Tony Tocco, Tracy Rietzke Named to 2020 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Class
Friday, October 23, 2020
With more than 80 years of service between them, Rockhurst men’s soccer coach Tony Tocco and former Rockhurst women’s volleyball coach Tracy Rietzke have already cementing their place as legends in the University’s athletics program.
But in November, they will be enshrined into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020 on Sunday, Nov. 15 at Kansas City’s Hy-Vee Arena, the renovated facility formerly known as Kemper Arena.
Tocco begins his 50th season coaching at Rockhurst next spring and holds the second-most career victories (709) all-time at any level of college soccer. He held the NAIA wins record (437) until 2008, a decade after Rockhurst left the NAIA for NCAA Division II.
Tocco’s teams from 1973 to 1997 played in 17 national tournaments, advanced to 10 Final Fours and were a national runner-up four times (1973, 1976, 1979, 1997). In D-II, his teams have advanced to 10 national tournaments, won five NCAA Midwest Regionals and reached the national semifinals four times (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017).
Tocco has been a 15-time Coach of the Year honoree, including four times nationally. He is a 1967 graduate of Saint Louis University, where he was also a pitcher on its 1965 College World Series team and member of the 1964 undefeated soccer team.
Rietzke recently retired after 38 years in coaching, including 32 seasons as the volleyball coach at Rockhurst. His college volleyball teams earned 1,277 wins, the fourth-most all-time at any level. He also is the second-winningest coach all-time in NCAA Division II history.
At Rockhurst, his teams were 1,105-229 (.828), finished in the D-II Top 25 poll 11 times, played in 10 regional finals (winning three) and won three conference championships and five regular-season titles. Rietzke was a 16-time Coach of the Year either in conference, district or region – as well the national award given by the USMC/American Volleyball Coaches Association in 2019.
Rietzke, a Kensington, Kansas, native, was a standout basketball player Kansas Wesleyan University and later coached volleyball, women’s basketball and softball there for six seasons. Combined with his coaching days at Rockhurst and Kansas Wesleyan, he has more than 1,700 victories in volleyball, women’s basketball and softball.
