The final game had been delayed a day because of rain. By Wednesday night the Tigers had pressing travel plans, one in particular. Bob Schoonmaker had to fly to New York to be married on a prime-time TV show.
``They were popular at that time,'' Callahan said. ``He couldn't even stay around. As the ceremony started, you could hear the sound of the sirens of the police cars that had come to escort him.''
Eight other players made bus connections to destinations such as North Platte, Neb., Yankton, S.D., and Wilmot, Minn., where they would play semipro ball that summer.
Others got off in Kansas City, leaving only seven players aboard when the bus arrived to a welcome home parade. The spring semester had ended before the Tigers left for Omaha.
``There wasn't a lot of students,'' Dickinson said. ``The whole town turned out. Whoever was there, they turned out.''
Finally they got off the bus to take a victory lap around town. ``They had convertibles line up, black and gold and all that stuff,'' Musgrave said.
Even then, Columbia was one of the biggest little media markets around. Cox, making his way back to Sikeston, became a TV interview subject.
``They just got me because I was the only one they could find, I'm sure,'' he said.
Like most of the team, Gleason, who'd gone only as far as Kansas City, couldn't see it or hear it.
``Much to my chagrin. I'll never forgive myself for that,'' he said. ``That we should have organized a lot better because that would be something that sticks out in your memory.''
(Columbia Daily Tribune, May 14, 1994)
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