PROFILES: RETIRING CURATOR ALWAYS READY TO TAKE TIGER BY THE TAIL

It isn't hard to find one of the University of Missouri's most impassioned boosters in Southeast Missouri: John Lichtenegger is both a proud alumnus and hard-working 10-year member of its Board of Curators.

But this Tiger fan has done his share of roaring as well. A fiscal conservative, the Jackson lawyer has served as an outspoken watchdog on the board.

He's a mover and shaker in Missouri political circles as well. A close friend of Missouri Senator-elect John Ashcroft, Lichtenegger ran his first statewide campaign.

But this political insider also feels strongly that politics should stay out of university operations. That's why he was the lone dissenter when the board voted to oppose Hancock II.

Life will change for Lichtenegger come Jan. 1, when his tenure on the board ends. He served the first four years of an unexpired term of Charles Kruse, and then was reappointed by then-Gov. Ashcroft to a full six-year term. In all, he attended some 84 meetings, and directed some major changes in the university system.

Lichtenegger, 47, was raised in Jackson -- a far different place than today's town that is bursting at the seams. The family lived near the city park.

He is the third born of four brothers. All attended the Lutheran grade school and Jackson High School.

He was active in marching band, mixed chorus and the debate team.

"I talked a lot, and I asked a lot of questions," he laughs. "I was voted most talkative in high school."

He was active in marching band despite a freak accident that affected his leg at age 13. He stepped in a hole in the city park, and his leg struck a rock. It took some time for doctors to discover a floating bone chip in his knee. There was no pain, but his knee would just "go out" sometimes. When doctors finally figured out the problem, he was demobilized in a cast for two months. In another freak accident at age 16, he lost part of his vision in his left eye when it was cut by a sliver of glass.

His father operated Lichtenegger Fine Foods in Jackson. His grandfather was a grocer too, owning a story at the corner of William and Hanover in Cape Girardeau for many years.

Lichtenegger worked at his father's store throughout high school, but he had other pursuits in mind for a career choice.

A trip to Boy's State during his junior year in high school whet his appetite to the law.

"It seemed that everyone addressing us was a lawyer. It really provoked my interest in both politics and law."

Lichtenegger also credits his high school debate coach and speech teacher -- Ron Hahs -- for spurring his oratorical interests.

Hahs, now a Cape Girardeau insurance salesman, wasn't much older than the students he taught. But he brought much experience to the job, including personal victories at several national oratorical contests and championship debates.

"He had a great influence on me."

Lichtenegger made plans to attend Southeast Missouri State University after high school. The French-horn musician attended on a two-year music scholarship. He also performed with the Jackson and Cape Girardeau municipal bands.

His older brother Harold was also musical, earning a music education degree at Southeast. "He almost ran away with a circus band that came through town one time," Lichtenegger recalls with a smile. In recent years Harold served as band director in Puxico, but a massive stroke has left him disabled.

After two years at Southeast, Lichtenegger and a friend decided to transfer to the University of Missouri-Columbia.

"Each time I made a move, it was traumatic -- from Lutheran School to high school, from high school to Southeast, and from Southeast to University of Missouri--Columbia. At Columbia, I was living off campus, and living by my self."

Lichtenegger pursued an undergraduate degree in political science. He first became interested in politics in high school. He began attending political meetings with friend Fritz Sander and his dad, Leonard, a longtime Cape Girardeau County commissioner.

Lichtenegger heard great speakers at a number of Lincoln days and other gatherings. One of those speakers was the late Rush Limbaugh Jr., who Lichtenegger called one of the great orators of Missouri in his day.

But it was one particular speech that really cinched his interest in politics: a young Ronald Reagan spoke to the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce.

"I absolutely knew in my heart that with his ability and communication skills, he could do anything he wanted to do -- if not president, some other high office."

It wasn't long before Lichtenegger began working in a number of local campaigns.

After graduation, he immediately began work on his law degree at Columbia.

"Since my training was in political science, constitutional law and various forms of government and the courts interested me. I always knew I would become a Boy Scout executive or attend law school."

Upon graduation from law school, Lichtenegger took quite a different road than beginning a practice.

In the final year of college, he and three other students began a computerized direct-mail-and-list business. Friends, relatives and people they knew bought stock in the business as a way to raise the $58,000 to begin operations. He moved to Washington, D.C., with the business in 1972.

"It was a brand new concept at that time, really the start of computer-age mail. We did direct mail marketing for political committees and candidates. We also did commercial subscriber lists for U.S. News & World Report."

In 1972, the small firm also helped in the marketing effort of an unknown product launched by the 3M company -- post-it notes.

"No one had even heard of it then, and today it's something most people use every day. We sent out samples to test market areas."

What did he think of the new product? "They looked pretty handy to me. We started using them in the office."

In his role with the computer business, he traveled all over the United States. But he grew tired of living out of a suitcase, and in 1973, an appealing opportunity came along.

A mutual friend introduced him to a young John Ashcroft, then a lawyer in Washington, D.C., in 1973. He asked Lichtenegger to manage his campaign for state auditor in 1974.

Lichtenegger agreed, and spent a year on the campaign. But the post-Watergate era took its toll on many Republicans; Ashcroft lost by 2 percent of the vote.

"In my case you just go on and start again. You spend a little bit of time on what you might have done. But I remember one night when Jack Danforth came to me and said, `We have to do what it takes to keep this man available for public service.' A number of us were able to convince him to pursue public office again."

Ashcroft turned things around in his race for attorney general in 1976. He was re-elected, and then twice elected Missouri governor. Last November Missourians chose him to replace retiring Danforth as U.S. senator.

Although they lost the election, November 1974 wasn't a total lost: He met his future wife, Donna, on a blind date to a Missouri-Nebraska football game in 1974, and they married in November.

He then settled down to the business of law. In the early days, Lichtenegger did a lot of criminal work, appointed by the court. Today, he works more in real estate and workers' compensation.

While he has been active in a number of campaigns, Lichtenegger has no wish to become a politician. He prefers to remain behind the scenes. The closest he came to running for office was his 10-year stint on the University of Missouri Board of Curators.

"There are a number of opportunities for lay people to serve in public life that do not involve elections," he observes.

Lichtenegger applied for the board opening, and was appointed by Gov. Ashcroft in 1985. Lichtenegger had been an active alumni, chairman of the Cape Girardeau County chapter of the Mizzou boosters.

There are nine curators -- one from each congressional district -- and there can be no more than five from the same political party.

When he returned as a curator, not much had changed since he left with his law degree in 1972.

"The one major exception was the disastrous football program. When I went to school, the team was the winningest in the nation under Dan Devine. Norm Stewart had just started and was not doing that well."

Many of his professors in undergraduate or graduate school were still involved in campus or faculty governance.

"It made for great relationships. I had the tendency to listen to them a little bit more because these were the same faculty members who listened to their students. I was shaped by them tremendously."

He says the Board of Curators is "the farthest thing from a rubber stamp that you'll find in government in Missouri." During his tenure, Lichtenegger says he never attended a "meeting for the meeting" to decide what to do.

"All our decisions were made in public, and I'm very proud of that. Of course, that caused a lot of consternation since decisions were debated with the TV cameras rolling."

Lichtenegger says the board is virtually free of political influence outside of the fact the legislature provides one-third of the annual budget. "Not once in my 10 years did I have a call from a governor telling me what I should do or how I should do it."

The academic budget runs about $400 million. When counting all related operations, including hospitals and clinics, the annual spending budget approaches $1 billion.

Lichtenegger has enjoyed his service on the board. The curators have eight official two-day meetings a year, and he attends four or five special meetings and several committee meetings.

The typical curator spends 25 to 30 days in meetings a year. As president, that time is doubled, he estimates. In all, he attended 84 board meetings, missing only two in the last decade -- one when a local judge wouldn't delay a trial and another when his wife had surgery.

Lichtenegger is also proud of the university's faculty- and student-exchange program with South Africa, established at his suggestion in 1986. The board was called upon to divest of any companies that did business in South Africa because of apartheid.

Lichtenegger opposed the move, saying the university should not become involved in political, socio-economic issues not related to education.

"Instead, I suggested we do something constructive and positive. The university had 110 exchange programs with universities and colleges around the world. I suggested we start one in South Africa. It has grown into one of most successful programs with 80 of their faculty and our faculty involved."

Last November he went to the University of Western Cape (at his own expense) and spent a fascinating week on the campus. "They were in the midst of preparing for the elections. I found it an extremely, highly developed and civilized country."

In his board service, Lichtenegger said he has met many fascinating leaders from the U.S. and aboard. He had lunch with Jacques Cousteau and spent time with the new leadership of South Africa. The former university chancellor is now the chief of staff to Nelson Mandela.

The new year will bring a renewed focus on his law practice. But he plans to stay involved in the rural health-care issue, trying to aid the university in working to supply more doctors to small towns.

No longer a curator, he will remain an avid University of Missouri booster.