Joplin Sports Authority

Coach Jim Frazier made national history by leading Missouri Southern College to a perfect season and its first national championship. Frazier became the head football coach of Missouri Southern College in 1971. One year later he coached the Lions to the NAIA Division II national championship received the NAIA National Coach of the Year. 

During his coaching career at Southern, Frazier posted a 97-52-5 record. (.646). His overall record at the collegiate level was 121-73-5 and ranked him among the NAIA’s most successful. 

While coaching the Lions, Frazier saw the construction of Fred G. Hughes stadium which opened in 1975. Frazier’s Lions christened the new stadium in style, defeating Emporia State 20-13.

Frazier assumed the full-time duties as the athletic director at Southern in 1985. Toward the end of his thirty-year career at Southern, he helped fulfill a lifetime dream with the construction of the Leggett and Platt Athletic Center.