Charlie Finley
Football Coach
Missouri S&T (1966-99)
Finley was a standout three-sport athlete at Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University, competing in football, basketball and track & field. Finley was a regular for SMS on the gridiron at end, and operated on both offense and defense for Coach Aldo Sebben. The Lockwood native had five receptions for 90 yards and one touchdown his senior year and was a solid blocker and outstanding defensive player as one of the Bears' co-captains. Sebben was also Finley's coach in track in a career in which Finley was the first conference athlete to exceed distances of 50 feet in the shot put and 150 feet in the discus. Finley notched the Missouri State record in the shot put in 1959 for both indoor and outdoor competition, with the outdoor performance also setting a league record.
The following year, he continued his assault of the record books in both events. Finley, who also played junior varsity basketball early in his Bear career, was given the Virgil Cheek Athletic Achievement Award when he graduated from then Southwest Missouri State in 1960. He was inducted into the MSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1981 for his athletic accomplishments.
Finley then had a 34-year tenure at the University of Missouri-Rolla, now Missouri S&T, with the Miner football program, including a 20-year stint as head coach where he led the Miners to a record of 100-100-10 and three MIAA championships. The 100 wins were the most of any coach in conference history at the time he reached that mark. His top team was the 1980 team that finished undefeated at 10-0 and ended the season ranked 10th in NCAA Division II, earning the Miners their first outright MIAA title in 30 years (it was also the last MIAA team to finish a season without a loss or tie until Northwest Missouri State did it in 1998). The Miners' performance that season earned Finley the District VI "Coach of the Year" award and one of his three coach of the year awards in the MIAA. He was inducted into the Missouri S&T Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.