Faces of Southeast Missouri: Cindy Gannon

In junior high, Cindy Gannon, who grew up in DeSoto, Mo., played volleyball and basketball for her school. In high school, she was recruited to play basketball at Mineral Area College, but switched to volleyball. After two years, she walked onto the volleyball team at Southeast Missouri State University. The plan at the time was to get her degree in education and head back home; her dad had recently passed away, and she wanted to be available for her mom and brothers. But it was her mom and newfound love for Cape Girardeau that encouraged her to stay.

“My mother was the wisest woman I ever knew,” Gannon says. “She said, ‘We’re going to be fine. Do your thing. Get your master’s degree.’”

So, she did.

During that time, there wasn’t a lot of equity in female athletics. Scholarships were limited, and female coaches weren’t paid very well. However, Gannon worked her way up from student athlete to graduate assistant to head volleyball coach for the next 15 years. During that time, she taught classes, worked intramurals and coached the team. Wherever they needed her, she went.

“I was experienced, but not that much older than the student athletes I was coaching,” Gannon says. “That wouldn’t happen today, to get the job I did.”

When her mom died from breast cancer in 2000, Gannon found a way to honor her mother’s life by giving back to the community that had given so much to her. She initiated Dig for Life, a partnership between SEMO Volleyball and Saint Francis Healthcare System, to raise money for free mammograms for women in Southeast Missouri.

A few years later, Gannon brought the Walk for Women to Cape Girardeau. The brisk 30-minute walk celebrates women who represent Southeast Missouri State University on the fields, track or courts and in the gym, and raises money for all student athletes.

There were a few obstacles along the way, but for each obstacle, Gannon found support from the university and community. When Gannon retired from SEMO as the athletics administrator in 2018, they named the annual walk for women after her. This year is the walk’s sixteenth season.

“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the opportunities I had,” Gannon says. “There’s no better investment than in someone’s education through sports, for both men and women.”

Today, Gannon continues to support the community through her work with the Cape Catfish, a collegiate summer baseball league that started in 2019. Gannon sets up the physical venue for the events, securing food trucks and vendors for each home game, admitting, “It takes a lot of people to pull it off.” But the hard work is worth it: Gannon loves that a family can walk to Capaha Park and catch a good, wholesome baseball game.

Gannon’s continued passion for athletics and the community keeps her excited about whatever comes next. When she’s not prepping for the Catfish season or catching a game, Gannon loves to play golf. She loves to cook and bake bread. And she loves to hang out with her spouse and their two rescue dogs.

“You can get complacent when you’re semi-retired, but I’m not a sit-around kind of person,” Gannon says. “I want to stay as active as I can, physically and mentally.”