Missouri State

JACK STECK
Swimming & Diving Coach, 1983-2011
Inducted 2012

Jack Steck is one of just four people in Missouri State athletics history to coach men's and women's teams in one sport at the same time. Steck coached MSU men's swimming 29 seasons, and spent 14 campaigns guiding the women's team after he started the women's program in 1998-99. His men captured 11 league titles, winning the Mid-Continent Conference in 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990, the Missouri Valley in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, the Sun Belt in 2008, and finishing third in the Mid-American his first year in that league in 2010. The MSU women own eight MVC titles, winning in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. His swimmers won more than 120 individual event league titles and Steck received a dozen league Coach of the Year honors. In years when the Bears had no league affiliation, Steck won one Midwest Regional meet and one National Independent crown. Both MSU teams received league and national academic honors each of Steck's last three years with the Bears. Steck came to Missouri State in 1983 after 15 seasons as head coach at Drury University where the Panthers were nationally-ranked 14 consecutive seasons with back-to-back NAIA national titles in 1981 and 1982. Steck had dual meet records of 252-89-1 with the MSU men, 100-80 for the MSU women, and 134-50 at Drury for a final career mark of 486-219-1 (.689). Steck was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1975 and 1982. A native of South Bend, Ind., and 1964 graduate of Indiana State University, Steck received the 1981 ISU Distinguished Alumni Athletic Award and earned the designation Master Coach from the Swimming Coaches Association of America. In 1993, Steck became the seventh coach inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame for swimming and diving. He was inducted into the Drury Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.