Hall Of Fame Spotlight - Dave Krueger
1/21/2011 1:31:00 PM | Track and Field
by Dan Stroud
Dave Krueger, the “founding father” of the UMKC track and field program, has found a great deal of fulfillment in a lifetime spent coaching and teaching. Currently a cross country coach and biology teacher at Brittany Hill Middle School in Blue Springs, Missouri, the husband and father could certainly boast of numerous achievements, if he wanted.
The Kangaroo coach was a four-time Mid-Continent Conference Coach of the Year. In 1997, he led the women's team to a Mid-Con Indoor Conference Championship. Then in 1999, the Krueger-led `Roos raced home to win Mid-Con Titles at the Women's Indoor Conference Championships and both the Men's and Women's Outdoor Conference Championships.
Yet when asked how he felt upon receiving word of his upcoming induction into the UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame, the words “surprised, honored, and humbled” were the first uttered by the deserving former `Roo head coach. “It is truly the proudest moment of my professional career,” he said. “The idea of a Hall of Fame that looks back at UMKC's roots is to me a great thing. That I am included as a member is a good thing as well.”
The coach's roots run deep at UMKC. His father, Dr. Jack Krueger, served in many leadership positions over the years at the School of Education, including Associate Dean, Acting Dean, and as Special Advisor to the Dean. So coming to the university from then Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield was not an altogether unfamiliar choice.
"When Lee Hunt (the then UMKC Athletics Director) hired me in April of 1993, we were starting the program from scratch,” Krueger said. “We had no equipment, no track, no schedule, and most importantly, we had no student-athletes.” The program had to be pulled together and launched in the fall of that same year with the track following two years later. Memories of the arduous work that was done to place forty plus student-athletes around the Kangaroo track and field oval are never far from the coach's thoughts.
"I just remember that everyone; the coaches, athletic department staff, field crew, student-athletes, and even the university professors pulled together to get us off the ground and running,” said the coach. “Needless to say, it was all kind of a blur. We really worked hard to put everything together in time. Every day was another day we tried to outwork people. But it was one of the happiest times of my life.”
If there were more significant things than others that were pointed to as life lessons throughout his time spent at UMKC they were few perhaps, but also tellingly broad in scope. “My life's aim at that time and even up to now has always been to first and foremost, treat people with respect,” he said. Next up on that short list is to always work hard. “I've found and fervently believe that with hard work comes success.”
Krueger successfully prepared more than two hundred student track and field athletes for Mid-Con All-Conference honors during his tenure, which included current Hall of Fame member Dee Dee Fortman and fellow 2010 inductee Grant Dennis. Matt Voelker from the 2008 class and another of this year's inductees, Sonya Ahmed, were recruited under his watch as well.
The man's fondness for UMKC is quite evident. He shared memories of the great faculty, the wonderful facilities, and what was and still is a perfect location in the heart of Kansas City. “I love the university and everything about it,” he said. “It made recruiting student-athletes so much easier as well.”
But as much as he enjoyed his time at UMKC, the teacher in the man seems quite content with his work these days. He pointed out that the legendary Shawnee Mission East track and field coach Karl England told him once that he enjoyed teaching in the class room even more than time spent on the track. “At the time I thought he was crazy,” he said. “But in retrospect, I really knew that I wanted to be a teacher from the time I was a little boy. It's truly a rewarding profession.”
By the interview's end however, the coach that started all things track and field at the school of the Kangaroos had nothing but positive things to say about the direction Athletics Director Tim Hall and his current staff have taken the program. “It really looks to me like they're doing a lot of things right,” he said. “I couldn't be happier with the new found success in track and field.”
Who knows, maybe in a few years current head coach Shameika McField can achieve similar results. `Roo fans everywhere can only hope so and no matter what though, rest assured, Dave Krueger will keep a close watch.
