Maryville High School

History

Founding 1847–1867

1847 – The first school was part of the first courthouse of Nodaway County in Maryville. It was specifically created to be the county seat of Nodaway County because of its central location. The log building was 32 feet by 20 feet and was at Second and Main Streets (a block south of the current courthouse). A new frame court building was subsequently constructed.

Washington campus 1867–1965

1867 – The first school's land, which would become the Washington campus at First and Vine, was acquired and built for $7,000. The school was a 2-story building with four rooms and was both an elementary school and a high school. The average attendance in 1881 was 11 males and 44 females. A description of the campus says "It is located between Wall and Vine Streets, north of and bordering on State Street, fronting west. With the building, there are two acres of ground set in bluegrass and shade trees, the whole presenting a handsome appearance." The school block is staggered off the grid so that all the school buildings would all be situated so they looked head on into the oncoming street which gave it a grand boulevard appearance. Wall Street would subsequently be renamed Dewey and State Street would be renamed First Street once the Maryville numbered streets took effect in the 1880s. The school property over the years would push further east eventually tripling the acreage of the initial area.

1874 – An all-black Frederick Douglass school was created. It would never be incorporated into the traditional Maryville High School and would dissolve in 1934.

1882 – James B. Prather pays $1,200 to acquire the remains of the torn down the school to be used to build a stable to house 120 horses and being one of the biggest stables in Missouri. Prather is owner of Faustiana Farms noted for its racing horse breeding—notably Elwood which won the 1901 Kentucky Derby and Faustus which was great-grandfather of Black Gold which won the 1924 Derby. Prather was one of the original 1868 founders of Nodaway Valley Bank.

1882 – The new school was constructed for $43,000. The new two-story building had 12 rooms.

1894 – Maryville's system of elementary schools, dubbed ward schools was created with the Thomas Jefferson school at 1st and Charles; James A. Garfield school at Thompson and Mulberry; and Benjamin Franklin school at 7th and North Main (now site of Franklin Park). The elementary school by the new building was in a small white building (dubbed the White House) and called the George Washington school. The high school area was referred to in news reports as Central or Central High School.

1906 – The first classes of the Fifth District Normal School (which became Northwest Missouri State University) were held in the school while preparations for the new buildings for the campus were underway.

South campus 1965–present

1965 – After constructing a new school on the south campus, the last class to graduate is 1965. The cost for construction was $950,000. The bond issue was approved in March 1963. The cost of the original 40 acres was $31,000, and school officials said it would have cost $150,000 if they had to condemn land around the Washington school. The original footprint was 64,300 square feet and on a 40-acre campus. Among other considered locations were expanding at the original location, Washington location, and just west of the Northwest Missouri State University campus. Joe Radotinsky is the architect. Radotinsky was the architect of several schools and office buildings throughout the Midwest several of which are on the National Register of Historic Places including Wyandotte High School, Sumner Academy of Arts & Science, the American Hereford Association headquarters (now HNTB headquarters). A Hereford bull, which has become a Kanas City landmark, was part of the design. The Richard Bolling Federal Building in Kansas City, which he designed, was completed in 1965, the same year as the high school. Among the additions was a gymnasium where the school could play its home basketball games. Home varsity games had been played at Bearcat Arena after it opened in 1959 rather than in the limited confines of the old Washington School gymnasium.

1970 – The vocational school building opened south of the main building.

1976 – Football field (dubbed the Hound Pound) opens down the hill east of the high school, ending an era when games were played at Bearcat Stadium. The field was made possible by the approval of a $340,000 bond issue to build it.

1977 – "M" is placed on the banks of the field.

1999 – Middle school opens about a quarter-mile southeast of high school but is connected via a trail to the high school. Washington School is torn down.

2006 – The school moved from its traditional medium-size Class 3 category to Class 2. It was runner-up in the state championship football in 2008 and won the title in 2009.

2010 – School moved back to Class 3

Athletics

The school's original colors were red and white. When Northwest Missouri State University opened in 1905, the college colors were red and white. The college changed its colors to green and white. The high school later changed its colors to green and white and then to green and gold. Maryville High School football games were played initially by the school at First and Vine, from 1953 to 1962 were played at the football field at Beal Park east of the municipal swimming pool (now the Aquatics Center) and then mostly at Bearcat Stadium from 1963 to 1975 on the college campus. In late 1976 the high school began playing its football games in a stadium on its own campus which has been nicknamed the "Hound Pound".

Since 1962, Maryville has played in the Midland Empire Conference. From 1937 to 1962 it played in the Northwest Missouri Conference.

Maryville Marching Spoofhounds

The school's marching band has won many awards. It has gained national recognition in its past years, including appearing on the Today Show before marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1990. They have been invited to march in the New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom. In 2008, they were asked to the National Adjudicator's Convention (The Dixie Classics) in Chicago, Illinois. They have also participated in the Independence Day Parade in Washington, DC. In the 1980s–90's over a third of the student body was involved in the Spoofhound Marching Band. In 2011, the Marching Spoofhounds marched in a Magic Kingdom Parade at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Mascot

The school mascot, Spoofhound, is based on a Plaster of Paris souvenir mascot that was distributed in 1921 during the American Legion convention in Kansas City, Missouri that was held in conjunction with the dedication of the Liberty Memorial. That mascot was based on a drawing by World War I veteran James D. Laingor who made a drawing that was a compilation of 20 photographs of mascot dogs of various World War I units. Laingor copyrighted the image of "Spoof hound and Goof" in 1921. The image was turned into a statue which Laingor sold via his company "Spoof Hound Novelty Company" at Room 360, 2006 Central Street, Kansas City, Missouri. The headline of its advertisement in American Legion Magazine said, "Meet the Spoof-Hound, the ugliest critter in existence." The text said, "You buddies coming to Kansas City are going to meet the onliest looking Son-of-A-Gun that ever came down a Company street. He's the Spoof-Hound." Laingor was a University of Missouri Journalism School student and said he had originally used the name to describe his coffee club.

Spoofhound statues left over from the convention were sold at carnivals in 1922.

Leslie Edward Ziegeler (1894–1957), who coached high school team said his players looked like a bunch of Spoofhounds. The name stuck and as the 1923 football season began the team was called the Spoofhound by the Maryville Daily Forum.

In the 1940s, Ziegler became the superintendent of schools for Columbia, Missouri where the mascot is also named for an early 20th-century doll—the Kewpies. The image of the Spoofhound has evolved over the years. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s, drawings of it showed a softer more filled out creature called Spoofy.

In 1977 the "Hi Lights" the high school publication which appeared weekly in the Forum ran a contest entitled, "Spoofy - Does he have a face?" in which they sought a redesign to a more aggressive Spoofhound. The winner of this contest was the school art instructor Brian L. Lohafer. Lohafer was also a coach and he led the football Spoofhounds to state championship appearances in 1984, 1994, 1996 and a basketball state championship appearance in 1995. A variation of the mascot he designed is still the mascot of the school.

ESPN recognized the Spoofhound as one of its top mascot names and enshrined the Spoofhound in their "Mascot Hall of Fame." As of 2016, no other academic institution or sports club had adopted the nickname.

Notable alumni

Dale Carnegie (attended system through 1904) - motivational author (attended Rose Hill one room school near Bedison, Missouri that would be consolidated into the high school)

Charles J. Colden (Class of 1888) - U.S. Representative from California

Edwin H. Colbert (Class of 1923) - paleontologist

Daisy Coleman (attended in 2012) - student whose sexual assault was topic of Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy which was filmed at the school

Homer Croy (Class of 1901) - screenwriter who wrote about Maryville

Forrest C. Donnell (Class of 1900) - governor of Missouri and U.S. Senator

Adam Dorrel (Class of 1993) - head coach of Abilene Christian football; formerly coach of Northwest Missouri State Bearcats

Harold Hull (Class of 1938) - Akron Goodyear Wingfoots professional basketball player was on the 1937 team that won the state championship when there were no divisions.

Bud Millikan (Class of 1938) - University of Maryland basketball coach who was on the 1937 Maryville state championship basketball team that played at a time when there were no divisions in the state tournament Millikan later coached high school ball at Maryville.

Merrill E. Otis (Class of 1902) Missouri Western District federal judge most famous for sentencing Kansas City Political Boss Thomas J. Pendergast to Leavenworth Federal Prison in 1939.

Steve Schottel (Class of 1966) - coach of Baker University Wildcats and 1970 assistant football coach.

Notable faculty

H. Frank Lawrence - Football coach in the 1920s and who became Northwest Missouri football coach.

Bud Millikan - Maryville grad who went on to coach basketball and football for two years in the 1940s before going on to coach basketball at University of Maryland.

Steve Schottel Maryville grad who was head coach of Baker University Wildcats and 1970 student teacher in the football program.

Jeff Simms - Football coach in 1995 who went on to coach various teams including the 2016 Garden City team which won the NJCAA National Football Championship.

Mike Thomson - Coach and instructors in the 1980s and 1990s who became Missouri State Representative

Other Maryville high schools

Following the closing of the Missouri Academy in 2018, Maryville High School is the only high school remaining in the community. In addition to the schools listed below the Maryville system also historically had 22 rural one-room school houses that were consolidated in 1959.

Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing (2000–2018), a school associated with Northwest Missouri State University and on the college campus that was devoted college preparation for juniors and seniors. It was closed because it was no longer considered financially viable. Students lived in the dormitories in the North Complex (Cooper Hall and Douglas Hall) which also house the classrooms.

Mount Alverno High School (1963–1971), Catholic girls' school built on the grounds of the Sisters of St. Francis motherhouse east of Maryville on Highway 46. Its building is now part of the Maryville Treatment Center. The school started with a single class in 1960 and when it formally opened its new structure in 1963 with an enrollment of 109. The school was designed to handle 250 and included a dormitory for students from all over the world.

Horace Mann High School (1923–1960), a "teaching laboratory" for Northwest Missouri teachers college. It originally operated in the college Administration Building. In 1939 a new building was built just east of what today is Bearcat Arena and just west of the J.W. Jones Student Union. The school building today is still an elementary school and is in what is called the Horace Mann Laboratory School. The high school team placed second in the 1956 Class M state championship game. The school dissolved after Maryville consolidated its school system effective 1960. The school mascot was the Cubs.

St. Patricks High School (1910–1937) - Catholic high school associated with the Atchison, Kansas, Benedictine Sisters at Highway 46 (First Street) and Buchanan. The building was subsequently used as a K-8 through for St. Gregory's School until a new school was built near the new St. Gregory's Church in 1963. The building was converted into the Carson Apartments and was destroyed in a catastrophic fire in 2007 that killed two. In 1929 the co-ed school graduated 9 students.