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Now in her 37th year at her alma mater, Sallie Beard is
in her seventh year 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
women's athletics director.
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 track and artificial
football playing surfaces at Missouri Southern's Fred G. Hughes Stadium. Beard
also led the effort to split the MSSU soccer programs. The men's and women's
teams had previously operated under one head coach until 2003. 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.
Beard currently serves on the NCAA Division II Management Council, the
Management Council Identity Subcommittee and the NCAA Convention Planning
Subcommittee. She has previously served on the Division II Nominating and Voting
Committees, the Division II Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, as well as
the Committee on Women's Athletics. Beard has 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 sports and has attained
NCAA Division II status and membership in the MIAA. During her tenure, the
Southern women have won four conference basketball championships, four softball
titles, three cross country titles, two track and field titles and one
conference crown each in volleyball and tennis.
Beard served as tournament director for the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Division II
Softball Championships. Southern won the Championship in 1992. This past year,
the Missouri Southern athletic program finished 32nd nationally in the Division
II Directors Cup Standings and served as the host for the 2007 NCAA Division II
Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships.
Always taking pride in the academic success the program has consistently shown,
Missouri Southern ranks among the best 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.
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.
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. team at the
1981 World University Games in Romania and for the North squad at the 1983
National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo. She was also on the games
committees for the NAIA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field Championships from
1979-83.
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 system analyst with Sigma Inc. in Denver. Meghan and her husband, Shawn
have two daughters, Camryn and Norah. |
