CHARLES MCCALLISTER
Football, 1942-47
Inducted September 22, 1979

Charles “Hoss” McCallister, a native of Aurora, saw his opportunity for college gridiron activity interrupted by World War II.  He was a freshman letterman at tackle for SMS in 1942 and then entered the military service.  He played at Western Michigan University in the V-12 program in 1943 and then went on active duty in the Western Pacific with the Marine Corps.  He returned to SMS after the service and was again a standout two-way tackle for the Bears, playing in Coach Howard Blair’s final SMS season of 1946 and the first of two fine seasons produced by Coach Tommy O’Boyle in 1947.  The ’47 Bears were 7-2-1 and were the MIAA runnerup.  Since his graduation from SMS, McCallister has spent over three decades in the coaching profession at a number of southwest Missouri high schools and has remained a strong and active supporter of SMS athletics.  He has turned out a large number of young athletes from the high school programs he has guided and many of those athletes have gone on to play major roles on the football teams at SMS.