Olympians help Willard shine bright: Town was well-represented at 1996 Summer Games

Published July 22, 2012 a few days before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics.

Only 646 athletes represented the United States in the 1996 Summer Olympics as the modern games celebrated its 100th anniversary in Atlanta.

Two were from Willard, a small Greene County town which had about 3,000 residents at the time.



Both elite athletes acknowledged the coincidence this week, and said, with the London games approaching this week, the memories are in the forefront of their minds.


And like many former Olympians, Lori Endicott-Vandersnick and Jason Pyrah are doing their part to keep the Olympics, and overall fitness, in the forefront of the national psyche.



In 1996, Endicott was in her second Olympics as a setter on the volleyball team and runner Jason Pyrah was representing the United States for the first of two trips to the top international stage.


“It was so bizarre that two athletes would compete just from Willard,” Endicott-Vandersnick said. “I was just a small-town girl that loved to play volleyball, and my Olympic dreams came true.”



Both are having a strong impact on young local athletes and helping the development of what could be the next area Olympians.

Endicott-Vandersnick coaches the Community Olympic Development Program during the summer in Springfield. Started by the United States Olympic Program, the Springfield program is one of eight of its kind in the country, and the only one that features volleyball.

Endicott-Vandersnick coaches 165 athletes through the program, including about a dozen boys, basically putting the athletes, ages 10 to 14, through a summer-long training camp at the O’Reilly-Tefft Gym and the Doling Family Center.

During the school year, she travels through the area, teaching volleyball in school physical education classes for the third through the fifth grades.

Endicott-Vandersnick, who lives in Rogersville with her husband Mark and sons Cole (13) and Luke (11), said she wants to help volleyball players reach the heights she did on the court and help mold them off the court as well.

“I don’t think it was a responsibility that I have,” she said. “But it’s something that I have a desire to do that I want to help other volleyball players. I want them to push themselves to what they can be, and push themselves in a direction that they could be successful in whatever they do.”

The 1985 Willard High School graduate was a setter on the bronze medal-winning U.S. volleyball team in the 1992 Barcelona Games, and also competed in 1996. She was a standout at the University of Nebraska and was given a key to the city by the Willard mayor upon returning home from the ’92 Games.

In honor of Pyrah and Endicott, U.S. 160 in Willard is named Olympian Boulevard.


Pyrah said he remembers watching the strong Endicott-led Willard volleyball teams as a freshman and sophomore.


His own success came soon after, as he said about the time he was a high school junior, he gained a mental edge by not setting limits on himself.

“Those kinds of goals shouldn’t be limited, they should be set high,” Pyrah said. “I just had a confirmation that I could accomplish a lot more than maybe what coaches and parents, and those around me might have.”

Pyrah went on to star at Brigham Young University, and was one of three Americans to run in the 1,500 meters in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. He placed 10th in the 2000 Sydney Games.

Pyrah, now the Sports Medicine coordinator at CoxHealth, said this week the most lasting memories are probably the opening ceremonies. There, he marched with iconic American Olympians such as Michael Johnson, Carl Lewis, Amy Van Dyken, Shannon Miller and Charles Barkley.

Pyrah started the Total Running Performance Program at CoxHealth, which has a free running clinic at 9 a.m. July 28 at The Meyer Center, 3545 S. National Ave.

He’s also involved in local high school meets as a starter, and was a starter at the Missouri State High School Activities Association state finals this year.

Before the ’96 ceremonies, Endicott and Pyrah met for a picture and wished each other luck for the competition.

This summer, it’s Rolla who has the most Olympic flavor in the Ozarks, as 2006 Rolla High School graduate Chantae McMillan is competing in the heptathlon, along with Missouri S&T graduate Tyrone Smith, who is competing for Bermuda in the long jump for the second time.

But just 16 years ago, it was a couple of Willard athletes in the spotlight.

“It was fun to put Willard, Missouri, and not only that but Springfield, Missouri, on the map, and to know that you were representing the area,” Pyrah said. “That part of it was nice.”