This has been an exciting year for me because it is my 30th year of covering sports for the St. Louis American.
It has been a pleasure and an honor to cover these magnificent young athletes in the St. Louis metro area. To celebrate my 30 years at the American, I have a special project in store for all of you which will be featured on our website.
If you watch ESPN, you know that part of its programming is its great 30 for 30 documentaries on sports history. Well, I’ve come up with my own 30 for 30 presentation for our www.stlamerican.com website.
In the coming weeks, I will be chronicling my own list of top 30 high school events that I have covered in my 30 years at the paper. It is a chance to re-live some of the greatest moments in St. Louis high school sports history. The stories will be in chronological order from my first year in 1995 to the present day.
One of those great memories was when St. Louis was the host of the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Basketball Game in 1995. A few more great memories include the great and still controversial goal line stand by Hazelwood East in 1995, the “Miracle at Moss Field at Webster Groves in 2009 as well as the famous “Midnight Special” football game between East St. Louis and Trinity Catholic in 2017. This is just a small taste of what you can look forward to in this special series.
Over the years, I have been able to save many of the photos from our great Hall of Fame photographer Wiley Price to accompany the stories.
Make sure to go to our website to take this great walk down memory lane with me. I cannot wait to get it all started.
St. Louis Slam wins WFA championship
Congratulations to the St. Louis Slam on winning the championship of the Women’s Football Alliance last week. The Slam defeated the D.C. Divas 26-14 to win the WFA Pro National Championship at Canton, Ohio. The Slam has won back-to-back WFA championships and six titles overall in its history.
Several players played a big role in the Slam’s victory, including running back Jada Humphrey, who was named Most Valuable Player of the championship game. Her 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter put the game away.
Wide receiver Kerri McMahan scored two touchdowns, including a tremendous 35-yard catch and run effort in the second quarter. McMahan was a former college basketball standout at Saint Louis University.
On defense, Keyonna Smith scored on a 52-yard interception return to give the Slam a 19-14 lead in the third quarter. Defensive back Kaylee Neutzling also had a big game with an interception and a fumble recovery.
Myrle Mensey brings home more gold
St. Louisan Myrle Mensey capped off a dominant summer of track and field by being named the USA Track and Field (USATF) Athlete of the Year in the Masters Womens-75 Division. Mensey, 75, won three gold medals at the recent USATF Masters Championships in Florida. She won gold in the hammer throw, weight throw in the shot put. She set a new world record in the weight throw. It was her own world record that she broke.
Mensey has competed in Masters track and field for more than 20 years. In that span, she has been consistently winning gold medals and breaking world records in each age group that she competes in.
East Side gains big transfer from Lone Star State
The East St. Louis Flyers’ football program got a little stronger last week with the addition of transfer Myson-Johnson Cook. He is a five-star prospect who comes to the Flyers from DeSoto (Texas). A 6’3” 220-pound junior running back, Cook rushed for 911 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging 10 yards a carry as a sophomore in Texas.
Cook is being recruited by the Who’s Who of collegiate football programs around the country. He has already received offers from schools such as Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, LSU, Georgia, Florida, Missouri, Oregon, Colorado, Baylor and many others.
RIP Annitre Edison
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of former basketball coach Annitre Edison, who passed away last week.
Edison was a former standout prep player at Hazelwood East who went on to have a collegiate career at Washington University in the mid-1990s. She was part of head coach Nancy Fahey’s powerhouse Bears program that won three NCAA Division III national championships during her career. Edison then joined Fahey’s staff as an assistant coach, where she spent 20 years on the bench for the Bears.
Annitre also spent many summers coaching boys basketball with the Ramey Basketball AAU program on the grassroots circuit. This is a big loss for our basketball community. Annitre was a nice lady and an excellent basketball coach.
Brandon Miller finishes fifth at the USA Outdoor Nationals in the 800
St. Louisan Brandon Miller finished in fifth place in the 800-meter run at last weekend’s USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Eugene, OR. The former John Burroughs star ran a personal best time of 1 minute 43.14 seconds.
Despite running the best time of his career, Miller just missed qualifying for the upcoming World Championships in Tokyo as it was one of the fastest 800-meter races ever run in the United States. The top three finishers and qualifiers all ran 1:42, including 16-year old high school standout Cooper Lutkenhaus, who ran 1:42.27 to set a world record for in the U18 division. He finished second behind national champion Donovan Brazier, who won with a personal best time of 1:42.16. That 800 race was one of the big highlights of the entire competition.