“Have you heard about the thrower down at the Lake?”
It was the spring of 1999. Brett Halter coached the throwers for the Mizzou track and field team. Steve Fritz, the throws coach at Kansas State, had heard about a gargantuan thrower down in the Ozarks. Was he on Halter’s radar?
“Nah, you’re thinking of Russ Bell from Jefferson City,” Halter said, referring to the all-state standout the Tigers had signed back in the fall.
“No, this kid’s got a different name,” Fritz told him.
There’s no way, Halter thought. What are the odds two Division I recruits were right there in Mizzou’s backyard?