FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 13, 2009

Missouri Southern Athletics Director Sallie Beard To Retire

Joplin, Mo. - For the first time in nearly 37 years, Missouri Southern Athletics Director Sallie Beard will step away from the campus and be able to watch events solely as a fan of MSSU Athletics as the longtime athletic administrator has announced her intentions to retire effective in July of this year.

Beard, in her 37th year at her alma mater, is in her seventh as Missouri Southern's athletics director. For 25 years prior to the 2001-02 academic year, Beard helped lead the growth and development of Missouri Southern's women's athletics program, as she served as MSSU's first and only women's athletics director.

"The memories and highlights of the past 37 years are far too numerous to even list," Beard said. "I have had the privilege to work with an outstanding group of coaches, student-athletes, staff and administrators. I have had the chance to see young people grow from student-athletes to a wide-range of professional fields. I have even worked with sons or daughters of those that I coached. Missouri Southern has been a part of my life for a long time and will continue to be for many years to come."

Missouri Southern ranks among the best academically in the MIAA. The conference and the NCAA chart the academic success rates (ASR) of member institutions over a six-year period. They take into count two separate rates, one for scholarship athletes, and another for all athletes. This past period, under Beard's leadership, Missouri Southern had an ASR of 87 percent, which is 36 percent higher than the general population at MSSU, and the highest differential within the MIAA. This past year, the Missouri Southern athletic program finished 32nd nationally in the Division II Directors Cup Standings, a report that measures the on-the-field success of an athletic department.

Always one to lead by example, Beard has served on numerous NCAA and MIAA committees and currently serves on the prestigious NCAA Division II Management Council, as well as the Degree-Completion, Convention Planning and Division II Identity Committees. She has previously served on the Division II Nominating and Voting Committees, the Division II Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, and the Committee on Women's Athletics. Beard has also held a leading role in the MIAA, serving as the conference’s president from 1999 until 2001. She filled the position after serving as vice president of the MIAA in the 1998-99 school year.

Since serving as the first head coach of the women's basketball, softball, track and field and tennis teams, Beard has seen the department grow in both size and stature as Southern now offers eight women's varsity and seven men's varsity sports and has attained NCAA Division II status and membership in one of Division II's elite conferences, the MIAA.

During her stint as track & field coach, Beard was twice named NAIA District 16 Coach of the Year, including in 1983 when she led Southern to the district outdoor title. She also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic team at the 1981 World University Games in Romania that included Edwin Moses, Carl Lewis and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She was a coach for the North squad at the 1983 National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo. and was also on the games committees for the NAIA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships from 1979-83.

Since beginning as the school’s sole athletics director, Beard has played an integral role in several projects. During the 2002-03 academic year, she oversaw the Lion Pride Restoration Project, an effort to replace the track and artificial football playing surfaces at Missouri Southern's Fred G. Hughes Stadium. More recently, Southern has announced plans on developing the 110 acres of land east of Duquesne Road for use by six varsity sports, which will include improvements to Fred Hughes Stadium, as well as an indoor practice facility and on-campus baseball field.

Dr. Pat Lipira, chair of the department of kinesiology at Southern and former softball and volleyball coach and a member of the MSSU Athletics Hall of Fame said she can't imagine a Southern without Beard.

"She is the reason I came here in 1981 and perhaps why I am still here today," Lipira said. "Our relationship has evolved over the years from being one of her coaches for 19 years, to working alongside her as an administrator for the last nine. The one constant over the 29 years is our friendship and that will not change with her retirement."

Missouri Southern women's track and field and cross country coach Patty Vavra has had the unique opportunity of being a student, athlete and now a coach of Beard's.

"Sallie Beard has devoted a lifetime to Missouri Southern," Vavra said. "She has impacted a generation of students, athletes and coaches. She has almost single-handedly paved the way for women’s athletics at Southern. She has done that with the utmost respect. For all of this, we owe to her the deepest debt of gratitude."

A native of Joplin, Beard earned her bachelor's degree in physical education from Southern in 1972. She was hired as an instructor in the University's physical education department in August of that year. After earning a master's degree in physical education from Pittsburg State University in 1973, Beard was called upon by several students in 1974 to organize Southern's first women's basketball, softball and tennis teams. She coached all three sports until 1976, when she relinquished her softball duties to become women's athletics director and head coach of the first MSSU women's track & field team. She later stepped down as basketball coach in 1977 and as tennis coach in 1978.

Beard and her husband Larry were married for 32 years. Larry passed away this fall after a battle with cancer. The couple has two children, a daughter, Meghan Klosterman, and a son, Andrew. Andrew is a graduate of the University of Tulsa and is a systems analyst with Signa Inc. in Denver. Meghan, a graduate of Missouri State, and her husband, Shawn have two daughters, Camryn and Norah.

"I can't imagine having a more exciting, challenging, and fulfilling career than what I've had at Missouri Southern," Beard said. "One of the most rewarding aspects of the job has been to watch young people flourish and expand their education beyond the classroom through athletics. The strength of this department has always been our student-athletes and coaches, and they will continue to be the strength of Missouri Southern Athletics."

A search for Beard's successor will begin immediately.