MSU Athletics Hall of Fame
The honor of the second team induction into the hall goes to the Bears' AIAW Division I national championship softball team from 1974. The 1974 Bears were a relatively young program on the intercollegiate scene and Missouri State had gotten out in front of the women's sports scene on the state, regional and national levels with the early establishment of the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). The decision was made that softball would be one of three MSU sports that would compete at the top level, AIAW Division I.
Long a successful backbone of the MSU spring sports offering, Bears' softball was established in 1969 with Reba Sims serving as the program's first head coach. The Bears enjoyed success right from the start as they qualified for the AIAW World Series and finished third in the series after the 1969 season. MSU finished as the national runner-up in 1970 and came back to repeat its national third place finish after the 1971 campaign. The early years of the event saw the softball World Series staged in Omaha, Neb.
Kay Hunter took over the reins of the softball program in 1971-72 and her squads continued the Bears' success started by Sims. Hunter, a native of nearby Mt. Vernon, Mo., and a 1955 MSU graduate, had been active in coaching in local summer leagues and a number of her players from those squads joined her at MSU.
MSU finished ninth in the World Series in 1972, captured another national runner-up finish in 1973 and broke through to the World Series title in 1974. Hunter took the Bears back to the AIAW national meet in Omaha, and later to Norman, Okla., in 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982. The AIAW dissolved after the 1981-82 sports seasons and women's sports across the nation went under the NCAA umbrella for the first time in the fall of 1982.
Hunter continued to coach MSU through the 1982 season and wound up with a career won-lost record of 227-111 with the Bears for a .672 winning percentage that remains the best of all MSU softball coaches. Hunter's teams won six Missouri AIAW titles in her 11 seasons at the helm of the program in addition to her regional and World Series appearances.
Hunter's 1974 Bears club played its regular season games at Springfield's Fassnight and Meador Parks and posted a final season record of 19-4. MSU's potent attack in the campaign included some big offensive totals in the World Series wrapped around a 1-0 win over Luther College where the only run in the contest came in on a squeeze play. The sweep to the World Series championship included victories over the University of Massachusetts (11-1), Luther College (1-0), Eastern Illinois University (9-8), Wayne State University (8-5) and the University of Northern Colorado (14-7).
Team members included leftfielder Janet Cutbirth, outfielder/catcher Susan Alley, outfielder Diane Gaehle, outfielder Dee Bratcher, outfielder Janis Morgan, pitcher Debbie Dace, pitcher/first baseman Cindy Henderson, first baseman Pam Mangrum, third baseman Irene Barnes, second baseman Robbie Johnson, catcher Becky Goad, catcher Karen Bethurem, outfielder Mary Doyen, shortstop Glenda Bond and pitcher Brenda Gunier. Robbie Johnson and assistant coach J. Carol Myers are deceased.
