On March 8, 1950, the Clinton High School basketball team traveled to the University of Missouri in Columbia to compete in the Missouri State Class A tournament.
The next day, the Cardinals defeated Sedalia’s Smith-Cotton High School, 39 to 28, to advance to the semifinals. On March 10, they played Joplin, but lost by three points, 39 to 36.
On March 11, the Clinton Cardinals beat the St. Louis University High School Bills by two points to take home the third-place trophy, which was presented to Don Snyder, who played center on the team.
In June of 2021, Snyder, who lived in Warrensburg, and his daughters, Liz Rotert, and Glenna Fleeman, visited Clinton in connection with an annual scholarship established in Don’s name. While they were in town, they went to visit the trophy Don and his teammates won in 1950. The trophy was supposed to be in the big display case at the new high school.
Only it wasn’t there.
Liz contacted the school, and several people looked for the trophy for the next several months, she said. Liz also contacted Tim Komer, former Clinton Daily Democrat sports editor, to ask for his help in tracking down the missing trophy.
When the trail got cold, they decided that something had to be done.
So Liz consulted an expert on vintage sports trophies, and with the support of friends and family, decided to make a new trophy, assembled from parts of vintage trophies.
On Feb. 2, 2024, the replica of the trophy Don and his teammates won at the 1950 state championships will be presented at 7 p.m. at the Court-Mat Warming basketball game at CHS. Activities Director Kevin LaFavor will accept the trophy on behalf of Clinton High School.
“The third-place finish was the highest Clinton has ever placed in the state tourney,” Tim Komer said.
What happened to the trophy? One of the last sightings of it was at a Rotary Club meeting, when it was borrowed to display.
“It was never seen after that,” Tim said.
When questioned, Rotary members said they had no knowledge of what happened to the trophy after its appearance at the meeting, Tim said. According to his source, the meeting was “not that long ago,” but the source was unable to pin down exactly how long ago the meeting was.
Tim said he believes the trophy made the move from the old high school to the new Clinton High School. The most prevalent theory, however, is that someone stole the trophy as a prank, despite its size, from the old high school as long ago as 2006, before the new high school was built.
The trophy may be gone, but the memories linger on. Patty Russ Waugh, CHS Class of ’51, remembers going on a school bus to Columbia to watch a 1950 state playoff game, held in the Brewer Fieldhouse on the UM campus.
She also remembers Don Snyder, who was known as “Big Don,” and knew the players that were juniors in her class that year— James Thompson, Jimmie Price and Bob Shoemaker.
Thompson has died, but Price and Shoemaker still live in Clinton. Liz hopes that surviving team members, their family members and classmates from that era will attend the Feb. 2 trophy presentation at the Court-Mat Warming game.
“l’ll be there, along with my sister, Glenna Fleeman, and possibly our brothers and uncle,” Liz said.
Liz sent announcements about the presentation to the surviving team members, she said, and has had responses from Jimmie Price, who plans to be there, and Bob McFarland, who lives in Horseshoe Bay, Texas. She hasn’t heard from Jim Fithian, who lives in Port Hueneme, California.
“It was a big deal then,” she said, “and although 74 years was more than a lifetime away for many, the fact that it has not been repeated since makes it a big deal still.”
Shelby Fellhauer, who lived in Urich, passed away last month at the age of 91. Liz’s father, Don Snyder died a year ago on Nov. 29 at age 90. After graduating from Clinton High School, Don attended the University of Missouri, where he had been recruited for the basketball, football and track teams.
After a year, he joined the Navy and completed training as a Communications Technician, then was stationed in Pearl Harbor, where he played on the Pearl Harbor basketball team. After his tour of duty, he attended Central Missouri State College, now UCM, taught school and coached sports in Clinton, Windsor and other area schools. Calhoun residents may remember Don from the years he served as a principal.
Price and McFarland were honorary pallbearers at Don’s funeral.
Other team members were Charles “Toody” Bath, James Stone, Bill Kimmel and George Cunningham. The coach was Orval Johnson.
The team’s names will go down in school history and are being inscribed on the nameplate of the replica trophy. It has a figure of a tall basketball player on it, reaching up for the ball, plus two smaller players, Liz said. The base will be made of walnut wood from her sister’s farm, and is being constructed by Glenna’s grandson, who is a gifted woodworker.
Tim Komer didn’t move to Clinton until 20 years after the championship season. In 2015, he became the Sports editor of the Clinton Daily Democrat, plus wrote a weekly column, “Looking Back,” which he continued after he retired in 2022. Tim plans to be at the Feb. 2 presentation, which takes place between the girls’ varsity game and the boys’ varsity game, to see the resolution of the Case of the Missing Trophy.
He is also looking forward to meeting Liz, as they have become friends while working on the case, he said, although have never met in person.
“It’s a story that’s been going on for a while,” he said.
State basketball tournaments in Columbia have been going on for over a century. The Missouri State High School Activities Association has been holding tournaments since 1927 at UM, which started sponsoring tournaments in 1917.
In 1950, the Missouri State Class A Basketball tournament was won by Joplin, whose team beat Kirkwood by two points after two overtimes.
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