BOB DEES
Football, 1948-51
Inducted January 25, 1992
 
Bob Dees was a football letterman at SMS from 1948 to 1951 and played on MIAA conference championship teams his freshman and senior seasons.  The native St. Louisan joined the Bears’ program when the highly-successful Tommy O’Boyle was in his last season as the SMS head coach.  The ’48 Bears became only the second SMS team ever to win as many as nine games in a season.  The 9-2 SMS campaign included a share of the MIAA title along with Northwest Missouri State, and a berth in the first SMS post-season game ever, the 1948 Mo-Kan Bowl in Kansas City, in which the Bears came back in 1951 with a 6-3-1 season which included a 4-0-1 record in the MIAA and another tie for the league title, this time with Northeast Missouri State.  Bob Dees was a key part of the success the Bears enjoyed in those seasons, as he played tackle as a freshman and was switched to an end spot as a sophomore in the first of his three seasons as a starter.  He returned to tackle in 1950 and was a regular there on both offense and defense for his final two seasons.  Highlights of Dees’s SMS career included the recovery of a fumble which led to a touchdown in the Bears’ 31-6 win over Central Missouri State in 1951, and he was selected to the MIAA all-conference team in both 1950 and 1951.  Following his graduation, Dees was drafted by the NFL Los Angeles Rams.  He was subsequently traded to Green Bay and spent the ’52 season with the Packers.  With the Korean conflict in progress, Dees was drafted into the Navy and was an active participant in service athletics.  He was selected to the all-Seas Service football team, but a leg injury ended his hopes for an extended professional gridiron career.