Hall of Fame
Tom Rutledge - Men’s Track and Field & Cross Country Coach
Missouri Southern, 1988-2013
In 24 years at MSSU, Tom Rutledge led the Lions to eight MIAA cross country championships (2000-03, 2005-07, 2009) and two MIAA Indoor Track & Field championships (2004, 2007), ten championships in nine years. His MSSU cross country team made ten team appearances in the last 13 years of his career at the NCAA Division II Championships, always finishing in the top 20, but highlighted by a sixth-place national finish in 2000 and a seventh-place showing in 2002, as well as an eighth-place finish in 2013. For his efforts, Rutledge was named MIAA Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2009 and Indoor Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2007. He was also honored as South Central Region Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year in 1999, 2004 and 2007, and South Central Region Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2007. Rutledge was inducted as a member of the MSSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008. He mentored eight cross country All-Americans and 55 in track & field, several of the 55 achieving multiple All-American statuses. In 2005, the pole vaulters took the top five positions in the MIAA Outdoor Conference and took the top three finishes at the NCAA Outdoor National Championships, a rarely achieved accomplishment for one school. Rutledge became head cross country coach in 1989 when Southern first developed its men’s and women’s teams. Missouri Southern hosted its first cross country meet, “The Southern Stampede,” just over 20 years ago. The event is held the third Saturday in September. The first year the event brought in only 39 runners. In 2012, over 2000 runners took part, representing over 100 schools.