CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Charlie Spoonhour won big wherever he went and left ’em all smiling.
The popular, homespun coach who put Missouri State on the map with five NCAA Tournament appearances and led Saint Louis to three more with a mixture of sharpshooting and tenacious defense known as Spoonball, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with a lung disease. Spoonhour, who was diagnosed in 2010 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, was 72.
“Charlie was one of a kind,” Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Doug Elgin said. “He was magnetic, charismatic. Just an unforgettable character.”
In 19 seasons as a Division I head coach, the last three at UNLV in 2001-04, Spoonhour went 373-202.
Spoonhour lost none of his popularity after ending his coaching career, serving as TV analyst for the Missouri Valley Conference, and was in high demand on the banquet circuit. Retired Missouri State athletics director Bill Rowe, who hired Spoonhour to his first Division I head coaching job, recalled a Will Rogers-like wit: “Give him a napkin and four or five words, and that’s all it took,” Rowe said. “He’d have the place in stitches.”
