University of Missouri Athletics

The first wrestler ever to earn a letter at the University of Missouri, Sappington was also the first Tiger to win a conference championship when he took the 135-pound class at the Missouri Valley Conference meet in 1928. He later won a Big Six Conference crown at 145 pounds in 1932. In 1933, prior to the institution of the NCAA wrestling championships, he won the national AAU championship at 145 pounds. Sappington was the first recipient of the Schutte Award, donated by a Kansas City lumberman and wrestling enthusiast, as Missouri’s most valuable wrestler, in 1932.