Dec. 9, 1999
Five more of the state of Missouri's best and brightest track and field stars, including three former University of Missouri athletes and current MU head coach, have been selected for induction into the Missouri Track and Field Associations Hall of Fame.
The induction will be held Friday, December 10 at the Holiday Inn Select Executive Center in Columbia. The lunch will also honor the Missouri High School Coaches-of-the-Year. The class of 1999 is comprised of Fred Binggley, Sabrina Dornhoefer, Dan Lavitt, Rick McGuire and Norris Stevenson.
Rick McGuire is perhaps one of the most highly respected collegiate track & field coaches in the country. In the 17 years since his arrival, 18 MU athletes have earned 56 All-American honors and 2 national collegiate records have been established. Three athletes have also claimed four NCAA national titles while Tiger athletes have also won 50 conference individual and relay championships. Lorinda Richardson and Natasha Kaiser Brown also claimed Big Eight Conference Athlete-of-the-Year honors under McGuire's direction.
Missouri's student-athletes have experienced unprecedented success in the classroom as well while McGuire has been the head coach of the Tigers. The program boasts an amazing 13 consecutive Academic All-America Team awards, many Phi Beta Kappa honorees, numerous 4.0 GPAs, including 11 during the 1998-99 school year and 39 Academic All-Big 12 selections in 1999. McGuire has also coached 6 NCAA postgraduate scholarship awardees during his career.
During his distinguished career, McGuire has served on nine international teams. He was on the 1992 and 1996 U.S. Olympic staffs in Barcelona and Atlanta serving as the teams sports psychologists. He has also served as a sports psychologist for the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg and the 1989 World Cup team that competed in Barcelona. McGuire also traveled with the U.S. junior national team to the 1986 World Championships in Athens, Greece before working at the 1987 dual meet with Cuba in Havanna and the 1988 World Championships in Sudbury, Ontario.
Nine of McGuire's athletes have earned U.S.A. team berths, including two-time Olympian and 1992 silver medallist Natasha Kaiser Brown. His latest international athletes are World University Games gold and bronze medallist Derrick Peterson and student-assistant Darin File who competed in the javelin throw.
He has chaired the USA Track and Field sport psychology program since its inception in 1983, and he is on the executive committee of the U.S. Track Coaches Association. McGuire is currently serving on the NCAA Track and Field Committee. In 1997 McGuire served as head referee for the prestigious Drake Relays.
Rick McGuire is not the only inductee to have ties to the University of Missouri. In 1985, Sabrina Dornhoefer won the Tigers' first NCAA championship in the 5,000m run under the direction of McGuire. Dornhoefer is the most decorated distance runner in school history, earning All-American honors eight times and Big Eight championships six times. She went on to a successful postcollegiate career, taking gold in the 1991 Pan-American Games and earning alternate selections to the 1988 and 1992 Olympic teams.
Dan Lavitt is also another success story to come out of the Missouri track and field program. The 110m hurdles Drake Relay's Champion was also a member of the 1979 world record setting sprint medley relay. Lavitt, a four-time All-American in the hurdles, also won several Big Eight championships in the hurdles during his Tiger career.
Fred Binggley was a Graduate Assistant coach under former Missouri head coach Bob Teel before serving as the head cross country coach at Southeast Missouri State. He most recently served as the head cross country and track and field coach at the University of Virginia before retiring.
Norris Stevenson was a student-athlete at Missouri from 1958-60. He was a dual-sport athlete who competed both on the football field under legendary coach Dan Devine as well as on the track under the direction of Tom Botts.