SOUTHEAST MISSOURI'S TOP 25 SPORTS FIGURES OF THE CENTURY

Arnold Ryan (St. Louis Post Dispatch photo courtesy of Matt Chaney)

James Wilder (photo courtesy of the University of Missouri sports information department)

One-hundred years. Twenty-five sports figures.

Selecting the top 25 athletic personalities of the century from Southeast Missouri was not an easy task. But just because it wasn't easy, doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable.

We, the Southeast Missourian sports staff members, combed over media guides, old archives and pictures; and we picked the brains of many local sports history gurus to bring you what we think are the 25 most impressionable sports people of this century.

It was painstakingly difficult to exclude certain individuals from our list. We debated, researched, then debated some more on which names to leave on and off our list.

So we are quite aware that cases can be made that others should have made our Top 25. But we also feel that a case cannot be made for the exclusion of any athlete or coach who we selected.

Our original list started with about 100 names. From there, we each compiled a list of our definite, undebatable athletes who deserved to be in our Top 25. We agreed that there were 15 people who were not negotiable.

The next 10 weren't so easy and the final three were nearly impossible.

Anyone who ever played or coached sports in Southeast Missouri was eligible for our Top 25, but longevity in this area did influence our decisions. For instance, Steve Williams played at Cape Central, went to Southeast Missouri State University, played for the Capahas, went on to play minor league baseball, then returned to coach at Cape Central. He was an obvious member of our list. On the other hand, there were some outstanding athletes to have played at Southeast Missouri State University -- Gray C. Harris and Bud Eley, for example -- who were omitted because they are not from here and will likely not return.

We decided not to rank the athletes and coaches because we felt it would be impossible to compare recent figures with sports pioneers from the first few decades. It was hard enough distinguishing which athletes and coaches were the top 25, much less which was number five and which was number six.

There were many individuals who aided in this project. Some provided a name or two to add to our original list, others pointed us in the right direction and a few even let us borrow old pictures. We would like to thank all who helped us, especially local sports history expert Mark Evans.

The sources we tapped were many. We searched our own newspaper archives, Southeast Missouri State University's archives, published books, scrap books and high school yearbooks. We talked to some of the area's living legends and, in some cases, we visited with the families of the legends who are no longer living. We talked to former and fellow members of the media, as well as current and former coaches. And we looked for some information on the Internet and even contacted the Baseball Hall of Fame for further data.

In the process of narrowing the top 25 athletes of all time from this area, we unearthed some amazing, unusual and even tragic stories. We hope, throughout this special section, to have captured the history and evolution of sports in this region, and, in some cases, throughout the state and the nation. So if you don't find a name you're looking for in our Top 25, keep looking; it might appear elsewhere.

At any rate, we -- sports editor Jeff Breer and sports writers Marty Mishow and Bob Miller -- hope that you enjoy the century's most impressionable sports figures and stories as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you.