TWO AREA SPORTS LEGENDS PASS AWAY LAST WEEK By Joe Aull

Two legendary sports personalities from this area, both passed away this past week as Stan Kee, a longtime Coach at Carrollton, passed last Wednesday, and Henry Mason, who coached at Lexington died this past Friday.

Stan Kee was the Head Football Coach at Carrollton High School for 22 years, and had a record of 153-67-1 during that time. His Trojans won 4 MRVC Conference Titles, 4 District Championships, made the State Playoffs 6 times, and advanced to the State Semi Finals twice.

Stan played Football at Northwest State University in Maryville, and before coming to Carrollton, he coached at South Holt, his alma mater, and Gallatin, and he won a total of 175 games during his career.

He is a member of the Missouri Football Caches Hall of Fame, and in 2015, he was inducted into the prestigious Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Coach Kee and former Lexington Coach Gil Rector, who is also a member of both Hall of Fames, were great friends who had an intense rivalry in Football, as both Lexington and Carrollton, two of the smallest schools in the MRVC, were often at the top of the Conference during the years, when the two coaches competed against each other between 1977 and 1997.

Henry Mason coached at Lexington High School for 3 years, between 1979 and 1982. He was an Assistant Football Coach on both the 1979 undefeated team and the 1980 State Championship Team. He was also the Assistant Coach on the Lexington 1979-80 District Championship Basketball Team, and then became the Head Basketball Coach for 2 years.

His 1981-82 Minutemen were MRVC Conference Co-Champions. Henry was not only a good coach, but he was also a very gifted athlete.

He was an All State Football player at Marshall High School, and he was then an All American in two different sports, as both a wide receiver in Football, and an outfielder in Baseball at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg.

After leaving Lexington, Henry was an Assistant Football Coach at Beker University, and he then developed a winning program, as the Head Football Coach at Sedalia Smith-Cotton High School. He was then an Assistant Football Coach at Eastern Michigan University, and he ended his career as one of the top Assistant Football Coaches at the University of Wisconsin of the Big 10 Conference.