Louie Joe Scott (photo courtesy of Ozark County Times)
An alumnus of Gainesville High School has been honored for his athletic career at the University of Missouri. Former Bulldog Louie Joe Scott was inducted into the Missouri Intercollegiate Hall of Fame last month at the Tiger Hotel in downtown Columbia.
According to the Ozark County Times, Scott played basketball for Mizzou from 1959 through 1961 and was known as the “Gainesville Gunner.” He still holds the school’s single-game scoring record with 46 points against Nebraska on March 6, 1961, and this was well before college basketball had a shot clock and a three-point line. That performance was also at the top of the Big Eight Conference, as it was tied for the record with Wilt Chamberlain for several years.
Scott played three years of varsity college basketball at Missouri since freshmen had to play on separate teams at that time. He was a three-year letterman for the Tigers, and according to the university, he finished his career ranked fourth on Missouri’s all-time scoring list with 1,106 career points. Scott averaged 18.4 points per game as a junior and 16.5 as a senior. He tells the Ozark County Times that was a period when college basketball was dominated by “inside big-man scoring.”
Scott finished his career as the captain of the Tigers. He was selected as an All-Conference player and was the highest scoring guard of his era. Scott tells the paper one of his favorite memories was beating Kansas in his last game at Missouri. The Tigers had lost to the Jayhawks the previous five teams they played during Scott’s tenure. After a brawl that led to the benches and bleachers clearing, Missouri ended up getting past Kansas 79-76 in front of a national television audience.
Prior to his time at Mizzou, he averaged 30.8 points per game at Gainesville, as he often fired shots from 25 feet. During his senior year as a Bulldog in 1956-1957, he scored over 1,100 points, including 58 in one outing. He led Gainesville to a fourth-place finish in the Class M State Tournament that year. He was a unanimous choice for the All-State first team and was also selected to the All-Ozarks Region first team. He graduated from Gainesville with the highest scoring average in all classes of schools in the Show Me State.
After his time at Missouri, Scott was drafted by the Chicago Majors in the now-defunct American Basketball League. After one season, he stepped away from the game and returned to Columbia after being accepted by the University of Missouri Law School in 1963. He graduated three years later, moved to his current hometown of Poplar Bluff and was hired as an associate in the firm of future U.S. District Judge H. Kenneth Wangelin. Scott is currently a senior partner in the Scott Law Group, LLC, and practices with his son, his daughter-in-law and a number of associates. For 50 years, he has provided pro-bono legal services to various sports organizations.
In addition to his legal career, Scott has been able to give a portion of his time and money to sports projects in southeast and southwest Missouri. He has coached basketball for several years, served on the board of the Poplar Bluff Parks and Recreation Department for over 20 years and raised money for booster clubs. He has also served as a master of ceremonies or a featured speaker for various sports banquets, high school graduations and civic and historic groups.
While Scott and his wife, Judy, reside in Poplar Bluff, they also maintain a residence in Ozark County.
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