It was in one moment in 1955 that Henry Wiebe (Track & Field ’60) knew he would be attending the University of Missouri. Born in Aberdeen, Idaho, and raised in his teen years in Newton, Kansas, Henry was in high school when he beat the hurdles national record. But as fate had it, he came in second to a future Kansas student-athlete. Recruited by Tom Botts, Henry knew then that he would be a Tiger. What he didn’t know, though, was how much this decision would alter the trajectory of his life.
“Mizzou turned my life in a direction that I previously had not ever imagined,” he said. “I would never have attended college had I not been recruited.”
While at the University, Henry enjoyed great athletic success. In 1957, he was the conference champion in the 60-yard sprint and held the national record in the shuttle hurdle relays. His greatest athletic moment, though, was in racing against the world record holder, Frank Budd, at Madison Square Garden in the semi-finals of the 1961 Indoor Championships when it came down to a photo-finish between the two runners. Although Henry came in a close second, it was a great athletic feat to compete with the best.
Mizzou’s influence on Henry extends beyond athletics. It was here that he met his wife of 52 years, Bonnie, on a warm spring afternoon when he went on a “window shopping tour” with some fellow student-athletes on the Stephens College campus. In Henry’s words, it was that day that was “the end of my shopping days”.
Following graduation, Henry went on to join the Air Force National Guard and held a few industry jobs before landing in academia, working his way up from faculty member to the Vice Provost of Global Learning at Missouri University of Science & Technology.
He’s learned many lessons along the way, but there’s one in particular that has stuck with Henry for a lifetime: “There are often no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers to the issues one faces. However, there are choices to make and these choices can have a lasting impact.”
His choice to attend the University of Missouri is one such decision that has affected Henry’s entire life. It’s here that he met his wife, with whom he has three children, where he competed and where earned his education, opening doors into a professional world he never knew existed.
