Many of you know already, but I thought I would take the time and column space to publicly announce this is the final edition of The Fayette Advertiser with my name on the banner as sports editor.

I began this gig, kind of, on November 1, 2020. I say “kind of” because the Friday before, we found out the international CMU student that was staying with us, had tested positive for Covid, forcing us into a two week quarantine. 

Since that time, I have learned so many things, mostly from the owner/publisher/editor of The Advertiser, Justin Addison. Things like the difference between boy’s and boys’, the difference between it’s and its, and that a 100-meter dash is written with a hyphen between “100” and “meter.”

More importantly, I have been witness to so many things in the sports history of central Missouri. Although I will not be able to mention all of them, I would like to highlight a few.

Readers will remember that I am a baseball guy. That is why it is very interesting to me that one of my favorite highlights over the past year-and-a-half, has been my interest in the game of soccer. I have been fascinated watching the soccer teams of Central Methodist. Despite playing split seasons due to Covid, the men of Central managed to advance to three finals and win two championships. The ladies have advanced to the championship round as well. In doing this, men’s coach Alex Nichols, and women’s coach Dan Schmidlin, have taken me under their respective wings teaching me about the game and showing me it is a game I can like. Not an easy task considering the fact that for at least 50 of my 60 years, I have been a sworn enemy of soccer. Thanks Alex and Dan for never backing down in your pursuit to convert me.

I was able to witness the the awarding of Heart championship rings to the 2019-2020 Central Methodist women’s basketball team, a bittersweet moment as the team was unable to compete in the NAIA National Tournament due to the NAIA, along with just about every other sports entity in the country, shutting down due to Covid. It was thought the Lady Eagles would be able to advance deep into the tournament as they were loaded with talent.

I’ve been able to watch the likes of Madison White, Keighlan Cronin, and Mikayla Johnico earn NAIA softball All-American status for the 2022 season. The girls needed to look no further than the CMU softball coaching staff of head coach Pat Reardon, along with his assistants Gene Reardon and Jonathan Lynch for inspiration as they were named as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association’s Region V staff of the year. The team also went on an unprecedented winning streak winning 28 games in a row.

I saw coach Nate Breland and the CMU baseball team reach the NAIA tournament twice, coming up just one game short of a national championship in 2021. 

The success of the baseball and softball teams helped to bring on changes to both Estes Field and the Cox Softball complex as crews are currently racing to install new turf and make changes to the configurations of both fields so that the fields can be better utilized by both CMU teams and Fayette High School.

I had the honor of watching a young man named Garren Vroman carry the football for the Fayette High School football team. The things Vroman did on the football field, virtually on one leg were a sight to behold. In his final game as a Falcon, despite going down twice with injury, Vroman carried the ball 33 times for 193 yards and a touchdown. Although the game ended in a one-point loss to end the season for the Falcons, Vroman’s effort was one that will be remembered by Falcon fans for a long time. Vroman also had a career year for the Falcons, rushing for 2901 yards and 36 touchdowns on 261 attempts. He also gained 449 yards on 24 receptions, and added seven touchdowns through the air.

I got to watch a few of the 400 wins Glasgow coach Mick Cropp has accumulated over 22 years as head basketball coach. Cropp is a legend at Glasgow graduating in 1993 before becoming coach in 2000. Cropp’s 400th win came on a very special night. It was pink out night in Glasgow, in which the YellowJackets were honoring Cropp’s mom, Jeanie.

Just like soccer, track and field, has never been a strong point of mine, but I found a willing mentor in Harrisburg’s Blake Logan. Meeting Logan is similar to meeting energy itself. Imagine the silver ball in a pinball table, then put a red and white warm-up suit on it, then you can maybe begin to see what it is like trying to carry on a conversation with Logan about track. He just cannot contain his excitement when the subject of track and his team are brought up. Logan never hesitated to answer my questions, day or night and helped me to understand the chaos that track and field can seem to be. I am very grateful to him for sharing his knowledge and love of the sport with me.

I always dreaded the trip to Higbee, for no other reason than it’s far, twisty, and usually in the dark. Arriving at the Higbee gym, however, was always an experience. With very little area to stand on the end lines of the basketball court, I always felt I was just a heartbeat away from being trampled by a hoard of basketball players. I never was, but the feeling was always there. 

While at Higbee, during the past two seasons, I got to watch what I considered to be the best Class 1 high school basketball team in the state. Unfortunately, my opinion did not matter much when the games were played and the Tigers were not able to clinch a state title, but boy, did they play some good basketball. Led by Derek Rockett and Jordan Fuemmeler the 2020-21 and 2021-22 teams played head and shoulders above their opponents before losing in the final four their freshman season and in regionals their sophomore season.  The 2022-23 season will look different for coach Tanner Burton’s Tigers as Fuemmeler and his over 1000-points are  transferring to Glasgow to allow Fuemmeler to assist his family better due to a tragedy that caused him to lose his grandfather. Character like that runs rampant in area athletes.

With last season’s district win, New Franklin softball coach Ross Dowell, quietly won his 300th game as a softball coach. Dowell made no announcement, and I only found out when senior Abby Maupin’s mother, Lisa approached me after the game and quietly whispered the information to me. Dowell’s team only found out when he told his three seniors. Character like that runs rampant in area coaches. 

It has truly been an honor to get to know the coaches and athletes of the five high schools this newspaper covers along with CMU and I have so enjoyed getting to know the kids, parents, and coaches, but now, my body is telling me it’s time to quit standing on hardwood basketball courts for hours on end. It’s time to stop stepping in holes while chasing football teams up and down the field. It’s also time to spend time with my wife and grandkids. I’m so looking forward to that.

I’ll still see everyone at sporting events, but now, I’ll have to pay to get in. Don’t be afraid to say “hi,” I look forward to seeing you all.