A native of Hartville, Mo., Dr. Mary Jo Wynn of Missouri State enters the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame as an honoree in The Valley’s Lifetime Achievement category.
The backbone of one of the most progressive and successful women’s athletics programs in the country and a pioneer for her leadership of the cause of women’s sports, Wynn was MSU’s first director of women’s athletics in a career in teaching, coaching and administration that stretched over four decades.
She retired from MSU in 1998 after having been a physical education faculty and athletics staff member continuously since graduating from the university in 1957. Her primary coaching assignments were volleyball and tennis.
Among the many honors she’s been accorded for her career achievements, Wynn is a member of the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame and Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference John Sanders Spirit of the Valley Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators
Wynn established the MSU Women’s Athletics Hall of Fame, is a recipient of MSU’s Outstanding Alumni Award and the top annual academic award for MSU female student-athletes is named in her honor. Yet another honor came her way in 2015 with the renaming of the academic area for MSU athletics as the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Academic Achievement Center. The Center provides a place for student-athletes to study, work in computer labs and receive academic advisement
During Wynn’s tenure as an athletics administrator at Missouri State, women’s teams experienced success in every sport, with NCAA team appearances in basketball, softball, soccer, volleyball, golf and tennis plus numerous individual NCAA qualifications. MSU won an AIAW national title in softball in 1974, an AIAW national title in field hockey in 1979, and appeared in NCAA Basketball Women’s Final Fours in 1992 and 2001. Notably, MSU has long held a place among national leaders in women’s basketball attendance and led the nation in average attendance in 1993.