The Central Methodist Eagles are the athletic teams that represent
Central Methodist University, located in
Fayette, Missouri
Fayette is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 2,803 at the 2020 census.
History
Fayette was laid out in 1823. Th ...
, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the
Heart of America Athletic Conference
The Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC or The Heart) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Member institutions are located in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska in ...
(HAAC) since the 1991–92 academic year; which they were a member on a previous stint from 1971–72 to 1985–86. The Eagles previously competed as an
NAIA Independent from 1986–87 to 1990–91; and in the
Missouri College Athletic Union (MCAU) from 1924–25 to 1970–71.
Varsity teams
Central Methodist competes in 19 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track & field and wrestling; basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field, volleyball and wrestling; and co-ed sports include competitive cheer, competitive dance and eSports.
Softball (women's)
CMU Eagles softball head coach Pat Reardon became the winningest coach in the Heart of America Athletic Conference history, after a game-one win over Evangel (Mo.) on April 4, 2015, as he surpassed the Crusaders' Jerry Breaux. He also moved into the Top 10 on the NAIA active coaches wins list.
Basketball (men's)
CMU Eagles men's basketball team first appeared in the NAIA tournament in
1943
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured.
* January 4 – ...
.
Rugby
In the 1970s Central Methodist had a rugby team that enjoyed some national success.
Roger B. Wilson, who later became
Governor of Missouri, was a member of Central Methodist's rugby teams in the early 1970s. In that time Central Methodist regularly beat opponents such as the
University of Missouri and posted the most lopsided victory in the history of sanctioned American rugby to that time (77-0 over
St. Louis University
Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...
). In 1973 Central Methodist won a regional rugby tournament by defeating the
University of Missouri 32-4 in the championship game. Central Methodist then entered the national championship tournament, defeating the
University of Notre Dame 24-10 and the
University of Michigan 29-4 to reach the national semi-finals. Central Methodist lost its semi-final match to the
University of Illinois 13-3 but won the consolation match to finish third in the nation.
Men's Soccer
The men's soccer programme led by coach Alex Nichols and assisted by David Macsicza, Marc Russell and Rafael Ortiz Ferreira, won the 2018 NAIA National Championship.
Fight song
In the late spring of 2006 Central Methodist University adopted an official fight song written by Andrew Glover, a 1983 alumnus of Central Methodist College, called ''Fighting Eagles''. The previous unofficial fight song had been ''Hail, Victory'' written by Central College alum and former drum major Robert Earl Stepp.
References
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.cmueagles.com/