Show-Me Sports Legacies

Missouri's two professional baseball franchises have stirred the passion of baseball fans since the St. Louis Cardinals' founding in 1892; when Kansas City was awarded an expansion franchise in 1969, Ewing Kauffman's Royals sought part of the spotlight and allegiance of Missouri baseball fans.  St. Louis is a storied franchise from Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean through Bob Gibson and Albert Pujols and 11 World Champi...

Jacky Payne, played for several Missouri coaching legends before becoming one himself!  At Skyline High School, Jacky played for Bill Barton and Dale Kimberling and was a 2x All-State Selection and 2x All-Ozarks Team Member.  He went to Trenton Junior College in 1973 and played for Coach Gary Garner, then finished his college playing career with Coach Gary Filbert at Missouri Western State College.  As a coach he led High School Bo...

Adrian Cox of Trenton, Missouri, fresh off his win at the National Farm Machinery Show Championship Tractor Pull in Louisville, Kentucky  joins the podcast with stories of travel, competition and achieving your dream.   Adrian has been highly successful as a 7 time winner of the Pro Pulling League, and now as the champion of the "Super Bowl" of tractor pulling in the Limited Pro Stock Division he has reached the pinnacle ...

Two 2026 inductees into the North Central Missouri College Athletics Hall of Fame, Diane Lowrey and Coach Steve Richman join us for a lively look back full of stories of NCMC basketball and softball.  Along the way we hear great stories of bus rides, boosters and the impact of grandmas sitting right behind the team's bench!  Diane, as a longtime newspaper editor, booster and trustee, and Steve, as a coach and athletic director...

Coach Gary Garner joins us to talk family and basketball, his playing exploits and long and highly successful coaching career that includes 562 victories as a college head coach.  A two time All-State player from West Plains, Missouri,  Coach Garner then played three years at Missouri University and began a lifelong relationship with legendary Coach Norm Stewart.  One of Coach Garner's early stops was in Trenton, Missouri at T...

In 1929, the Grand River Six was born and the long storied history of the Grand River Conference (GRC) began.  The original six, Albany, Stanberry, Grant City, Bethany, Maysville and King City, began playing football and basketball in 1930.  Along the way membership changed until a 16 team megaconference of small schools enticed Jeremy Benson to start covering all of it.  What began as a small hobby, blossomed into grandriverconfer...

A lively panel and lots of audio clips from podcasts past!  Chad Boyd, fresh off winning the 2025 KTTN Fearless Forecasters football competition in his 15th year on that broadcast and Brian Upton, All-Time Winningest Girls Basketball Coach at Trenton High School (Missouri) step into the studio prepped and ready to share highs and lows in sports in 2025.  The panel chooses favorite episode clips from Tucker Franklin, Tom Johnson, Gr...

A lively review of the creation of the North Central Missouri College Foundation Holiday Hoops Classic.  Since 2005, 266 teams from 3 states have participated in the annual event in Trenton, MIssouri.  Highlighted by David and Goliath matchups where small schools challenged quality teams from much larger schools and non-traditional matchups of teams from different conferences.  Committee members Brent Wyant and Mitch Dougan join Kr...

In 2009 Newtown-Harris broke through and capped a 4 year era of success with a run to the Missouri Show-Me Showdown Class 1 Basketball Final.  Stymied in the quarterfinals two straight years, the Newtown-Harris team continued to develop their skills and chemistry and kept focused on their ultimate goal to play for a state championship.  Coach Tim Cool, with 574 Missouri High School Wins and current coach of the Chillicothe Hornets ...

Greg Stahl went from an outstanding high school and college wrestler to successful coach and administrator to Missouri State High School Activities Association Assistant Executive Director in his career long passion for creating opportunities for kids.  Each step was fueled by a desire to help students find their niche and feel part of their high school community.  From his experience as a state medalist wrestler for Hall of Fame C...

From a program restart in 1990, Trenton Lady Bulldogs Golf, quickly rose to the top of Missouri programs with a 1997 State All-Class Championship.  They maintained a standard of excellence, placing within the top 10 in state tournaments 15 times in 20 years.  Competing against the largest high schools in the state plus the top private school programs, they took their love of golf and one another to a place no one imagined for the s...

Does work on the farm and small town upbringing prepare people for success in sports and life? Allen Berry and Brad Tolson, longtime local farmers and sports officials, coaches and fans tell some stories about growing up on the farm developing work ethic, teamwork, communication and problem solving skills (mixed in with some mischief!).  Clips from previous podcasts with Dr. Andy Peterson (Director of Athletics at NWMSU), Mark Curp...

KTTN's Fearless Forecasters show has been on the air since 1969.  It is Missouri's longest running radio program dedicated to forecasting college football and one of the oldest in the nation.  The term Fearless Forecasters is common now, but as of the program's launch in 1969 there was only a Fearless Forecaster Newspaper Columnist in North Carolina that predates that term (by just one year, 1968!) in the world of co...

Mark Curp's story began in Polo, Missouri, (Population: 539 in 1980!).  A track athlete without a track, Mark ran to a 2 mile run State Championship, then became a 7 time NCAA DII All-American and 2 time NCAA DI All-American at the University of Central Missouri (then Central Mo State University) in the 10,000 meters.  He was just getting started!  He turned professional in 1983 and ran to glory in 1985 with three major event ...

Greg Groggel had an Olympic Dream that blossomed into a career as an Emmy winning Film Producer.  Currently VP Unscripted/Skydance Sports, Greg has won 5 Emmys, most recently as Producer for the Netflix hit "The Redeem Team". In this episode he shares how the story of the 2008 Olympic U.S. Men's Basketball Team winning a Gold Medal in Beijing came together!  Greg tells us stories of his passionate pursuit of the Olym...

Women's Sports are growing tremendously and different sports are jockeying for position as the next big thing following in the path of women's basketball, soccer and softball.  Just this week (July 16-20) the NFL and ESPN are presenting a national Flag Football tournament highlighting both men's and women's competition and Flag Football will be included in the 2028 Olympics!  North Central Missouri College in Tr...

A lively discussion of the joys and pitfalls of youth sports.  Coach Jeremy Esry, North Central Missouri College, Head Men's Basketball Coach, joins us to talk about his new Speed and Agility Club.  This program offered through Green Hills Recreation Association launches a broader discussion on skill development vs. games and the balance required to maintain youth enthusiasm and involvement.  Trenton R9 School District Superin...

A lively profile of the storied history of Gallatin (Missouri) Golf; with 6 state titles in 20 years, Gallatin (Population: 1854) became the winningest program in Class 1 History.  Brice Garnett, current PGA Tour Professional with 2 PGA Tournament wins in a 10 year career and Chad Sullenger, member of 5 State Champion squads as a player and coach join us to tell the story of a bunch of golf loving kids who grew into champions!

Intro...

If there is big game in North Missouri, Tom Johnson is likely on the call!  In the second part of this episode we have some of the great calls from Tom's career thanks to KTTN-FM permission rights.  Hear about the rise of the NCMC basketball programs to national powerhouses in women's and men's NJCAA tournaments, great moments from Trenton Bulldog basketball and softball, Mercer and Meadville state championship calls...