JOHN C. STATER
Football, 1925-28
Inducted September 27, 1980

John Stater was a football letterman for SMS from 1925 through 1928 and was one of the integral members of one of the greatest of all SMS teams, the Bear club of 1928.  The Bruins were 7-1-1 that year, sharing the MIAA title with Northwest Missouri when the game between the Bears and Bearcats ended in a scoreless tie.  SMS recorded eight shutouts in a row during the years, a record which still stands, and permitted just 13 points for the season, all of them coming in a season finale loss to Central College.  Stater, a native of Miller, was one of five Bears to make the all-conference team that season for Coach Briggs’ club, and it was his play at end that was the key for SMS in many of the Bears’ victories.