In Memoriam: Mary Jo Wynn, 1931-2019

Mary Jo Wynn, longtime administrator in the athletics department at Missouri State University, passed away on January 22, 2019. She was 87 years old.

Wynn retired in 1998 after 41 years at the university. She was named the first women’s athletics director at then Southwest Missouri State in 1975. When the men’s and women’s athletic departments merged in 1992, she was named senior associate director of athletics and senior women administrator. Before her appointment as women’s athletics director, she formed and began coaching intercollegiate volleyball and tennis teams in 1958. She also coached swimming and track and field during her career.

For her successful career in athletics, she was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and was named a Missouri Sports Legend in 2014. A bronze bust of Wynn is on display on Legends Walkway outside the Hall of Fame.

Wynn is a graduate of Missouri State University.