UCM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Kathy Anderson 

  Induction Class of 2010

  
  

  Kathy Anderson

  Basketball, Softball, Track Student-Athlete

  Central Missouri (1976-80)

  Anderson helped bring the Jennies basketball program into prominence during her career from 1976-1980. With the Jennies belonging to the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) and playing what would today be considered a Division I schedule, she helped lead the Jennies to an 82-31 record over four years. Perhaps her most outstanding accomplishment was her selection as a member of the USA Women's National Basketball program for the three years leading to the 1980 Olympics, which the USA boycotted. In 1977, Anderson served as captain of the USA Women's Junior Basketball team that traveled to Taiwan. 1978 and 1979, she was a member of the USA Women's Senior Basketball teams that traveled to China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Russia. In 1979, Anderson also was selected as an alternate to the Pan-American Games USA team.

  For her career, she averaged 14.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game. A native of Sedalia, Missouri, she still ranks fifth at UCM in total points (1,633), second in total rebounds (877) and sixth in steals (288); despite 20+ games where this statistic was not kept. As a senior, she was a second-team Academic All-American selection and she had her No. 32 jersey retired at UCM in 1991. Anderson was inducted into the inaugural Hall of Fame class at the University of Central Missouri in 1992 and was recently honored by her high school, Sedalia Smith-Cotton as a member of their hall of fame and with the retirement of her high school jersey. She was selected as a member of the Jennies All Decade Team (1970's) and the Jennies Silver Anniversary Team. As a multi-sport student-athlete, she also played on the Jennies softball team, earning AIAW State tournament team honors in 1980 as an outfielder and leading the team with a .367 average in 1978. As a freshman in 1977, she placed third in the high jump, fourth in the 100-yard hurdles and sixth in the long jump at the MIAW state track meet. She graduated cum laude from UCM in 1980 with a bachelor of science in education and received her master's of science in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration from Seattle Pacific in 2000. Following college, Anderson went on to pursue a coaching career with stops as an assistant at CSU-Fullerton (5 years), Washington (11 years) and two years in the WNBA.

  Anderson began her athletic administrative career at Washington (6 years) and Northwest Missouri State (3 years) and currently serves as the Associate Athletic Director for Internal Operations at UCM. She has also served as a past chair of the institutional representatives' council of the MIAA, chair of the NCAA Division II Softball Committee and is presently a member of the Division II Women's Basketball Committee

  

  Central Missouri Women's Basketball 1984 NCAA National Champions 

  Induction Class of 2011

  
  

  
  

  Central Missouri Women's Basketball

  1984 NCAA National Champions

  
  

  The '84 Jennies went 27-5, winning a share of the MIAA title with a 10-2 record, and capturing the MIAA Tournament title under the direction of 2011 MIAA Hall of Fame inductee Jorja Hoehn.

  The team went 7-3 against programs that are now or were Division I, with three of its five total losses coming at Kansas State, Nebraska and Mississippi. After back-to-back MIAA losses in late January, the '84 Jens never tasted defeat again, rattling off 14 straight wins to close out the year in perfect style.

  The Jennies hosted and won the South Central Regional, and won the NCAA quarterfinal game against Chapman College at the Multipurpose Building. The Jennies beat Valdosta State 74-70 in the Final Four and avenged a Final Four loss the previous season in besting Virginia Union 80-73 for the national title. MIAA Hall of Famer Carla Eades was the Final Four MVP and Division II player of the year.

  
  

  
  

  
  
• Russ Ball - NFL executive
• David Cook - 2008 American Idol winner
• Dale Carnegie - Author of How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Mark Curp - Former World and American record holder in the half-marathon
• Grant Curtis - Executive producer of Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3.
• Todd Devoe - Wide receiver formerly of the Denver Broncos. Currently a member of the AFL's Arizona Rattlers.
• Butch "Hacksaw" Reed - Professional wrestler
• James Evans - Inventor of Cheerios^[5]
• Roderick Green - Defensive end and linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers
• Robert P. Foster - President of Northwest Missouri State University from 1964 to 1977
• David Holsinger - World famous wind ensemble composer
• Kip Janvrin In Sydney, Janvrin, the oldest U.S. decathlete to ever compete in the Olympics, placed 21st and was the winner in the 1,500m. He is the world record holder for most career decathlon wins (41) and the American record holder for most career decathlons over 8,000 points
• Maury John - Coached Drake University 1958-1971 and Iowa State University 1971-1974. He led Drake to a third place finish in the 1969 NCAA tournament.
• Allan Kayser - Actor; played the role of Bubba Higgins on Mama's Family
• James C. Kirkpatrick - Served as Missouri Secretary of State for 20 years; Library at UCM is named in his honor.
• Phill Kline - Former Kansas Attorney General; currently a law professor at Liberty University.
• Toby Korrodi - Signed by the Arizona Cardinals in 2007; cut in training camp
• Henry Mason - Former NFL wide receiver and long-time University of Wisconsin assistant football coach^[6]
• Jeffrey Lundgren - Self-proclaimed prophet, former leader of a cult group, and convicted murderer.
• Gregg Miller - Inventor of Neuticles and author
• Erich "Mancow" Muller - Hosts Mancow's Morning Madhouse, a Chicago-based radio show that has been syndicated across the U.S.
• Carrie Nation - Leader of the Temperance Movement
• Chuck "The Dude" Palumbo - Professional wrestler
• Earl Edwin Pitts - Soviet spy
• Jerry Reuss - Former pitcher; best known for his years with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He attended Boys State which is always held at UCM each year.
• David Steward - CEO of World Wide Technology, Inc., the world's largest African American-owned company
• Ron Tabb He won the 1981edition of the Paris Marathon  with England's Dave Cannon. He won the 1983 Beijing Marathon and competed at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics later that year, finishing in 18th place overall. His career suffered due to the 1980 Olympic boycott where he had qualified for the games but the US did not participate in the Moscow Games. He married Mary Decker, US Track star but they divorced after two years of marriage.
  • 1983 Boston Marathon....2:09:31 2nd. 5th fastest marathon in U.S. history
  • 1983 N.Y. City Marathon.2:10:24 3rd. 1st American
  • 1983 Wang Australian Marathon..2:10:53 1st 2nd fastest marathon on Australian continent.
  • 1980 Mardi Gras Marathon (New Orleans) 2:11:00 1st Louisiana state record. (still stands)
  • 1981 Paris Marathon Paris, France..2:11:44..1st fastest marathon on French soil.
  • 1980 U.S. Olympic trials..2:12:39 4th..1st alternate U.S. Olympic Team
  • 1980 Houston Marathon..2:13:35..1st..Texas state marathon record
  • 1983 World Championships..2:13:Helsinki, Finland 18th. Fastest time at W.C. by an American until 2007.
  • 1980 Boston Marathon..2:14:48 3rd..2nd American
  • 1982 Nike OTC Marathon 2:15:30 15th. Eugene, Oregon
  • 1985 Rio Marathon..2:16:16 1st. Fastest marathon on S. American soil.
  • 1978 St. Louis Marathon 2:16:35 1st..Missouri State Marathon record. (it still stands)
• Delanie Walker - Tight end for the San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans
• 
• Jeff Wright - Former nose tackle for the Buffalo Bills