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Mary Jo Wynn

General MSU Athletics Communications

Wynn Selected for 2017 MVC Hall of Fame Class

ST. LOUIS -- Long-time Missouri State administrator, coach and instructor Dr. Mary Jo Wynn was unveiled Wednesday (August 10) as part of the Missouri Valley Conference 2017 Hall of Fame class, the league announced.
 
The conference's 20th Hall of Fame Class will be inducted on March 3, 2017 and includes long-time administrators Wynn, Dr. Don Beggs (Southern Illinois/Wichita State) and Dr. Donald Boydston (Southern Illinois); a women's basketball Olympian in Charlotte Lewis of Illinois State; a former Major League Baseball manager and Wichita State baseball star in Eric Wedge, who won a 1989 NCAA Championship with the Shockers; and Bradley's Marcus Pollard, who helped the resurgence of Braves basketball in the early 1990s and later attained NFL star status as a tight end after not playing football in college.
 
 "We are so proud of Dr. Wynn for receiving yet another deserving honor," said MSU Director of Athletics Kyle Moats. "She helped set the standard of excellence in women's athletics here and across the country, and our University is forever grateful for her many contributions and her continued support."
 
A native of Hartville, Mo., Wynn enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an honoree in The Valley's Lifetime Achievement category. The backbone of one of the most progressive and successful women's athletics programs in the country and a pioneer for her leadership of the cause of women's sports, she was MSU's first director of women's athletics in a career in teaching, coaching and administration that stretched over four decades.
 
She retired from MSU in 1998 after having been a physical education faculty and athletics staff member continuously since graduating from the university in 1957. Her primary coaching assignments were volleyball and tennis -- programs she began for women on the Springfield campus in 1958.
 
Among the many honors she's been accorded for her career achievements, Wynn is a member of the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame and Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. She was named a Missouri Sports Legend by the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 and was the recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators. Wynn also established the MSU Women's Athletics Hall of Fame, is a recipient of MSU's Outstanding Alumni Award and the top annual academic award for MSU female student-athletes is named in her honor.
 
Yet another honor came her way in 2015 with the renaming of the academic area for MSU athletics as the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Academic Achievement Center. The Center provides a place for student-athletes to study, work in computer labs and receive academic advisement.
 
During Wynn's tenure as an athletics administrator at Missouri State, women's teams experienced success in every sport, with NCAA team appearances in basketball, softball, soccer, volleyball, golf and tennis plus numerous individual NCAA qualifications. MSU won an AIAW national title in softball in 1974, an AIAW national title in field hockey in 1979, and appeared in NCAA Basketball Women's Final Fours in 1992 and 2001. Notably, MSU has long held a place among national leaders in women's basketball attendance and led the nation in average attendance in 1993.
 
Wynn is Missouri State's 10th MVC Hall of Fame selection, joining fellow Bears Melody Howard (1999), John Q. Hammons (2000), Jackie Stiles (2007), Mark Stillwell (2008), Jimmy Wright (2009), Cheryl Burnett (2010), Charlie Spoonhour (2012), Linda Dollar (2015) and Bill Thomas (2016) in the Valley Hall. Stillwell and Wright were inducted as recipients of the Paul Morrison Award, while Hammons and Thomas were also inducted for Lifetime Achievement.
 
Tickets to the 2017 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held in the Peabody Opera House which is adjacent to Scottrade Center – can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
 
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