Brian Rosener is the keeper of the Semoball Cup which is presented to the school with the most successful season. It is based on a formula that takes into account the combined winning percentage of all sports teams plus bonus points for advancement in postseason play for both teams and individuals. The bonus points are divided by the number of teams a school fields. Rosener has been the sports editor for the Daily American Republic in Poplar Bluff, Mo. since December 2001. He was born and raised in St. Louis, where he attended Lindbergh High School and Webster University. He is married to Jennifer, a Poplar Bluff native, has a son Jack and a dog named Satchel who stands in for his @semoballBrian photo.

DAR on ESPN?

Posted Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 6:31 AM

The Tracker

The Worldwide Leader called to get copies of the DAR to show how we 'Track Tyler' in the sports page after each game. Not sure if they will show it during tonight's game (at Penn, 6 p.m. on ESPN2) or if it will be a feature on PB native Tyler Hansbrough during the pregame, halftime or the 8 p.m. show on ESPN.

I'll be in Sikeston tonight for the SEMO Conference Tournament, so somebody let me know if it runs. My luck, I didn't spell Tyler's name correctly (wouldn't be the first time).

In other Tyler news, a good story on who inspires the big guy can be read here.

Trivia question: Tyler wears No. 50 for his brother Greg, who wore it when Tyler was a freshman at Poplar Bluff. What was Tyler's first high school number?

Comments

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Somebody seems like they have quite the obsession with Tyler Hansborough. It is as though he is the only athlete in this area....

-- Posted by mattstl77 on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 8:27 AM

Brian Rosener's response:
Just doing my job.
i don't think there is an obsession with tyler on brian's part. he's merely keeping us informed. no, tyler is not the only athlete in this area but he's one of the best to ever come from this area. it's not everyday that a kid from the semo area is a two-time all-american and brings attention to his hometown like tyler has. to answer the question, i believe tyler wore #10 his freshman year.

-- Posted by myershallred on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 9:43 AM

Brian Rosener's response:
Correct.
Tyler Hansborough is hands down the most noteworthy athlete to ever come from this area. What's mattstl77's problem with someone making mention of that?

-- Posted by TheCamp on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 1:08 PM
The DAR also tracks Ben Hansbrough and Tyler Lance in it's weekly paper. Keep up the good work Brian. As for Mattstl77..you better enjoy it now because we more than likely won't see an athlete of his caliber from Southeast Missouri the rest of our life...I do hope that I'm wrong about that however.

-- Posted by vancubbjr on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 2:09 PM
Calling Hansbrough the most noteworthy athlete is a matter of opinion. We've had NFL All-Pro players come from this area. Former Sikeston star James Wilder set NFL records. I'd say that's a little more presigious than college All-American. Not saying Tyler doesn't deserve praise, but lets not forget other great athletes from the area.

-- Posted by semohoops on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 2:17 PM
Thanks semohoops. And (though this may be a little too north to be SE Missouri) Bill Bradley was from Crystal City. For those who do not know who he was he played b-ball at Princeton and later for the Knicks. He is in the NBA hall of fame, became a Senator, and ran for president. A bit more prestigious than Hansbrough.

However I too like the updates.

-- Posted by SWBG on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 2:37 PM
Those are great updates but name me the last "SOUTHEAST MISSOURI"basketball player who was a naismith candidate much less an all american his first two seasons. Obviously James Wilder had an unbelievable football career. But Hansbrough is leading the#1 team in the nation right now in scoring. If your going to throw Bill Bradley out there you might as well mention Larry Hughes, Kareem Rush and Tyronn Lue.

-- Posted by vancubbjr on Tue, Dec 4, 2007, at 6:45 PM
your paper was on during game

that's how i found you

watched tyler on espn2

he had a dbl-dbl in about 3 qtrs

great game for him and the heels

won by 35

by the way i'm about 120mi from chapel hill and have been a fan for 38-40 yrs

thnkx 4 sending your son to play 4 us

-- Posted by unclemickey on Wed, Dec 5, 2007, at 1:00 AM
Wow, all the hate and then some...amazing. By the way the number you asked for is 10.

-- Posted by stillanindian on Wed, Dec 5, 2007, at 4:04 PM

Brian Rosener's response:
You are correct.
Love the stat tracker. At least they don't ask you to cover summer swim team.

-- Posted by jgscubfan on Tue, Dec 11, 2007, at 11:14 PM

Brian Rosener's response:
Thanks, but we cover the swim team in the summer also.
Without question, Hansbrough has generated more publicity than any other SEMO athlete of recent times. But I will be a little surprised if Hansbrough's pro career is any better than James Wilder's. Had Wilder not been overworked on a poor Tampa Bay team (40-96 while he was there), he might have been knocking on the door of the NFL Hall of Fame. In 1984, he was pretty much Tampa's entire offense and came within 16 yards of breaking Eric Dickerson's NFL total yards record. But Wilder took a tremendous pounding as a Buc. Had he played on a team with more offensive weapons, his career would have been longer and better.

A few athletes of earlier generations who were also big stories nationally:

Win Wilfong---Puxico's slashing forward starred for the most famous high school basketball team in Missouri history. Wilfong became an all-American at Memphis State and was the fourth player taken in the NBA draft preceding the '58 season. As a high school player, he had as much name recognition as any other roundballer in the nation. As Mike Mitchell points out in Show-Me Kings, Dean Smith, then a member of Phog Allen's Jayhawks, made the 10-hour drive from Lawrence, Kansas to Poplar Bluff just to watch Wilfong and Puxico play.

Puxico featured 5 players who became D1 starters, including two all-Americans and two others who starred for their college teams. And a few other Puxico players continued their careers at smaller colleges. According to the late Rich Koster, the excellent sports columnist for the St. Louis Globe Democrat, St. Louis basketball fans could name the entire Puxico starting lineup as readily as they could Kentucky's Fabulous Five, the most famous college team of that time.

Hub Pruett---From Malden, Pruett became a national sensation as a 21-year old rookie pitcher when he struck out Babe Ruth 9 of the first 10 times he faced him in 1922. Pruett ended the season for the Browns 7-7 with a 2.33 ERA but left baseball a few seasons later for his first love, the practice of medicine. Pruett graduated from SLU's medical school and was a physician in St. Louis for 40 years.

Charles "Jeff" Tesreau---Ironton's Tesreau was SEMO's greatest baseball player, although his name is unfamiliar to almost all area residents. He was a pitching stalwart for John McGraw's New York Giant teams and finished his career with 155 wins and 72 losses. As a rookie in 1912, he fired a no-hitter, led the National League with a 1.96 ERA, and started Games 1, 4, and 7 in the World Series. Perhaps headed to the Hall of Fame, he quit professional baseball after just 7 seasons with the Giants following a feud with McGraw and coached Dartmouth's baseball team for 28 years, compiling a record of 379-264-4.

-- Posted by unclegrubworm on Fri, Dec 14, 2007, at 10:49 AM

Brian Rosener's response:
During the summer we do a feature called "Catching up with" in which we track down former athletes and see what they're doing now. Too many great athletes to name all at once.
why do athletes both pro and college continue to call out a player on the opposing team or make guarantees of victory? when jr inman of rutgers called out tyler the game was over

-next-i watch 24-25 mens bb weekly on my cable system in eastern nc-is that about what you receive in semo country?

-also-which div-1 mens teams are most popular there-

-- Posted by unclemickey on Mon, Dec 17, 2007, at 12:53 AM

Brian Rosener's response:
Fans have plenty of teams to follow here. Of course, there's Southeast Missouri State, Missouri, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Southern Illinois and Missouri State or Saint Louis at the D-I level. Junior College basketball has a following down here as well. Poplar Bluff is home to Three Rivers Community College {http://sports1.trcc.edu) and coach Gene Bess, who has more wins than any other college coach on any level. Tyler went to his camps growing up like a lot of kids in this area.

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