Stuber's career was highlighted by 1937 team

Abe Stuber came to Southeast Missouri State University as a coach in 1932, and he went on to fashion a legendary career directing three sports: football, basketball and track.

Stuber made his biggest mark in football, and from 1932 to 1936 he had some impressive teams, including a combined 15 victories in 1934 and 1935.

But Stuber's 1937 squad was his best -- and ranks as arguably the premier football team in school history.

That 1937 campaign began with a 12-0 victory over Hendrix. Six more shutouts followed, followed by a 20-6 win over Warrensburg (now Central Missouri State) and an 18-6 triumph over Missouri Mines (now Missouri-Rolla) to finish off the first undefeated and untied season in school history with a schedule consisting of more than two games.

The 9-0-0 final record included an incredible scoring margin of 168-12, marking the fewest points allowed for a single season in school history. In addition, the 1937 squad was a part of 16 consecutive victories -- four straight to end the 1936 season and three straight to begin the 1938 season -- that is a school record for most wins in succession.

Stuber's 1937 powerhouse also claimed the school's first Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship. Among a host of standout players on that team, Wayne Goddard stood out. He was selected to The Associated Press Little All-America team at tackle.

Stuber compiled a 72-42-6 record with Southeast football from 1932 to 1946. He also had a 60-42 basketball record in six seasons and led the track team to several MIAA championships.

Stuber, a football player at Missouri who later was the head football coach at Iowa State and also an assistant coach in the NFL, had Southeast's track and field complex named after him in 1986. He died in 1989 at age 86.

Among Stuber's many accomplishments at Southeast, that 1937 football team still stands head and shoulders above the rest. It is one of only two football teams in school history to be undefeated and untied with a schedule consisting of more than two games, joining the 1955 group that also went 9-0-0. Both squads were inducted into the Southeast Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.